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APARTMENT GUIDE
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 2008
A senior's perspective Making the most of your college apartment
BY DIANNE SMITH MANAGING EDITOR
When I moved into my first apartment, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
I was a naive freshman who thought I was too cool for the dorms. I thought it would be fine to move in with my then-best friend, not knowing that friends aren't always the best roommates or that people change once they reach college.
I'm no longer friends with that roommate, but I've learned a lot about dealing with roommates and living in an apartment since coming to the University of Kansas in Fall 2004. Here are some things I've learned along the way:
First, I learned that cleanliness makes everything easier. It makes your roommates appreciate you so much more, and it makes your home more livable.
When I was a kid, I remember waking up on Saturday mornings to the Beatles blasting from the family room. My dad would spend Saturday mornings cleaning, and the Beatles were his constant soundtrack. I loved the feel-
ing of a fresh house, and I loved the happy attitude that my dad had about cleaning.
Today, I try to do my dishes as soon as possible and to vacuum and sweep the floors at least once a week. Although my cleanliness has gotten a little out of hand (I once spent 45 minutes scrubbing my
shower while my roommate was waiting to leave for the bars), my current roommate, Alison, has come to appreciate my OCD.
with a group of friends. She had fallen and skinned her knee on the way home, and of course, her friends were laughing and cackling while she tried to clean her knee and put on a Band-Aid.
My landlady was reluctant to cut a hole in the wall to rescue the bird, so either it escaped on its own or died between the sheetrock. I'll never know.
Meanwhile, I was trying to sleep. I lay in bed, trying to suppress my anger at being woken up, but I couldn't take it any longer, I stormed
Second, learn how to talk through your problems without getting mad. One time, Alison came home from a night of drinking
out of my bedroom in PJs and proceeded to scream at Alison. The next morning, I couldn't deal with the shame. As soon as she woke up, I asked if we could talk. I apologized profusely and made sure that she understood how ashamed I was.
Since then, we've both made a point of telling each other when something is
bothering us. Relationships with roommates are similar to boyfriend-girlfriend relationships in that talking out your problems is the best way to solve them.
Third, be prepared to deal with whatever may come up. In my second apartment, a bird
once flew into the wall through a hole in the overhang. It frantically fluttered around for two days, creeping out both my roommate and me. I could imagine it starving, hanging on for dear life and eventually succumbing. My landlady was reluctant to cut a hole in the wall to rescue the bird, so either it escaped on its own or died between the sheetrock. I'll never know.
Then during this past semester, my roommate and I came home from the bars to be greeted by an opossum. It must have smelled the pumpkins we had carved earlier that weekend and decided to venture up three flights of stairs to our front porch. I tried to remember that it was more afraid of us than we were of it, but it still freaked us out.
We screamed and squeaked enough to scare it away, something I learned from my days as a Girl Scout. Of course, in Girl Scouts they were trying to teach us how to scare away bears, but I figured it would work with any wild animal.
Best of all, I learned that living in an apartment is fun when done right. Follow these tips, and you should be able to enjoy your college apartment life.
Bring in this
XF) and get
$200 sat 1st
Month - Rent!
The FOX RUN APARTMENTS 4590 Overland Drive - Lawrence, Kansas - (785) 843-4040
Luxury Apartment Livin
- 1,2,and 3 bedrooms
- $200 deposit
- Pool, spa, exercise room
- FREE tanning
- Quiet atmosphere
- Pets allowed
- Flexible Leases
- Basic cable, water, trash/sewer paid