Living in Supplemental

Now that you’ve chosen to go to Penn State, the next thing on your mind is when your room assignments will finally be getting here!  Special living options, East Halls, living with friends or simply doing random selection, the choices are endless.  While I knew several people who were not only going to Penn State, but also were going for engineering, I opted for the option of getting the “freshman experience” by living in East and taking my chances with a random roommate.  Unfortunately I wasn’t as lucky as I thought I’d be…middle of summer I got a letter saying I was in supplemental housing (something I knew nothing about).  A website was included in the letter explaining more about the situation (www.supplemental.psu.edu).  I read up on it, and it turns out that I would be put into a room with at least 3, or possibly 7 other girls!  I almost cried.  I was worried enough about having to deal with one roommate, now I might have to deal with more?  The website had quotes from people who had lived in supplemental before.  Of course everything said something along the lines of that it was the greatest experience and when given the option to move out, all of them chose to stay with each other.  Yeah right, I knew I was getting out of there as quick as I could. 

When room assignments arrived, I found out that I would only have to live with three other girls!  Not soon after I received an email from the one girl, Alyssa, saying a little bit more about herself.  I wasn’t quite sure about her at first, but as we continued to exchange emails I got more and more excited about the school year.  Finally move in day arrived! Thanks to WEPO I moved in first (and am so grateful that I was able to).  The room was a bit smaller than I had imagined…an indent in the wall as a closet, bunk-beds, and 4 dressers smack-dab in the middle; there was no room to play around with the design.  It was a mess. 

After WEPO I came back to the room to see two of the girls had already moved in and had already moved some of my stuff around.  Not a good first impression for me.  I took a deep breath and moved on though and focused on getting to know them more.  The next day the last girl moved in and it was obvious she wasn’t happy with the space we were given.  As we started talking we all felt more comfortable with each other and even went to different activities together.  We each had a different bond with one another and it worked perfectly. 

The third week into the school year I checked my webmail and found out that I was assigned to a different room, in McKee hall.  The complete opposite end of campus, but it was the engineering dorm!  My 8 am class that was held in Hammond would no longer take 30 minutes to walk to!  Yet, I would have to make friends with a new roommate/hallmates. I was torn, but had no choice in the move and was given only 3 days to get out. 

Being reassigned was possibly the lowest point of my freshman year.  I had felt comfortable in my room and had taken up to calling it home.  Now I was coming into a completely new building where everyone already knew each other.  Granted it was great living in E-house (it definitely had many perks), but I missed my old roommates.  It took me until spring semester to realize that I didn’t have to drop my friends from my life just because I moved across campus.  You can schedule classes together, join the same clubs, start traditions (a weekly movie night is always a good idea); even if you’re in opposite majors doesn’t mean you have to give up a forming friendship.  So if come July 18^th when you log into eliving and find out you’ll be living with several other girls, don’t freak out.  I promise it’ll be ok.  Just go with the flow, they may turn out to be your best friends :-)

Ashley Fowler is a sophomore majoring in Computer Science. Ashley participated in WEPO 2010 and will be serving as a Rover in WEPO 2011. On campus, she is involved in the Society of Women Engineers, Blue and White Society, THON and ASME.