Rooming Royalty
Buchanan Towers Western Washington University
Author: Xavier Mosere-Storms
Login: mosereh
Password: *******
Date: December 21st, 2015
Website domain: https://housing.wwu.edu/apps/myhousing/
Today is the day. The day that rooming statements are sent to students starting their freshman year at Western Washington University (WWU), a college in Bellingham, WA.
With a quick paced click of the refresh button, my destined room showed itself right in front of me, a nervous incoming freshmen to WWU.
Building Name: Buchanan Towers
Room number: #416A
Room type: Double, BT international community
That was it.
Now for anyone who doesn’t know what these names and numbers mean, let me give you a general idea about what’s going on. The picture below shows the placement of everything in the largely spaced and greenery filled campus of WWU.
The building that I was specifically placed in is closest to the right corner of the image. Buchanan Towers, the dorm where I now reside, is an eight floor building located on the south side of the campus. The school’s website describes it as “a great place to live where residents can make themselves a home away from home”.
For people who have never roomed in a college dorm or seen a college suite, the picture below gives you a basic understanding of my current situation. There is a letter A room and a letter B room, A on the left and B on the right with a living area in between.
According to the image, there are two beds in each suite (possibility of making a bunk bed), two closets, and two desks. Each suite has a living room area providing a kitchenette (stove top, oven, fridge, cabinets, and sink), a couch, and an end table.
Now that you are on the same page as me with my situation at WWU, let me inform you of why Buchanan Towers is a beautiful dorm that could become your home away from home.
As a freshmen, or incoming college student at WWU, you have the choice of a variety of dorms. I chose Buchanan Towers because of the ability to easily make the space your own.
A study found that many, “First-year university students encounter a plethora of stressors: making new relationships, and developing study habits for a new and challenging environment while tackling the task of functioning as independent adults” so a dorm room you can personalize, can help combat stress.
At WWU, I felt that the uniqueness of the room and the spaciousness helped create an area where I could function and where many would feel welcomed.The suite can also become an easily personalized space for you, custom fit to your likes.
The beds can be moved anywhere in the room that there is space. You can even combine beds and make a bunk bed, flip your bed and heighten it up so that there is loads of space underneath, and even make it shorter and closer to the floor.
The large amount of wall space allows for optimal posters hanging, wall decor, and decals. My room currently is personalized to my likes and needs as seen in the picture below.
As you can tell, posters could take up a majority of the wall, and you still have tons of room. One challenge is the fact that you can’t make any sort of hole in the wall, unless you are willing to pay for damages.
“Many students, though, tend to ignore this rule and just buy paint on their own and refill the hole” — My current roommate Lela Goad informs me.
Living in Buchanan Towers has a very large perk. The amount of space you have to call your own is very spacious. As someone who went on many college tours, other colleges such as Linfield had generally smaller dorms with less floor space to walk around and enjoy casual banter in.
If you are currently a senior or junior in high school, a young adult looking for college rooming opportunities, or just a human looking to learn about dorms, I highly suggest the rooming situation that Buchanan Towers at WWU offers. The easily customizable living situation allows for Buchanan Towers to become number one on my suggestion of rooming.
