From a Hall to a Home
Moving into my freshman year dorm was one of the most exciting experiences in my life. Growing up, I never went to sleepaway camp so college was the first time I was living on my own, and I could not be more ready to break away from the protectiveness of my parents and live a life of total freedom. I was living in a brand new dorm surrounded by new people with hundreds of new experiences awaiting me.
About a week after I moved in and said goodbye to my parents, through the recruitment process, I found my home in Alpha Chi Omega. Bid Day was by far one of the most fun days of my life, filled with so many welcoming hugs from my newly found sisters and so many memories of meeting my best friends.
After the Bid Day celebration, a group of sophomores took a bunch of us freshmen to the Alpha Chi Omega hall to show us around and get to know us better. We went through pictures from that night, laughed, and made plans to hang out the next day.
Through group messages and snapchat groups, I found six of my closest friends, five of whom lived in my dorm building. We spent what felt like every waking moment together, getting food, studying, walking to chapter, or just hanging out.
At the beginning of the year, we occasionally got invited to go hang out at the hall with our bid day buddies. Pretty soon, the hall became a frequent place to visit for me and my friends. Eventually, I would find myself in between classes just doing work in the chapter room.
Then I found out about the opportunity to live on the hall during the spring semester of my freshman year. I went back and forth for a while deciding if it was worth it to pack up all my belongings, move to a different dorm across campus, and leave some of my best friends behind in my old dorm.
It was a hard decision to make but I decided to make the move and one of my best friends, Mary Grace, decided to not only move to the hall with me, but take a leap of faith and be my roommate.
As the semester progressed, Mary Grace and I found ourselves on the hall nearly every day, making cookies, crashing movie nights, just finding any excuse to show up there and hang out. The more time I spent on the fourth floor of Norris, the more confident I felt in my decision.
When move-in day finally came, I was so excited to share a room with one of my best friends and live just a few doors down from my big, someone I had grown so close to and whose room I found myself spending way too much time in.
Quickly I understood why so many older members said living on the hall was their favorite memory from Alpha Chi. Living on the hall made every day feel so exciting, you just never know what you will find people doing when you come home from class. Whether it be painting banners for the social events, smushing 15 girls onto the couch to watch The Bachelor, or even having a snowball fight in the hallway.
There is something so special about the fourth floor of Norris that brings such comfort and joy to me and everyone who lives there. Even though I was only able to live on the hall for about two months before the semester got cut short, I made countless memories and became close with people I barely talked to before moving in. I cannot imagine how many memories and friendships I would’ve missed out on had I chosen to stay in my old dorm. I absolutely cannot wait to move back onto the hall in August and get to experience those amazing two months for the entirety of my sophomore year.
