Nora the Bear

This is Nora. Elise and I are living with some friends off-campus (not in the dorms) for the summer. Nora visits from time to time and she lives across the street with our neighbors. The first time she showed up, all 7 of us living there were having our usual Sunday dinner together outside on the porch and at first glance in semi-darkness we mistook her for a bear.

The majority of students live on-campus in dorms, affinity houses, or College-owned Greek houses. The official number hovers around 85-90% any given term. And there are benefits to living both on-campus or off-campus.

I'll be honest, it's nice living in the dorms as I don't have to worry about paying bills and someone will clean the bathroom for me. Also, with some of my friends it's better that I live near them rather than with them.

But for the two summers that I've been here, my sophomore summer and this summer, I've lived off-campus with friends. It's nice to be a bit more independent, to have a kitchen and common space to share and really personalize. And also for me, it's a good change of pace so that my summer is still a summer and a bit detached from the regular academic year.

You'll get a sense of what living arrangement works best for you. Though, dogs are not allowed in on-campus housing, which means I would've never met Nora. Or attempted to play fetch with her, which was not the most successful. She prefers to play dead more often than not.