Hey UVM, welcome to my dorm
October 2, 2019
The luxurious twin XL provided by Residential Life is no longer just a place to watch Netflix with your tinder date or have mental breakdowns.
With way too many Amazon Prime orders and quite a few Target runs on your mom’s credit card, many college students today have found their room can be a dazzling display of their personality and interests.
These few students take their dorm decorating to a whole new level and show us how they garnish their newfound home.
Spoiler alert: the rooms bearing only a “Pulp Fiction” poster and Barstool flag, sadly, didn’t make the cut.
First-year Phoebe Kasparian has only been at UVM for a few weeks but has already made her room her own. Kasparian’s room, which is filled with flowers, vines, sticks and even her own bohemian swing, can make any woodland fairy jealous.
“I like flowers and nature and it makes me very peaceful so I wanted my room to have that type of theme,” Kasparian said.
She said that her room provides a sanctuary that is completely her own.
“Your room is who you are in some ways,” Kasparian said. “When I’m in my room I’m in my happy place.”
With the hustle and bustle of college life, it’s important to have a safe space to come back to and unwind. Sophomores Katie Attolino and Chrissy Schultz have been living in dorms for a year now and still understand the importance of this notion.
“I have a lot of my home life represented here because I love to come into my safe space and look at my home, the place where I feel most safe,” Schultz said.
A room which will house you for nine months should be a fun space to express yourself and show off your personality and interests, without losing your sense of individuality and creativity.
“Despite living in the same room, we didn’t feel the need to match. We wanted our sides to be a representation of our different personalities,” Schultz said. “I love to ski, vibrant colors, my friends and hot pink, so that is shown in my side of the room.”
Attolino went for a more toned down indie look that she said matched her free personality. With a bohemian tapestry and moons and stars hanging from her ceiling, she pulls it all together with a “hippies use back door” sign.
“I definitely have been described as a hippie or free spirit, so I think my side represents that really well,” Attolino said.
Difficulties can arise when you find yourself living with a new person in a new space. It can be even more difficult when you want to make sure you feel comfortable and let your personality shine through.
“We have our own separate nooks where we are ourselves, then we have a common area that we feel represents us both,” Attolino said.
The small square footage of UVM dorms should be no deterrence to decorating, Attolino said.
“I know personally, even if I was given a 5×5 piece of wall to decorate, I’d still feel it was important to make it your own, which I would.” Schulz said.
Some other students like to take a more comical approach to their room decor and the harsh reality of dorm life. First-year Reed Cotthaus has fruit snack boxes adorning his walls due to his and his roommates addiction (they said they finished a 90 pack in two days, impressive).
“I’d say our room’s style is modern junkyard,” Catthaus said. “Just because of all of the empty boxes on the walls.”
Catthaus also said that due to the drab nature of empty dorm rooms, it’s necessary to decorate.
“If you don’t, you’re essentially living in a colorless shoebox and no one wants to live like that,” Cotthaus said.
The music and skiing posters reflect Cotthaus’ personality.
“I basically spend all of my income on music and skiing so it makes sense. It’s everything I care about,” Cottahus said.
Despite these select few rooms giving even the most pimped out mansion on MTV a run for their money, these are the professionals. Accessorizing your room doesn’t mean you have to hire a personal decorator, nor does it entail blowing up your bank account.
As long as your room becomes a sanctuary for you and represents your personality, it deserves to be featured on every back-to-school catalogue. So, now it’s time to run to Target, grab some twinkling lights and get to decorating your newfound crib.
