I moved into my new dorm a few days ago – the fourth dorm I’ve lived in so far at Wellesley! Being surrounded by unpacked boxes and suitcases is a strangely familiar and comforting feeling; the walls may be blank and the shelves may be empty, but there’s always this level of excitement that comes with the meticulous planning in my head of where each of my items will go.
I’m no stranger to moving and no stranger to making each temporary space I live in feel like home. Building comfort from scratch and filling up my walls with posters, photos, and cards is one of my favorite things to do. At Wellesley I pride myself on my ability to rapidly transform my new dorms into perfectly curated collections of my life’s artifacts on move-in days.
My first dorm was in Severance Hall, a first-year rectangular space I shared with my two roommates. Our room number was 212, and we wrote the lyrics of Azealia Banks’ song of the same name on our whiteboard the night we moved in. I brought a million posters and the ti leaf lei my grandma had given me for my high school graduation, which I hung above my bed as a small reminder of home. The walls in our dorm were covered with album covers, polaroids, movie prints, and postcards. Our windows looked out onto Sev Green, and in the winter months we would watch the snow fall while watching students sled down the hill.
Even with its harsh bright lighting (that we fixed rather easily with the purchase of a few warmer lamps) and sometimes-finicky radiator, 212 became my first-ever home away from home.
In my sophomore year, my two roommates and I picked a room in Claflin Hall (still on west side, of course), but this time living in another triple on the second floor with a bench window and a beautiful view of Tower Court. My corner was filled with the same posters from my first year (and a few more I had collected over the year), and the ti leaf lei came with me again, hanging above my bed once more.
This was by far my favorite dorm . The lighting was beautiful, and my favorite moments would be spent sitting in my room watching movies with friends, hosting parties and get-togethers, and staying up late with the people I love. Some of my best memories were within these four walls. My favorite time of day was dusk, when the sky turned brilliant hues of pink, and on rainy and snowy days I would sit by the window, perfectly content to watch the weather (as long as I didn’t have to go outside).
The common room of Claflin is also one of my favorite places on campus, and living one floor above it was magical. Claflin sits right on the lake, and there’s this one window on the ground floor that overlooks the water. It’s absolutely stunning.
This summer I lived in another dorm on campus – a double in Cazenove Hall in the Quint! I had two beds but no roommate, so this was my first time living at Wellesley alone. I did my best to decorate for the three months I’d be here, attempting to make my very temporary room as comfortable as possible. I brought the same sheets and comforters and posters of the last two years and hung everything up the same way I always do. Some of my favorite moments this summer were in this very room with my two desks, two chairs, and extra-large walk-in closet all for myself.
On Sunday I moved into my fall dorm: a single in Munger! I’m living down the hall from my closest friends in my very own room next semester, and I decorated it with my familiar posters, lei, and the same pillows and stuffed animals I’ve hauled from dorm to dorm. Everything in my room now has followed me from Severance to Claflin to Caz, and my Munger dorm is now alive with little reminders of home and memories from past years.
Each dorm has served as the backdrop to my favorite memories on campus; as I write this now I reflect on past versions of myself, with each room I lived in slowly becoming home to me. I’ve brought the same things with me each year, but I’m not the same person who first unpacked them two years ago. I’m excited for my next few months in Munger and the change it will bring me! When it’s time for me to pack it all up again, I know these walls will have been just as full of life as my other dorms were.
Until next week!
Bri❤️