Emulating The Dorms
July 24, 2023
This past week my husband and I moved into a new home a couple states away. It has been warm and sunny and something about it reminds me of moving into a college dorm.
If you keep up with my blog, you know that I have been thinking about this a lot lately. It has been on my mind quite a bit, but I was thinking, why? What about the college experience do I miss so much?
This is what I came up with:
Walkability – it was so nice to be able to walk around campus, a place that everyone had to go to and everyone had to be on at least at one point during the week. It was a place that I could run into a friend or go grab a cup of coffee or find a book I needed for class. It was a place that I, honestly, didn’t really need to leave, unless I wanted to.
Proximity – both to friends and to things. This also goes back to walkability. I was able to just pop by a friends place, or ask them if they want to get dinner with me since we are all in the same place.
Understanding – everyone kind of is in the same stage of life. We are all figuring out what we want to do with our lives, we are all roughly the same age, we are all trying to learn about the world around us and our place in it. You all kind of understand each other, and there is such a sense of community because of it.
So how can I take this into my life?
Live in a walkable city.
Choose places to live that have shops, restaurants and entertainment around them.
Make friends with the people around you. This might mean putting yourself out there and introducing yourself to your neighbors or going to ( or throwing ) social events such as block parties. I must admit, this one is really hard for me. I have a lot of social anxiety.
Join groups of people with similar interests. Say you like pottery, join a pottery class or club. Say you like hiking, join a hiking class or club. Say you like cooking, go to a cooking class or club. There are not always a lot of options locally to you, which can make the locally thing more difficult, but if there isn’t something that has already been created, maybe you create the group. It is so easy to set up Facebook groups and have friends invite friends. Maybe they have all been waiting for a group of people to talk to as well!
Now time to take my own advise…
