College Rooms...Then and Now

 

Last week, as I perused some blogs, I ran across Brendt’s post about setting up college dorm rooms/apartments for her daughters. You should look at the pictures in the post, because they are beautiful.

                I confess, though, I had to giggle right out loud, because I thought back to my own dorm rooms and they looked n.o.t.h.i.n.g. like the pictures in Brendt’s post. Not even close!

                I loved my dorm rooms and (most) of the experiences I had in them. I am sad that it was the era of real film that cost money to develop, and I hadn’t yet found my love for documentation. Most of the pictures are from move-in days or specific events, and there are some rooms I really don’t have any pictures of, because they’ve either gotten lost along the way, or I never took any. (That hurts to write.)

                But since my college years were before the years of blogging and social media, I thought it would be fun to share those pictures with you now! Vintage Bekah coming your way! 😊

                These pictures are from move-in day my freshman year. Like I said, the rooms look nothing like Brendt’s inspirations!

                For those of you who might be new here, I went to Indiana Wesleyan University, and my freshman and sophomore years, I lived in Evans Hall, up on the third floor. I LOVED the third floor. My parents did not love it on moving days. (I’m trying to remember if they had elevators. I’m not sure they did! If so, we didn’t get to use them for moving.)

                I had the bottom bunk in all my Evans Hall rooms, and this first year, my roommate’s name was Christi. (Fun fact: she lived in Florida for a while, so she was at our wedding, and Ryan and I visited her when we went back for our 5^th anniversary. If you’re a longtime reader here, you might also remember that about fifteen years ago, I went to Florida with friends, and I met up with Christi and ended up having an only-Bekah run-in with security whilst running around in my swimsuit/coverup.)

                Mom and Dad came to visit after we had our room all set up and decorated, so here are a few pictures from that day. Ahhhh, the denim jumpers. I know they’re back. I can’t. I just can’t. I do still have that necklace, though!

                Check out the boxy desktop computer!

                We had a futon for our couch. I spent a lot of Friday nights on that futon, watching reruns of Andy Griffith, eating ginormous slices of Sbarro’s pizza, and drinking 64 ounce Mountain Dews.

                VHS of Mark Lowry for the win! (I had an enormous crush on him in those days.)

                The second semester of my freshman year, Christi and I joined up with new suitemates. Christina and Jenny are both still friends of mine, and I am so thankful for both of them. (Hi, Christina, if you happen to be reading today!) I was a bridesmaid in both their weddings, but that was before blogging days. 😊

                I think this picture is one of the few I have from my sophomore year. Christi moved home that year, and I was matched with a roommate randomly. She was a nice girl, but we had nothing in common, and that was a really rough year. I was grateful Christina and Jenny were still there, because I fear I might have utterly fizzled out of school without them!

                My junior and senior years, I lived in an on-campus apartment suite that had four bedrooms (eight girls) with a common living and kitchen area. That building (Eastburn) has since been torn down, but I loved living there. Jenny and I were roommates all but the last semester, when we each ended up with our own rooms.

                Here are a couple of pictures from those years. I’m not sure which picture goes with which year.

                Those last two years were tumultuous for me. I had love life drama, friendship drama, work drama, and the drama of having no clue what I wanted to be when I grew up.

                The Lord was faithful to carry me through the hard days. And I smile now when I look back at this one picture…with the Siesta Key shirt? That was a souvenir my sister brought back from vacation. Little did I know that a dozen or so years down the road, I’d be in Siesta Key…in a wedding dress!

                My dorm rooms may have lacked the sophistication today’s rooms have, but they were places of growth and learning, and I’m so thankful for the friendships formed within them!!