When I received my housing assignment and roommate the summer before my freshman year, I called my best friend jumping for joy. I was lucky enough to be assigned to the “hotel dorm,” the most hyped dorm amongst first-year students: Charles Pratt. Three weeks went by, and before I knew it, it was move-in day! As I roamed the floors of the building, I wondered, “will living here be everything people chalk it up to be?” Once my mom drove away, the reality of Charles Pratt being home for the next year began to set in, and I anxiously awaited the beginning of college life.
It didn’t take long before I concluded that Pratt was, in fact, an awesome place to be. In terms of room location, I loved that I was smack in the middle of everything I needed within the dorm building. I was only 20 feet away from the laundry room and the bathroom, and my door was very visible from the front door of the building so a lot of my neighbors would knock and say hello!
As the year went on, I grew to love Pratt even more. Twice a week, I had dance rehearsal in the basement for Dance and Step, a hip hop and step dance club on campus. Living just above the dance studio saved me from many treks across campus during the winter season. The Office of Sustainability is also built into the side of the dorm, which meant that whenever the office had a thrifting event, I always got to be the first in line.
My favorite thing about living in Pratt was that it provided me with so many opportunities to branch out and socialize. Due to the dorm formerly being the college gymnasium, Pratt has a lot of open space. When it was repurposed into a dorm, a lot of the open space turned into common rooms. Pratt has some of the largest common rooms of all of the dorms on the First-Year Quad, which meant freshmen from all of the dorms would meet there for social gatherings. I met so many friends through hanging out in the commons rooms and I myself have many fond memories of having movie nights and throwing birthday celebrations in the dorm. Even during the week, the common room underneath the main staircase was a very popular spot for residents to have late night conversations about anything from their home lives, to world events, to funny things that happened in their day.
Now that my freshman year is over, I am so grateful to carry all of these happy memories of my freshman dorm. Although I will miss my time on the First-Year Quad, I look forward to making even more memories in my new home this upcoming year.