“Eddington Tower is filthy, disgusting, packed, and old, but it’s the absolute best.” This is roughly what the peer adviser, who lived in Eddington his first year, told me and one of my flat mates as he showed us to registration. So far he is absolutely 100% right.
On my floor there are 16 of us. 8 on each side of the floor sharing two toilets, and one shower each. So far I’ve met: 4 Australians, 2 Canadians, 3 Americans, 2 Germans, 1 Colombian, and 1 Chinese, and I’m pretty sure there’s someone here from Singapore who I have not yet introduced myself to.
I freaking love all of them (Thus far). The dorms are bad, but not nearly as bad as I feared. Them being here just makes everything better.
I remember my freshman year at Arkansas, I did my absolute best to make sure I got a suite style dorm without community living. I was terrified of it. This was partially due to a misconception of mine about community living, and I ended up with my preferred suite style. Yet, I met more people and great friends from a different, community style, dorm. When I found out I was coming to Essex, I decided that that’s what I wanted here. Well that and to save money (This is one of the two cheapest dorms after all).
I wanted to meet people, and I decided that leaving my comfort zone was worth that risk. Sure there’s a chance I could’ve ended up with awful flat mates, but that’s a risk in any dorm. So far, I couldn’t be happier.
Until next time,
Reed
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Read more from Reed at https://reedingatcolchester.files.wordpress.com/
To find out more about the Exchange program with University of Essex, visit http://studyabroad.uark.edu/exchange/essex
