Not By the Hair of My Chinny Chin Chin Part 1

Remember the story of the Three Little Pigs?  There were three pigs. And one wolf.  Each pig built a house out of a different material.  The first built her house out of straw.  The second out of sticks.  Needless to say, the first two pigs didn't survive a visit from the wolf.  The last little pig was smart and built her house out of bricks. 

To tame the college beast you must build your housing out of bricks--metaphorically speaking. You want the strongest solution for you. 

Securing housing varies for every student because every student has different needs and every school has different housing options. If you live at home, you are lucky. I know it might not feel like that when your mom or grandpa or auntie is telling you that you better get your hiney into bed as if you were still five year's old. But it is very nice to have the security of  home during college and is one of the many benefits of attending a community college. For other students, living at home is not an option and even if it were they'd rather live on a park bench than live at home. You know who you are.

Many schools have dorms but the truth is more and more schools—if they provide housing at all—only guarantee it for the first year. (No worries.  My next post will cover off campus housing.) At schools that provide housing past the first year some students are content to commit to a second year of dorm life.

Here is my highly scientific formula for dorm happiness:

cool roommate(s) + respect+ common interests + common educational goals = dorm happiness. 

Notice nothing in the equation says anything about the size of the room or whether the shower is down the hall or if the dorm was built in 1921 or 2012. Dorm happiness has everything to do with relationships. This is one of the great benefits of dorm life. You learn how to get along with people, all different kinds of people, just like you will when you go into the working world. 

So, if you find you find yourself at home or in a dorm, be thankful that it's one of the strongest brick houses of them all. And when the wolf says, "Little pig, little pig.  Let me come in. Or I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in." 

You can say to the beast, "Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin."

 Or there's always the classic California response, "Whatever, Dude."

Next post?  House of Bricks Part 2