By now, you’ve lived in Cobeen Hall for a few weeks. I’m willing to bet that most of you did not list it as your dorm of choice for freshman year and were less than thrilled when you learned last spring that was where a good amount of your time would be spent. Come on Marquette, no boys? How unfair!
The best advice I can give you to make living in Cobeen a good experience is lose the bad attitude, because the positives certainly outweigh the negatives. I promise, there is a silver lining to living in “The Bean.” And before I go any further, let me dispel the myth that there is a terrible week each month when the residents of Cobeen Hall are all highly emotional. Having only girls does not make the hormone levels any worse.
So there aren’t any male residents, but you can meet boys everywhere else on campus. I recommend sparking up conversations with the guys next to you in calculus, or at the table next to you in the AMU. Not having to deal with boys where you live is a blessing, though it may not be apparent right now. Living in Cobeen, you can visit your friends’ rooms late at night while wearing your ratty old cutoff sweats without fear that you will run into your crush from physics. You can sit in the lounge watching Scandal, curled up with what may or may not be your baby blanket, and there will be no boys around to make you self-conscious about being homesick.
It is easier to begin friendships with your fellow residents without the added drama of having boys around. The girls you meet on your floor and in the basement doing laundry will be some of the best people you ever meet. Now, as a junior, I consider some of the women I met freshman year in Cobeen to be my best friends.
Cobeen girls, this community is essential. It is important to create a foundation of friendship early on in college so we have people to cry to when our high school sweetheart is acting like a total idiot, or when we find out our childhood pet has passed away. After all, our girlfriends are going to be around much longer than that awkward freshman year “relationship.” Haven’t you ever heard that college is for meeting your future bridesmaids, not your future husband?
At this point in the year, you may be thinking you will miss out on the whole “college experience.” Cobeen may not be known as the most “social” dorm, but that doesn’t mean its residents are by any means anti-social. Not having to deal with crazy neighbors partying late into Tuesday nights is definitely a plus. You can focus on school work and crash early before your Wednesday 8 a.m., or watch your latest Netflix obsession without having to turn the volume up to full blast on your headphones. And calm weeknights mean that the RAs refrain from constantly floating around listening for loud music and suspicious activity, something you definitely do not want if ever you accidentally do have a few too many friends over before a basketball game.
Cobeen is certainly no McCormick, and we wouldn’t want it any other way. I mean, seriously, have you seen how scary those McCormick elevators are? Instead of lamenting the fact that you live in a building with a bunch of girls, try to see how great your new home can be. I bet you’ll miss it when you’re gone.
