Off-Campus Living – Matt
Off-Campus Living – Matt
03/09/2020 1:06 AM
After living on campus for a year, I was able to move off-campus. Normally, you need to stay in the dorms for two years, but Bradley gives you the opportunity to move into the Main Street Apartment complex during your sophomore year. Main Street is super competitive, so on the day leases opened up, my roommate Martin and I arrived an hour early in order to barely get a spot. Bradley advertises Main Street all over the place with posters, emails, and our bi-weekly newsletter, Hilltop Happenings.
This year, Martin and I, along with our friend James, moved into a house. There are a bunch of realtors, like University Properties and Ideal Rentals, that a lot of students work with and go through for off-campus living. We went through University Properties, and it is super simple. All of our bills and everything is online, and we can contact UP whenever we need if there are any problems. It is very exciting being able to be a homeowner (or renter I suppose)! The best thing is being able to cook. I have bought a number of cookbooks that I have been slowly going through. People even ask me if they can come over to my house so they can cook! Recently, my roommates and I made a whole bunch of Red Curry. It wasn’t exactly the smoothest process, but now I don’t have to worry about cooking for a couple of days since we have so much curry. I have also grown my baking skills and have perfected a somewhat famous loaf of banana bread. I usually put chocolate chips in the bread, but if anyone else has any other suggestions for banana bread supplements, please send them my way!
It is also nice now being able to decorate our house for the holidays. I took some Halloween stuff from home and will be returning from Thanksgiving Break with some Christmas stuff as well! The cherry on top is definitely having a room entirely to myself. I’m able to fully have space to myself if I need to sleep, study, or just need to take a break during the day. Recently though, I have been missing the dorms. Being able to roll out of bed and head over to Chick-Fil-A with my dining dollars will always be missed. And Geisert! (One of our dining halls), Oh how I miss Geisert. Even while missing that, being able to live off-campus has been an awesome experience.