Freshmen Years At Uw
In September of 2004, I left my home in Oregon and moved into a crowded dorm room at University of Washington. For the first year of college, I resided inside a small dorm room with two roommates. Three bunk beds, three desks, three wardrobes, all squished inside of a room that seemed to be smaller than a typical bathroom. The beds were far beyond uncomfortable, far too small, and were definitely not meant for full grown college students. Oftentimes, I remember how difficult it would be to access my top bunk from the combination of crowded space with a typical college student’s drunken stumble. It seems that I managed through the year and still alive to tell the story.
So what was it about those wooden bunk beds that made it so difficult to maneuver around? Generally, a twin size bed should plenty accommodate a full grown man. Maybe it was a combination of the size of the bunk bed as well as a very crowded environment. Maybe it was the layer of human mustiness that was always lingering that made the room and bed seem even more stuffy and uncomfortable. Regardless, it was no question that dorm rooms simply did not suit my life style. Keep in mind, I’m a rather medium sized man. Standing 5’10” and weighing 160 pounds, I don’t consider myself to be a clumsy guy. Evidently, it seemed that it was not the size of the bed itself that caused the discomfort Like stated above, it was more so the environment as well as possibly the bunkbed mattress.
While writing this article, I actually took the liberty of researching a little about bunk bed mattresses. There is ultimately nothing different about a bunk bed mattress from traditional mattresses. The only priority is that it has to fit the bed, and it has to be comfortable. Now the bunk bed in my dorm room seemed to lack one of the major factors. It is quite mind boggling when you think with the little sleep that college students get, the least they can do is give us a nice mattress to sleep on.
Well, at least I made it through. Through the discomfort, lack of sleep, and roommates snoring, it was a long journey, but still worth it. People say it’s the experience that you go to college for. While I don’t completely agree, it is understandable to a certain extent. Hopefully, our future generations of dorm room dwellers will get better mattresses to sleep on.