Though I didn’t videotape a real cribs video like the freshmen (my room has never been clean enough for such a thing) I’d like to give a quick tour of my lovely suite in Charles Commons…..
stage one
Our room, 1221, which we always refer to by number, is a strange and overly decorated suite of four single bedrooms and two bathrooms. We picked a semi-tragic lottery number, and by some small miracle still ended up in Charles Commons, but on the 11 month lease side. The 12th floor, the penthouse of Commons, has a huge common room on the floor with tables, couches, and a TV just steps from our door, which is why you won’t see one anywhere in our suite
remodeling struggles
Last August, my roommate Laura and I were the first to arrive, as we had signed up to be Peer Ambassadors for the incoming freshmen. Given the fact that we moved in with only a small group of other sophomores, we were able to take some decorating liberties, dragging lots of stuff in and clogging the elevators with many, many trips up and down. You can see the trajectory of our decorating, and it seems to have gotten worse over the course of the year. During intersession, Laura and I once again were the only ones here, and that seemed to cause some problems. Cabin fever worsened during Snow Week and we put up some insane decorations in the common room.
final stage of living room madness
Moving from the AMR’s to Commons last fall was a huge transition, and it’s definitely the biggest jump in terms of housing. I went from a very snug single room sans air conditioning, where I shared a bathroom and shower with about ten other girls on my hallway, to this lovely abode where I have a small kitchen, my own bedroom, and enough space to actually have people over. It’s a great place to live, definitely, and they obviously gave a lot of thought to the layout of the building in terms of community–we have a lot of communal space, all of the suites have pretty big living rooms, all the floors have common rooms, study rooms, or both. We also have a gym, a kitchen, laundry facilities, a cafeteria, and some huge conference rooms that they use to screen movies in and such. You can check it out here http://www.jhu.edu/hds/oncampus/buildings.htm
That’s enough information about the building itself though, so here are a few more pictures of my room!
Our front door, the fridge, and the door to Laura’s room.
My desk, and the kitchen (lots of dishes to do).
The living room, all of our schedules, and my room.
and below, my room and the lovely sign we put up reminding ourselves of where we live.
Just a little decoration in my room and in the hallways.
Howdy! Sorry I’ve been sooooooooo late since my last blog, which was apparently 19 days ago, as Admissions_Daniel has reminded me. Anywho it’s ok. Here I am. I’ve had an amazing, warm, sunny and family/friend filled Easter so I’m in a good mood. Plus, my previously dead iPod is now living again…coinky dink that it came back to life on Easter? :P
Sooooo, I live in Homewood Apartments this year with one of my best friends on campus. Why Homewood? I primarily chose it because I didn’t want a meal plan. If you live in any of the other dorms (besides Bradford Apts), you HAVE to have a meal plan, regardless of year. I had the 19 meal plan last year (now “Unlimited”) and I ate campus food to my heart’s content. So I’m cool with cooking my own food/buying it/using meal swipes that my meal plan having friends waste. It all works out.
Plus compared to the single bedrooms in McCoy, Commons, and Bradford, our rooms are huge. Well, at least mine is. It’s very comfy here and I love it and will be sad to leave it when school ends. Anyway, let’s look around…
The entrance to my suite!
Here’s the door to the apartment. Our names are on dinosaur eggs because our theme is dinosaurs hehe. Just like all of the other dorms, we use a key to get inside, so no fancy door opening contraptions, sorry if that bursts your bubble!
What you see when you first walk inside
Since Homewood is an on campus apartment, it comes fully furnished and it has the same style of furniture and carpeting that the other dorms have. Here’s the long couch and a slanty view of the full kitchen…Homewood and Bradford Apts are the only on campus options that have full ovens in their kitchens, and I’ve been using that like crazy!
Better living room view
Better kitchen view
Lots of room. We should have people over more often but we fail a lot. Mmm, looking at this picture makes me want to go bake some banana bread with the bananas that are rotting on the kitchen ledge….
The bathroom, you can't see it but there's a full bathtub
Here’s our bathroom. I like keeping things clean and tidy, so yes it is always this clean looking. Homewood and Bradford are the only on campus dorms that have bathtubs…not sure if that matters to you but hey it’s cool having one I guess. Off to my room…
dresser
desk
So yea…bed, desk, dresser. The desks are wider here and the dressers are bigger too. Sorry for all of the beauty products; I’m kinda a product junky and I am never satisfied with the results. I should just make my own products! But yea, I’m very comfortable here and I will miss it so much! But I hope you enjoyed! Here’s the corresponding videooooooooooooooooooo:
Every year I have writen a blog entry about my “crib.” This year has been a little different for me since I’m not sure exactly what I would consider my “crib.” By the end of May I will have spent four months in my lovely efficiency in Homewood in Baltimore, two months total in my room in New Jersey, two months in my apartment in Vitoria, Brazil, and four months in my apartment in Geneva, Switzerland. Nevertheless, every “crib” I’ve had this year I’ve managed to make into my home. So without further rambling, I’ll welcome you to my most recent place…Geneva.
The City
First, a little about Geneva. The city itself has only 187,697 residents, but the metropolitan area has 1,240,000 people, many from France. The city has been ranked to have the third-highest quality of life. All the stereotypes are true—cheese, chocolate, watches, and punctuality. Geneva is a city that struggled for independence. They were ruled by the dukes of Savoy. In the sixteenth century, the Genevans used the Reformation to rid themselves of the Savoy influence. Independence was given in 1602 and the city became the “Protestant Rome.” To anyone that visits Switzerland, it’s quite obvious that Geneva doesn’t have the same feel as the rest of Switzerland. Perhaps this is because, for religious reasons, the city didn’t become part of the Swiss Confederation until 1815. Today it is known as a wealthy (and expensive) city with a prominent role in international diplomacy and banking.
Here is a video of the city that I took of Geneva while on a run…
My “Crib”
Secondly, a little about where I actually live. I live in an apartment building that was bought by Boston University on a cute little side street in one of the nicest areas of Geneva (although, they’re pretty much all nice). I have a bus stop to work just a few blocks away--right next to the amazing farmer’s market. I also have a cute (though expensive) Italian restaurant on the corner of my road (in fact I am kind of in the ‘Little Italy’ of Geneva), and I have the amazing Lake Leman just down my street. I live with 50+ students on my program, all but seven are girls, and just thirteen are on the same public health track as me.
Oddly enough the building used to be a brothel until it was bought a little over a year ago. I honestly can’t imagine the building as a brothel, but supposedly, until they changed the door, there were many people coming here looking for the brothel that had moved. In addition we were told that if we (young girls) tell locals what street we live on they might give us strange looks. I honestly can’t complain about the brothel that I call my home. We have a resident director, a building manager, and two RAs who take care of us if we have any problems.
Below are pictures of my apartment. I think that these will better depict the place that I call home…
The view up my street--cute Italian restaurant!!
The view down my street--towards the lake!!
The brothel or well I should say my apartment.
Each of the five floors shares a kitchen.
The study and printer room on the main floor.
Probably the nicest bathroom I’ll have for a while (and the water pressure is amazing!!)
Our lovely Ikea beds with a built-in somewhat oddly placed reading light on the headboard-mine is on the right.
My desk area (post cards of a few of my favorite places, my Hopkins banner, my amazing travel mug-thanks Matt!!, and pictures)
The laundry room in the basement. Unfortunately, just like Hopkins, it comes at a cost.
Me on move-in days in Homewood this past fall.
I should also note that there is a very cool basement with a kitchen for the breakfast that is supplied to us during the week and a TV and couches for us when we just need time to relax (or, rather, watch the Olympics). My apartment is definitely a lot different from Building A, Charles Commons, or Homewood, but I definitely do not have any complaints.
I must say that I wasn’t thrilled to be driving back to Hopkins today. For the last week I have been enjoying Spring Break at the comforts of home. Yes, doing a little bit of school work, but for the most part I have been sleeping well, eating well, reading lots of news articles, and enjoying watching TV with my mom (this consists of Gilmore Girls, Yankees spring training games, Nets games, and even some college basketball). However, I am now back to work at Hopkins. In the week I was home my bedroom didn’t feel like my bedroom anymore. It really is not as “me” as my room is here. Well, it is me, but me as in middle schooler-me and hasn’t changed since. But now here I am back in my room and absolutely loving it!
So, why do I love my room?
1. My room at Hopkins has bits and pieces of me: memories from trips to Cambodia and China, pictures of my grandpa, a Ratatouille tissue boxes, and a Walle calendar, fuchsia Christmas lights, bulletin boards (that I made), an Obama victory newspaper, a comfortable comforter, etc. And because of this, I love my room.
2. My suitemate. I live in a suite with two rooms. My suitemate is fellow blogger, Lauren C.. I’ve been fortunate enough to have had two years with two great roommates. Although Lauren and I both are extremely busy and it sometimes doesn’t seem like we live in the same suite, she is a great suitemate when we are here. She teaches me about the newest TV shows, complains with me about school work, is quiet at night, and we give each other a break when we’re too busy to do the dishes. I am happy to say that I have not had any roommate issues this year and I really do owe her a lot.
3. My view. Lauren and I got a top 50 lottery number last year which basically gave us the option of any double in Charles Commons. Although, I debated having more room over a better view, Lauren finally convinced me that a view is valuable and I am so glad that she did. Lauren and I live in the only two-person suite on every floor of the St. Paul side of Charles Commons that has a view of the city. On top of this, we live on the top floor, the 10th floor, of this side of Charles Commons. Because of this my blinds are constantly open and I love being able to see the Aquarium and Camden Yards.
4. Charles Commons. I oftentimes get asked the question, “Is Charles Commons worth it?” And I believe that it is. I love living in Charles Commons because it is perfectly situated next to Char Mar and to the lower-end of campus where all my classes seem to be. I love that there is a dining hall and a small gym within the building. I love that the elevators talk to me, that I have a great RA, and that my room is quiet.
5. Not having to move furniture. Although this goes for anyone who lives on-campus, I love that living on-campus allows me to not go through the hassle of buying furniture and worrying about rent. I know, I am supposed to be becoming an adult and that there are some pretty sweet off-campus rooms, but I still do love knowing that at the end of the year I won’t have to figure out how to get my bed out of the door. Because of this and because I will be here for only a semester next year (due to study abroad), I entered the housing lottery for next year and will be living on-campus next year in Homewood.
final stage of living room madness
