Fellow Grad Center residents, I can understand why having your own little single can be exciting. After what seemed like eons of living in a kitchen-turned-triple, you suddenly feel as though you have all the freedom in the world.
You can change out of your PJs in the privacy of your own living space. You can blast your favorite Jonas Brothers CD without fear of judgment. You no longer have to worry about awkwardly sexiling your silent, glaring roommate. You have your own room now! You and your fellow suitemates are finally free to run through the tiny corridors of your suite shrieking like monkeys if you so please.
I speak on behalf of us all when I tell you this: Don't get too excited.
Unfortunately for you and the rest of Grad Center, there is an important fact that most new residents forget - the dorms are about as soundproof as cardboard boxes.
As you blast your favorite disco mix in the safe comfort of your own room, the people living above and below you are cursing you, looking you up on Facebook and passive-aggressively plotting your demise as they rant about you on the Daily Jolt. It would be in your best interest to try and keep your speaker volume down to a reasonable level.
Weekend parties are understandably a necessity, and it is rather amusing at first to feel the walls of the tower vibrate with thumping bass and the screams of happy revelers from somewhere within its stony depths. Weekdays are a different case. It's great that you and your night owl friends can congregate in the hall or in your suite's largest room to have impromptu dance parties or chat about life, politics, philosophy, religion, etc. into the wee hours of night. But your fellow residents will not appreciate your yelling, stomping and howls of laughter at 4 a.m. when they have an Arabic exam five hours later.
I am in awe of people who are able to wake up early to do things such as studying, going out for a run or getting breakfast. But I can guarantee you'll inspire hatred if you and your friend living on the other side of the earth rouse everyone around you while Skyping at 7 a.m. by carrying on at the same decibel level you would use in your room back home.
Alarm clocks are another issue. They're necessities for those who need to wake up early. An alarm clock can even help wake up the rest of the building when its owner leaves before the siren and completely forgets about it, letting it ring and ring and ring and ring.
Obliviousness doesn't just affect those living near you, it may also affect your personal life. I can't even begin to count the number of times that I've clearly heard every word of a heated argument between a couple or a heart-to-heart chat by just sitting in my room, despite my best efforts to drown it out.
Grad Center residents should be aware of other threats to their privacy. Although this happens less frequently, I've accidentally glimpsed some students in various states of undress while simply walking back into my building. The Grad Center room windows are quite large, and just because you can't see people doesn't mean they can't see you.
This is my second year of living in Grad Center. I don't want to say that it's a terrible place. I enjoy not having to clean the private bathroom, and having my own room pretty much makes up for all of the building's flaws. I just want to ensure that my last semester in this stony fortress is a pleasant one, for myself and all other Grad Center residents.
Ivy Chang '10 is a human biology concentrator from Los Angeles, California. She can be reached at Ivy_Chang@brown.edu.
