If These Walls Could Speak...

They'd probably tell all of your secrets.

Last year, my friends and I lived in a tower-fortress dormitory, with large concrete bricks on every side that contained and siphoned noise, as appropriate. Our suite's position on the top floor added to the peace.This year, Claire and I are in the middle of the hallway, on the middle floor of a slightly thinner-walled building. (I'm not complaining.)

When I awoke the first morning, it was at 8:15 am to this:
[BANG!] "Hmm" [BANG!] "This door-" [BANG!] "It won't lock properly." [BANG! BANG! BANG!]

The freshmen had begun to move in, which is perfectly natural, so I ran away to hide and eat breakfast on the benches next to a construction zone (a more productive source of banging).

As days progress, the dorm bathroom has begun to reveal its affinity for... revealing. Though they have dividers and curtains, the showers are all in a line, directly across from a room-length mirror. There is a window in the shower area (why?), which has blinds with various rips, so it almost doesn't matter that it was wide open the first time I jumped in the shower, then crept modestly out.

Also, the toilet stalls are next to a window, so it's possible to see another dorm's entrance from between the large plastic wall on the end stall. Very interesting.

These little details just add to the fact that it is a more public bathroom than we had last year, and it allows everyone to fairly accurately guess what each other is doing. I'm not a fan of this; I'm worried I'll offend someone by shaving too weirdly, or something.

On the way from my bathroom to bedroom, I have on more than one occasion attempted to walk into my neighbor's room, having misjudged the distance between takeoff and destination. Luckily the door was locked, the neighbor screamed, or some other preventative measure halted my progress into the room. But this just illustrates how no one is safe from inadvertently intruding in this building.