Dorm Life

Settling into life in the dorms with the Hillside A-Team at CSULB

While at the University of Hertfordshire I commuted from home in Knebworth. This was mainly for financial reasons and I wasn't sure that shared living was for me. I enjoyed my independence and never felt like I was missing out.

This made the decision to study abroad even bigger, not only would it be my first time away from home, it would be over 5,000 miles away.

I chose to live on campus to embrace the full American university experience, which meant a room mate and the scary prospect of shared bathrooms. CSULB made this an easy process, with a choice of buildings and online room mate selection.

So I found myself in Hillside A, the place I can now call home until next summer. I'm one of the lucky people with an amazing room mate which makes the whole experience even better. My building has also formed it's own family, congregating in our common room.

We've given our bland room the homely feel, by moving the furniture for movie nights, adding lights and decorations, and our very own tea corner. Perfect for my personal mission to convert the Americans to English tea!

Last weekend we even had a Hillside A sleepover, with pyjama clad residents taking to the sofas and lining our mattresses on the floor, to the slight dismay of our RA!

Settling into American life and coping with homesickness has been made so much easier with the support of some truly lovely people (who have all been invited to visit in England) and by living in our personalised surroundings.

I'm looking forward to the months to come to see what other antics the Hillside A-Team family can get up to!