In the spirit of transparency, I’m going to be vulnerable with you all.For the first few weekends of my freshman fall, I barely left my room. Sure, there was the occasional rooftop party and my inaugural visit to Dupont Circle, but I still felt an inexplicable ache whenever I was alone. On these solitary weekends, I spiraled, imagining myself to be the epitome of loneliness.
Walking into CAB Fair my freshman year, I felt surrounded by everything with absolutely no idea where to start. It took place on a particularly sweltering Saturday, only magnified by the flood of students scoping out potential clubs. Walking down the path of fold-out tables bursting with poster boards and eager faces I began to question my interests and whether I even knew what I wanted to pursue.
What’s the only thing worse than being the worst dorm? Being the second worst dorm. Darnall is legendary for the suffering of its residents and the deep bonds they form through trauma. New South has plenty of its own problems, but gets none of the sympathy. It's a loser-takes-all world.
On a late October night, Reesa Bhowmik (SFS ’26) and her friend were walking back to their Village C dorms from Lauinger Library when a rat jumped out of the bushes, scuttling directly over their feet. “It was the most scary, disgusting, all in one experience that I think I’ve ever had on campus,” Bhowmik.