I don’t think I’ve ever taken a colder shower in my life than the one I had this morning.
One thing I would like to point out about OKCU is that there is no real “middle ground” on the quality of residence halls. You’ve got your “good” dorms and your “bad” dorms. According to http://www.okcu.edu/students/reslife/, these are the facilities offered to freshman, upperclassmen, and graduate students: Smith Hall, Walker Hall, Banning Hall, University Manor, Cokesbury Court, and Centennial Residence Hall. In terms of quality, I would give them a rating of 3, 4, 4, 7, 7, and 9, respectively. With that being said, when I received an email notifying me that I would be residing in “Draper Hall,” I was a little confused. “Draper?” I thought. “Why haven’t I seen or read anything about this hall?”
Trust me to apply for housing at the last minute. Turns out, Draper Hall isn’t advertised for a reason.
Okay, I lied. There is, in fact, a little paragraph about Draper Hall. The snag is that you have to put on your reading glasses and find the tiny link for it at the top of the page. This is the result:
“Draper Hall has a main lobby with a big screen TV, pool table, vending machines, microwave and table games. The laundry facilities and exercise equipment are located in the basement of the building. The head resident lives in the dorm and has three Resident Assistants. Draper residents also have their own keys to come and go but must sign guests in and out.”
I guess the one detail they left out is any information whatsoever about the rooms themselves. In retrospect, I only have two issues with my room:
ACT I – THE DOOR
After hauling suitcase after suitcase up two flights of stairs, I turned the key to unlock the room I’ll be living in for the next year. To my dismay, the door was jammed. That’s right, I’m living in the only room out of the entire hall that requires me to nearly hurl myself at the door every time I have to lock it, because otherwise the door doesn’t close at all. When I managed to get into the room, the first thing I said to my roommate was “So, it begins,” as I knew this would be the first as well as the least of our troubles regarding our room this year.
ACT II – THE BATHROOM
“All rooms in Smith Hall have central heat and air, and feature suites of two rooms (four students) sharing one bathroom.”
“Suites,” right.
This statement also applies for Walker, Banning, Harris, and Draper Hall. What baffles me is why the school didn’t start the second line of that sentence off with an apology. Four guys. Two sinks. One toilet. One shower.
Here’s where I don’t get to complain as much: No one has moved in next to us. For what it’s worth, I only have to share the bathroom with one other person for now. But wait! Is that…? It is! Of course. Yes, our shower had a leak for the first three or four days of my stay here. To my surprise, it was fixed within hours of being reported. Also, to be honest, the room itself isn’t that bad. I’ve actually got a pretty appealing and efficient setup at my desk, if I do say so myself.
This afternoon I came home to find that the shower was being worked on again. Sadly, it’s still in shambles. Looks like I’ll have to find another way to shower in the morning!
As a final thought for this entry, I would just like to add that I stayed in Centennial Hall for three weeks during my recent experience of OCU’s Summer Music Program. There are no words to express what a depressing transition I have made.
Thanks for reading! Stay tuned!
I quite enjoyed this.