.png)
By Eli Graft
Over my three years at UofL, I’ve transitioned through several different living arrangements. When I was a freshman, I lived in on-campus housing at Kurz Hall with a roommate. While it was extremely convenient being on campus, I decided for my sophomore year that I was going to give off campus living a chance just to be able to say I’ve had the experience. I had my own room in a house on 4th St. about 15 minutes walking-distance from campus. At the house, dubbed Firehouse by me and my roommates, I had my own place to park out back, my own room, a full kitchen, and awesome roommates. But the 15 minute walk to campus back and forth each day was monotonous and whenever I wanted to drive, I never had a place to park on campus without paying ridiculous rates.
This year, I decided that I needed to live on campus again. The convenience of walking three minutes to my classes every morning just made sense to me. A spot inside the Beta Theta Pi house was open and I gave this option a lot of thought. I am deeply involved in my fraternity as the Vice President of Finance. I knew that moving into the house would eliminate a significant portion of my semester membership dues. It’s also about the same distance from the College of Business as Kurz Hall was during my freshman year. The house also offered a lower rent rate than my off campus house, so it seemed like a no-brainer.
However, I knew that I would have to more than likely share a room. Also, the bathrooms are consistently messy and there’s always people going in and out, day and night. Even with these negatives, I had faith in my ability to recognize the benefits that were in front of me and made the call to sign a lease for a room in the Beta house.
Now that I’ve had time to evaluate my first month in the fraternity house, I’d say I made a good decision. I’ve been able to focus so much more on my classes being this close to the library and being around more students. My car has a yellow pass, so I can park on campus whenever I’d like without the high rates. My roommate is one of my best friends and has been a great source of encouragement and help when I need it. I’m surrounded everyday by my brothers that care about me and value my work in the chapter. And best of all, I’ve finally upgraded to a king sized bed after sleeping on a twin XL my entire life and I feel like a new man. I’m focused on school, but I’ve been itching for more responsibility so I’m working on finding an internship. I have a lot of free time and I hope a job will help keep me occupied when I’m not studying or sharing my brothers’ company. Overall, I’m happy where I am, and am looking forward to the rest of the semester.
This year, I decided that I needed to live on campus again. The convenience of walking three minutes to my classes every morning just made sense to me. A spot inside the Beta Theta Pi house was open and I gave this option a lot of thought. I am deeply involved in my fraternity as the Vice President of Finance. I knew that moving into the house would eliminate a significant portion of my semester membership dues. It’s also about the same distance from the College of Business as Kurz Hall was during my freshman year. The house also offered a lower rent rate than my off campus house, so it seemed like a no-brainer.
However, I knew that I would have to more than likely share a room. Also, the bathrooms are consistently messy and there’s always people going in and out, day and night. Even with these negatives, I had faith in my ability to recognize the benefits that were in front of me and made the call to sign a lease for a room in the Beta house.
Now that I’ve had time to evaluate my first month in the fraternity house, I’d say I made a good decision. I’ve been able to focus so much more on my classes being this close to the library and being around more students. My car has a yellow pass, so I can park on campus whenever I’d like without the high rates. My roommate is one of my best friends and has been a great source of encouragement and help when I need it. I’m surrounded everyday by my brothers that care about me and value my work in the chapter. And best of all, I’ve finally upgraded to a king sized bed after sleeping on a twin XL my entire life and I feel like a new man. I’m focused on school, but I’ve been itching for more responsibility so I’m working on finding an internship. I have a lot of free time and I hope a job will help keep me occupied when I’m not studying or sharing my brothers’ company. Overall, I’m happy where I am, and am looking forward to the rest of the semester.
Eli Graft is a McConnell Scholar in the Class of 2021. He is studying business and political science at the University of Louisville.
Commentary presented here is not necessarily a reflection of the McConnell Center. Thoughts are those of the author.
Commentary presented here is not necessarily a reflection of the McConnell Center. Thoughts are those of the author.