Hopkins Cribs: Building A 206A

In another round of common blogs, we decided to show you around our stylin rooms and give you a look of what it is like it live here at Hopkins.

I live in Building A (technically called AMR III according to the fire escape map on the door....who knew?) AMR stands for Alumni Memorial Residence...AMRs I and II are your typical college style room with rooms off a hallway and common bathrooms (both men's and women's) on the hall. Buildings A and B are a little different. (p.s. Building A and B are exactly the same) All the rooms in these two buildings are suite-style. What this means is that there is one front door, two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a little teensy entry-way where most suites usually keep their fridge/microwave and just random junk.

There can be either double-double bedroom suites or double-single combos. Since my class is pretty large, they had to convert some doubles in Buildings A and B into triple bedrooms. So my suite is actually a single-triple combination...and I live in the single. It's pretty sweet if you ask me. (However, for the incoming class, there is more housing space available to you guys so you won't have to worry about converted triples!)

There is actually a sort of funny story about my housing process experience...and hopefully you will all learn from my mistakes.

So, I got my housing information in the mail around early May (I think...) and I filled out the online preference form and threw the rest of the information into a pile on my desk. Later that month on the day of my senior Prom, I was leaving the house to get a haircut and the phone rings. It was Hopkins Housing and Dining telling me that they had not received my signed housing contract and housing deposit. Until this was recieved they apparently could not offer me housing. So I run into my room, pull out the envelope and see at the bottom of the contract on the last page in font size 5, the due date....which was three weeks ago. So, listen to me and READ THE DUE DATE ON YOUR HOUSING CONTRACT. Because (and this is my favorite part of all) I got an email the first week of August stating that they had just completed the first round of freshman housing lotteries and I had not been selected for housing. The only nice part of the email was when they said "We will contact you should we be able to offer you housing in the coming month." At that point, I pulled my sleeping bag out of the closest and braced myself for life on the streets of Baltimore...just kidding. But I really had absolutely no idea what to do. I pretty much freaked out...many times. THANKFULLY, I got an email about three days later stating that they had given me my first choice room: a single in Building A. I was shocked to put it mildly. (My RA hypothesized that someone who had been given my room originally, dropped out in August and decided to go somewhere else etc. and they gave the room to me....thank you to whoever dropped out!)

So, children the moral of the story is TURN YOUR FORMS IN ON TIME. That is really important. So important, I had to use caps lock.

But, onto the pictures.

This is my pretty pretty bed. All the pictures above it are people from home, some pictures from Hopkins, and postcards etc. My wall is my favorite part of my room...my friends just wait to see what I can do with it next.

The next few pictures are of my dresser/chair/window/desk etc.

These are the books and pennants above my desk. The blue pennant is from my school in New York (it is actually the pennant they gave us when we finished third grade!) and the Hopkins one is something I took from an accepted students day last year.

This is my closest which has a hanger bar and a shelf inside and two drawers below. (As you can see, I also bought my own lamp. Note that it is just a normal 100watt lamp since you are NOT allowed to have halogen lamps. There are, however, two flourescent lights on the ceiling. But I hate the really bright lights...my friends tease me for basically living in the dark)

The door on the right of the picture is also one of the mysteries of Building A. All suites have one front door that goes into the entry way...however, I have my very own door that goes straight from my room into the hallway...it's weird.

Under the bed is great for storage...I have a few suitecases, a thing for my shoes, of which I have many :), and a clothes-bag (I have no idea what you call it) for my winter stuff that I'm not wearing anymore.

My wonderful DVD collection...bring lots of DVDs to college. They may distract you, but they will also keep you sane. I'm a big fan of watching a movie/TV show after a big test. Also, the whole dorm will love you if you are nice about lending out movies.

A VERY small sampling of my wall...I just counted I have 92 pictures/postcards/posters on my wall.

This is our bathroom...the shower is behind this and the separate toilet area is to the left.

This is our entry way with our micro-fridge, leading into the other bedroom of the suite.

So, hopefully you enjoyed the tour of my room. I LOVE my room, it is by far my favorite place ever. My advice is to buy a ton of stuff cheap at Bed, Bath, and Beyond to use in your room but bring some special things from home (especially pictures). My room is also uncommonly clean (I'm a bit of a neat freak). But I think the nicest thing anyone has said to me about my room is when my friend told me that whenever he walked into my room he felt like he wasn't at college anymore and it was like he was in someone's room at home. Make your room your own because you'll be living there for a whole school year!

Comments

[Amanda]

hey!
I was reading about your room and I found it so funny because my family teases me for living in the dark all the time. I'm just glad to know that I'm not the only one!!
Anyway I was wondering about the singles and I would really like to know how much space they have. I imagine they're pretty small. I'd also like to know wether the A and B buildings have a common room on every floor like Wolman does. All I keep hearing is how social the AMRs are, and I consider myself to be a social person, but I also like air conditioning!!
Thanks!!

[Julia]

Hi Amanda!

My single in Building A is 104 square feet, trust me it's a lottttt more room than you will ever have in a double! It's really big...like, I have a ton of room in here. One of my suitemates actually stores some of her stuff with me.

A and B have one common room on the main floor that serves the whole building.

Here is my take on the "social AMRs" issue: I was told all the same stuff about the AMRs. Honestly, if you are a social person, you will make friends no matter what so where you live doesn't matter. Plus, it all depends on the people in your dorm. Building A is super social this year cause we have awesome people and it is entirely possible to have a really unsocial house in the AMRs because the people are unsocial etc. I think A and B are your best bet because:
they're social
it's right on the freshman quad
air conditioning is amazzzing
there is a common kitchen in the basement

Wolman would give you a kitchenette, but honestly, as a freshman, the last thing you are going to be doing is cooking. Also Wolman is not on the quad so you don't get that sense of community. And if you choose A and B you will be right above the dining hall and not accross the street from it.

Go for A and B, they are awesome!

Hope that helps,
Julia

[Pooja]

Hi Julia,
I just received housing information from Hopkins and it seems that I will be part of a triple housed in a double in Building A (kinda like you described in your post). I'm wondering if I should try to switch into an AMR? Does it get really crowded? Is the bathroom situation any better because you have one per 5ish people or is that about the same as AMR's? (JHU still takes care of cleaning/taking care of bathrooms... right?) Do a lot of people use the common kitchen? Also, I've heard it's really nice to stay in an all freshmen building... any thoughts on this?

I realize I have about a million questions - thanks so much!!

[Dean]

"The door on the right of the picture is also one of the mysteries of Building A. All suites have one front door that goes into the entry way...however, I have my very own door that goes straight from my room into the hallway...it's weird."

That's because you probably have one of the designated handicapped-accessible rooms.

[Julia]

I actually didn't have a handicap room. Those rooms are on the first floor and I lived on the second floor. I later discovered that the extra door was there because the room used to belong to a Resident Advisor.

[Anna]

Hi, I'm going to be a Fall 2007 freshman and I know this entry was from last year, but I'm wondering if the triple option in Buildings A/B is being offered this year. Thanks.

[Julia]

Hi Anna!
The triple option is usually only used as a contingency plan if there are not enough places. However,it might be offered again this year--it will say so on your housing form if it is.