MY HOUSE!!!!! (And my beautiful floor!)
I came to college expecting nice dorms, but not hotel-nice. I didn’t expect the lobby of Hank to be an actual lobby (hence, “Hotel Hank.”) I didn’t expect the marble floors or columns everywhere, or the nice cleaning lady who cleans the bathrooms every single day. I didn’t expect the pristine kitchen, or the nice tile of the dorm rooms. I didn’t expect Commons to be as nice it is. So when I put my stuff down in Stambaugh, I was floored.
But even nicer than the marble or the columns are the people of my floor. There’s Veronica, who’s one of the sweetest people ever and a fantastic member of the rowing team. There’s Rita, who rocks it in Quizbowl and who was so nice that she called me to make sure I was okay after she heard from my roommate that I stayed the night with my friend, Katie, in the Chicago Greyhound station. There’s Julianna and Abby Wei (Inside Dores, too!), who are the cutest roomies ever, Colleen, who so amazingly offered to share breakfast with her parents with me after I told her I was homesick, Angelina, who’s an awesome thrift-shopper, Alice, who has awesome facials, Megala, who came over for tea in the first few weeks of school and is full of interesting stories, Jen and Emma, who have the cutest room in our hall, Shreya, who’s an awesome balcony buddy, Sara, who I first hears about Southern thrift from and who has the cutest country-themed room (and who even made her Connecticut roomie, Shreya, like country music! AND say y’all!!)… and then there’s the other twenty or so beautiful and amazing girls on our floor.
There’s international students, people from a few hours away, Southerners, New Englanders, and enough cowboy boots to open a shop. Our RA, Becca, does a wonderful job of bringing everyone together, whether that’s through food and really cute Halloween decorations in the common room, weekly teas, or weekly announcements in the floor GroupMe, which is central to our floor community. In it, people request everything from salt to flannel shirts, and people are so nice about loaning different things.
A floor community is so central to a school community. Some of my floormates this year may be my roommates next year (Mayfield, let’s go!) , and the people on my floor have been so helpful when I have no idea how to write chemistry lab reports (as much as I love it, the reports can be so difficult!) and free food when Munchie just seems too far away. I was dreading college a little because of the unknown quanity of the floor and house community; I pictured horrific communal bathrooms (the type where you can hear Beethoven’s Fifth when you walk in), floormates whose names I didn’t know and whom I didn’t interact with, people who didn’t want to share their things… but my floor has been more than I can ever hope for. I’ve sat for hours talking on the floor of my floormates’ rooms and in the hallway, had breakfast so many times with one of the girls, and laughed til my stomach hurt as I put my contacts in in the bathroom, chatting with one of my friends in the morning. Almost miraculously, even with six showers and forty girls, I’ve never had to wait for a shower, and sometimes, I can even play music while I shower because there’s no one in the bathroom. So… how awesome is Vanderbilt? WAY awesome.
If you have any questions, feel totally free to email me at sophia.druffner@vanderbilt.edu. I would LOVE to hear from you cause you’re AMAZING!!!!!!
ever most sincerely,
SOPHIE!!!!!!!!