It’s everyone’s favorite part of the year again: college move-in. During a fun yet stressful weekend, you’re forced to pack up all your belongings and fit them into a tiny room about the size of a jail cell. It really does give you borderline claustrophobia. Between trying to find a place for all your things and aggressively scrubbing every square inch of your mattress with a bleach wipe (this is a crucial step – who knows what happened on that bed in semesters past), the move-in process makes for an exhausting day.

The part that makes it all worth it, however, is the decorations. After weeks of collaborating with roommates trying to decide what décor to buy to curate the perfect ~vibe~, it is finally time to put the plan into action. This is where girls and boys are different.

When you walk into a girl’s apartment, the color pink immediately encapsulates your entire body, completely blinding you. The walls are covered in (obviously) aesthetically pleasing posters and there is a tapestry on the wall with either the phrase “Welcome to the Sh!t Show,” “I Don’t Care,” or “Saturdays are for The Girls.” It’s always one of those three. Baddie energy only, of course. Fairy lights line the ceiling and the table in the corner has been carefully hand painted to match the aforementioned ~vibe~. The apartment is bright, exciting, and while mildly overbearing it looks like nothing but great times will happen here.

A boy’s apartment is a bit of a different experience. The first thing you notice is an entire bed frame and mattress propped up against the wall in the living area. No one knows where it came from, and certainly no one is going to do anything about it. It will become next year’s resident’s problem. 

There is nothing in the kitchen except some empty gallon-sized water bottles and a container of pre-workout powder. The only light source in the entire room is the atrocious ceiling light that makes you feel like you’re in an insane asylum. Boys tend to make up for it with the harsh glow of multicolored LED lights in their room. However, the fact that they have only a fitted sheet and one measly blanket knocks them back down a few points. The space provides more of a laid back feel than the girl’s apartment, and may not be quite as well planned, but it’s certain that energy is still there.

While the state of each apartment is bound to change with the ebbs and flows of the school year, everyone’s best bet is to try to keep it relatively clean, keep the doors locked (you never know who could wander in), and most importantly, as my RA once said, “try not to burn the place down.”