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It's the weekend. Your parents go out of town. So you throw a huge party with keg stands, funnels, flip cup, and people you don't know named Q-Bone. This is what living off campus is like every single night. This is what living off campus is all about-this is the life. It becomes abundantly clear, however, after a week of such debauchery that this pace cannot possibly continue. The floors become plastered with black stuff, fruit flies organize conventions in the kitchen, and Q-Bone passes out on your futon. Suddenly living off campus isn't exactly what you had imagined it would be when you signed the lease.
For freshmen and sophomores looking for someplace off campus to live, this is the time of year to claim the hottest properties and real estate before they disappear. Students have a number of options available, whether it is living with a few people on Comm. Ave. or leasing a house with a bunch of people on Gerald or Foster. Lessees must not forget the caveats that come with renting their own property. There are many misconceptions about life off campus that are readily apparent only when they have actually been experienced.
Students often become accustomed to the Eagle-One card which allows them to swipe and eat. Without a meal plan, all of a sudden they are confined to a regimented diet of cereal and microwavable food. A plethora of meals is no longer available as dinner consists only of what students are willing to cook for themselves. This often means eating the same frozen foods each day of the week, and when the situation really gets desperate, it means swiping a roommate's food incognito.
Of course with meals come dirty dishes and with dirty dishes comes the necessity of washing those dishes. "How am I supposed to wash my dishes," said Sarah Butler, Strathmore Road resident and A&S '06, "when the pipes under the sink keep flooding the kitchen floor?" Plumbing is a very common but often unexpected problem in numerous off-campus houses and apartments.
Many students are unsure of how to handle the situation if a drain is clogged or a water heater leaks. When asked how she solved her apartment's clogged drain, Muriel Cagney, LSOE '06 said, "We didn't know what to do so we let it chill for a while, because people were too lazy to do anything about it."
In fact, many students pay rent each month for property without full functioning electricity or plumbing because of the substantial amounts of time required to procure a plumber or electrician. Off-campus students are no longer pampered by the Boston College Facilities crew that takes care of those types of problems on campus.
Still, living off campus has benefits and advantages over living in the dorms. RAs don't live within earshot, hall sports are allowed and encouraged, and throwing a party is actually possible. Apartments are closer to the city, a parking space is offered in some cases, and there is usually plenty of space, thus eliminating dorm claustrophobia.
Most students welcome the idea of a change of scenery. "I couldn't wait to move into my apartment," said Cara Devins, A&S '06, "and it's working out really well ... except that we got our first rodent of the season. But that's a small price to pay for having my own apartment."
Along with this new feeling of ownership and separation comes an inevitable sense of cockiness. The overall attitude of students in the first few weeks of school is generally excitement to be back but also relief to be away from RAs and the BCPD.
There is a common misconception that once you have moved away from campus and into a neighborhood, you are invincible to RAs and the BC judicial system. In fact, by accepting admission to BC, students have signed a valid contract and are thereby obligated to behave according to the accepted standards set forth by the University. Students' rights at BC are no longer protected by Constitutional law, but rather by contract law. The student judicial system's brochure says, "while most violations occur on the Boston College campus, the student population living in the surrounding community off campus also falls within the jurisdiction of the Boston College judicial system."
This doesn't mean that RAs will be moving into student populated neighborhoods, but it does mean that students should be careful about who their neighbors are.
Living off campus can be a fun and worthwhile change of pace as long as students prepare for the new responsibilities that accompany it. A concept foreign to many students is that things cost money. Yes, there are cable, Internet, and phone bills to be paid, along with rent. Many students are not used to writing checks for these services. "I never write checks. I needed help writing my first check for rent. I thought I could swipe my Eagle Card - turns out that that doesn't work," said Pete Lundberg, Sutherland Road resident and A&S'06.
Off-campus life is an interesting quirk in this Jesuit institution that gives most students the first taste of the inevitable and unstoppable approach of the real world. So go get that house or apartment and get ready for a little more freedom and a little more room but just realize that it's more space to clean after friends arrive for a sleepover.
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