Ahoy avid blog readers! Alex here again, bringing you another thrilling blog! I know most of you incoming freshmen are getting excited (at least I hope so) to start school at Benedictine. I’m sure you found Matt’s “Top 5 List of Dorm Room Necessities” helpful, and I would like to add on to that with a list of my own. So, without further ado…
“Top 5 Things You Should Leave at Home.”
1.Open Coil Items: Now this is a no-brainer for most of you, but you’d be surprised at the amount of 
people RA’s catch with open coil items. So what constitutes (yeah, good word usage) as an “open coil item” you might ask? Toasters, toaster ovens, halogen lamps, candles, incense..Etc. basically anything that is capable of starting a fire. As we all know, a fire in the dorm will put a damper on anyone’s day–especially when you have to stand outside, at 2am, in the middle of December, while the fire alarms are going off (no idea what I’m talking about? Believe me, you will). If you happen to bring an open coil item and do cause a fire, be prepared for a hefty fine!
2. Pets: Yet again, another no-brainer. I know that you’re dog Woofy might be all cute and cuddly–maybe he even fits 
into your book bag, but that’s not an excuse to bring him to the dorm. It’s against the rules for a reason. This includes all types of pets: dogs, cats, rodents, ferrets, snakes, monkeys, sloths, sea lions, it doesn’t matter. Some people are allergic to certain types of animals, and some people just aren’t “pet friendly.” So please, have some respect for your fellow dorm-mates and just leave the pets at home.
3. Your weird collections:
Roommate 1: “Hey man, check out my awesome earthworm collection!” roommate 2: (awkward silence).
We all know you have that certain collection that you’re uber (yet another good word) excited about. 
Turns out that maybe not everyone is as excited about that collection as you are. I’m not just speaking to the nerd crowd here (hey, it’s cool, I’m a huge comic book nerd) I’m talking to that girl that brings her entire shoe collection to school, or the guy that needs to litter his room with sports memorabilia. Just leave it at home or you’ll soon gain a reputation of being “that guy” or “that girl.”
4. Black light: Yes, this does include the trippy posters as well. We aren’t living in the 1970’s anymore, so don’t even 
think about putting those back lights up. Not only are they against dorm rules (it’s considered a halogen lamp, I looked it up), but no one wants to walk into a room full of Led Zeppelin and Grateful Dead posters. Side note: Those are two phenomenal (I’m on a roll with good words today/the word dropping continues!) bands and I encourage posters of said bands, just not black light posters. Let’s not get too cheesy here.
And Finally….
5.Your Significant Other: Ok, settle down, I can feel the flames from your anger-filled eyes. 
Just hear me out. I think it’s a great thing to have a significant other while in college, even better if you were high-school sweethearts (more power to you), but here’s the thing, just like the pet issue, your roommate may have a problem with having your GF or BF there all the time. Try and be considerate of your roommate. Put yourself in their shoes, how would you feel if they had a loud/obnoxious friend over while you were trying to study for a test? Exactly. This suggestion doesn’t only apply to your GF or BF, it could be your best friend, brothers or sisters, or mom and dad. College is the time in your life to meet people and forge new friendships, don’t spend all of your time in a comfort zone. Go out and meet new people!
So there’s my list, take it with a grain of salt. It’s just a little street-knowledge from a recent Benedictine grad. College is a million things: fun, exciting, scary, nerve-wracking, new, refreshing and hard (to name a few). The transition from high school to college is much easier when you have helpful tips along the way. So stay tuned for the next couple of blogs, there will be more tips to help make your experience at Benedictine a great one!
Roommate 1: “Hey man, check out my awesome earthworm collection!” roommate 2: (awkward silence).
We all know you have that certain collection that you’re uber (yet another good word) excited about. Turns out that maybe not everyone is as excited about that collection as you are. I’m not just speaking to the nerd crowd here (hey, it’s cool, I’m a huge comic book nerd) I’m talking to that girl that brings her entire shoe collection to school, or the guy that needs to litter his room with sports memorabilia. Just leave it at home or you’ll soon gain a reputation of being “that guy.”
Posted by abatten14 
