My roommate and I were lucky to get a thermostat in our freshman dorm room
My first year of college was definitely full of ups and downs.
- I went to a small liberal arts school in my home state.
It was nice to finally be surrounded by other students that share your interests and beliefs, but it was suffocating sometimes. We had a smaller student population than the high school I had just left, and you could feel the social pressure at times. Despite any issues being in college for the first time, I was incredibly lucky with the roommate I was assigned to my freshman year. We were both introverted and loved much of the same music, movies, and TV shows. And since we are both writers, that was another shared trait that we could bond over. The room we were put in was newly renovated as well and had one huge feature that most dorm rooms on that campus lack—an adjustable thermostat for the air conditioner and heating system. Most of the dorm rooms had thermostats that were locked by the administration and controlled remotely from a central location in the administrative building. Ours wasn’t locked, and in retrospect I think this was an oversight on their part. It was great because we could make the room as cold as we wanted in the summer and spring while making it extremely warm and toasty in autumn and winter. That thermostat in our freshman dorm room was an amazing amenity to have as a new college student. We were much more comfortable with our indoor air compared to other students. Sadly, our dorm room in our sophomore year had a locked thermostat.