It is close enough to the beginning of the year that we are still ironing out our living situations. RAs are coming around to help set up living agreements, and final pieces of decor are hung up on the walls. 

For some lucky students like myself, it is finally time to trade communal bathrooms and old, peeling walls for the solitude of my very own toilet and hallways that I almost never need to actually set foot in.

I have paid my dues, so now it is my turn to reap the benefits of living in a beautiful apartment. However, while my West Campus apartment is spacious, clean and only used by a few people, there are some things I miss about my residence halls of the past.

Last year, I lived in Corr Hall, right at the center of everything. While the water pressure was barely more than a trickle and one of my windows was frosted, I greatly miss the convenience of being able to essentially teleport myself to any location on main campus. I could leave my room five minutes before the start of my class in Mendel and I would get there early. 

However, I will absolutely take a longer walk any day over sharing a bathroom with more than two to four other individuals. If I am brushing my teeth at 2 a.m., why is someone else that I barely know also brushing their teeth at 2 a.m. next to me? That should not be. 

The only nice thing was that I did not have to clean that bathroom. However, I have found that it only takes me, at most, ten minutes to clean a bathroom. So, in actuality, I do not think much of my time was being saved considering I would have to scrub suspect purple liquid off of the shower walls before I got in, anyway.

Upon asking other Villanova students their opinions on apartment-living versus traditional, dorm-style living, most people laughed, asking me whether that was a contest at all.

Junior Hayden Karnes, who is now an apartment resident on West Campus, agreed that she likes living in an apartment far better than a regular dorm.

“Of course I like living in an apartment more,” Karnes said. “[Living in] two shoe boxes with a kitchen is a lot better than one shoe box.”

Though I personally have no culinary prowess and do not buy groceries, my roommates and apartment-dwelling friends greatly enjoy having a kitchen. It is very nice to know that I have the option of cooking food as I please, though I do not often partake in such an activity myself.

However, I do appreciate the luxury of a full-sized fridge, even though my stack of mini guacamole containers looks even smaller now. I have also never had the luxury of having a freezer on campus, so now when I buy a pint of ice cream from the convenience store, I no longer feel obligated to eat all of it in one sitting.

Even though returning to campus as a junior already feels like coming home, being in a spacious apartment makes it just that much better. Senior Margaux Snow, a resident of the Commons, agrees.

“Living in an apartment makes campus feel more like a home,” Snow said. “It’s like a little piece of Villanova is yours.”

My only hope is that I get to enjoy another year of on-campus apartment living next year. Regardless of the slightly less-convenient location, the freedom and overall hominess makes living in an on-campus apartment unparalleled.