An alarm sounds like a siren in his left ear, and his hand desperately reaches for the snooze button. The bowl of Easy Mac from the night before still sits on his bed as a larger-than-life size poster of Bruce Willis stares directly at him. “One day,” he thinks, “I’m going to cover my walls with posters.”
Welcome to the life of dorm resident Carlos Suarez.
Suarez, a computer engineering freshman, lives on the fourth floor of South Graham Hall.
A usual day for Suarez begins at 8:30 a.m. with Walton and Johnson on WDGL 98.1 blaring on the radio.
“In the morning, there are a bunch of alarm clocks going off all at one time,” Suarez said.
He goes through the usual morning routine: He takes a shower, brushes his teeth and gets dressed for another day of student life on campus. A poster of Shakira greets him on his way out the door.
Since Calculus 1552 starts at 9:30 a.m. in Lockett Hall, a mere five-minute walk from his residence hall, Suarez has plenty of time to stop in the Quad and chat with a couple of his friends.
Suarez has a second class in the morning, then he usually is ready for lunch.
“The Pentagon is a good place to eat,” Suarez said. “It’s close and is actually pretty good food.”
After lunch, Suarez has a substantial amount of free time simply because he lives on campus. This free time, he said, usually is filled with studying or hanging out with friends.
“It’s pretty laid back on campus,” Suarez said, “but you really have to learn to manage your own time.”
Suarez said he achieves this time management balance by using Graham Hall to his advantage.
“There are study halls on each floor, and I use the one on my floor sometimes,” Suarez said. “It’s usually pretty quiet in there.”
Many of Suarez’s friends live on campus as well. While most students leave and go home after their classes, he has time to hang out with friends, he said.
“Last semester I wasn’t on campus nearly as much as I am now,” Suarez said. “This semester is a lot better.”
Although most of the cleaning in the residence hall is done by a cleaning service, straightening each room is up to the residents.
“I’ve cleaned my dorm like once this semester,” Suarez said.
In the evening, most of the eateries around campus close at 7 p.m.
“I have to make sure that I eat before that,” Suarez said. “Otherwise, I have to spend my own money.”
On these occasions, Suarez said he either continues his diet of Easy Mac and Trix or pays a little visit to his friend Jack (In the Box).
When not pulling an all-nighter, Suarez said he usually likes to be in bed by midnight.
“I usually just put on a movie and pass out,” Suarez said.
At the end of the day, Suarez said he is satisfied with his day as a dorm resident.
“It’s nice to be in a dorm just because I’m not at home,” he said, “and it’s pretty cool living on your own.”