Freshmen Move-In

Hi all,

This week was very busy. On Friday we had Sports Move-In day and a few of our freshmen girls moved, mostly girls on the cheer and dance teams. Monday was International Move-In day. We had a few girls move in that day but not as many as normal. Then Wednesday we had Freshmen Move-In day. It was a crazy busy day because that was when most of the Freshmen moved in. It was also a very unsettling day for me because we had mass groups of people coming in and out of the dorm and we had no idea who these people were. So far most of the girls seem like they are not going to cause any trouble but you can't really tell after only 3 days of them moving in. Once school starts I think it'll be a lot easier to tell who we are going to have problems with. We have already pegged one girl as trouble maker.

Other than the Freshmen moving, I've been mostly hanging out around the dorm and at a friend's house since they have AC and we don't. Along with the other RAs I've had to solve the many problems that have been going on in the dorm. One problem we had was someone had flushed a tampon and it clogged the pipes in the basement. So at 8 pm Monday night we started hearing running water, turns out the pipe just burst and we had to have maintenance come. Our whole floor then smelled like poop for 3 days. Another big problem we have had to deal with is the heat and humidity. Since I've been here it has not been that hot or humid. But right when Freshmen week started it got extremely hot and humid and our decorations started falling down. Also the wooden doors are swelling so they will stick to the door frames and not open, making freshmen think they have been locked out of their rooms. Another thing we've had to deal with as a dorm is that parents were not happy that their girls were living in a dorm with no elevator and no AC. I know how much it sucks because I did it last year but honestly I just want to say "They can suck it up. If I can do it, coming from California, your daughter, who has lived here her whole life can sure as hell do it." But I just smile and say "Yes, you can buy her a $300+ AC unit as long as it doesn't hang out the window, but it will only be a few more weeks of this." I'm so thankful that move in day is over and we don't have to deal with as many parents at one time, but I know that it is not the last time we will be hearing from girls' parents. I know that this is only the start of the never ending string of complaints we will be getting about the dorm this year.

I'm still excited to see what this year will hold for me though.

Missing everyone back home so much, xoxo
Heather

First Week Back, Already?

Hello everybody,

So I know this did not work out well the last two times I tried to blog about my college life, but I feel that since this year I will have more time because my job is to sit in the dorm and be available to my residents and I also now how an internet connection in my room (yay!) I will actually (probably [maybe]) be able to keep up with it. If you didn't know about the few posts I did last year, I basically give an update about what I've been doing recently, my friends, how my team is doing, and this year I'll be able to share any crazy stories I have about my residents.

This year I am a Resident Adviser (RA) in Irwin Hall, which is the dorm I was in last year and it is also a freshmen dorm. All (or most) of my girls will be new to Lindenwood, so it will be new, scary, and exciting for all of us. This year I will be in the basement with community bathrooms, but I have my own room, which has been amazing besides the first night when I was scared out of my mind that someone was going to come through my window to get me. I've now been living in the dorm for 8 nights and no one has tried to come through window though. My friend Alyssa is also an RA in the basement. We decided that the theme for our floor is going to be Dr. Seuss. Today (Monday), we spent all day making door decs, which our name tags for the girls' rooms. Each room is going to be a different book.

Last week besides putting my room together we had "training." What we did for training was sit through many lectures about (mostly) common sense things like calling security when there is an issue we can't handle. The only other thing we did was for training that was actually like training was "Behind Close Doors." They set up different scenarios that could possibly happen during the year like finding alcohol in somebodies room. Other than those few things I've been hanging out with the other RAs and getting to know them since I came in only knowing 3 of them. It has been fun being back early and seeing a few of my friends that live around here but it has also been boring since most of the girls from my dorm left after we finished training on Thursday. 

All in all I'm extremely excited to start this year. With the friends I've made and the plans we have for this coming year I know it is going to be a great year. 

~Heather