Wow, am I a junior already? It seems like yesterday when I was a freshman living at Richey house in Helser hall. In that first year of college I had many memorable experiences at Helser.

Helser hall is located right next to Friley hall. They are the closest dorms to both campus and town. It takes less than 5 minutes to get to central campus; something you'll appreciate during Ames' harsh winters. Helser has 4 stories and many different wings which will be very confusing at first. Friley is even more confusing.

A 'house' is comprised of about 50 students. Each house is either male or female, but you may only be a few feet away from a female or male house. So in that way the halls are coed. Each house has a lounge/homework room and bathrooms with 4 showers and plenty of sinks.

Living in Richey was fun for the most part. We had a pretty laid back RA which made things nice. Most rooms are doubles, the corner rooms are triples (and are much larger), and only a few people had singles. I had a double. It sometimes was a little cramped, but we got used to it after a while. Definitely get a loft. They make either single or double lofts, and some are constructed to give you more space than others. You can get them in kits at local hardware stores, or used from students (look for flyers around campus or in the halls). They are used in nearly 90% of all rooms, and get your bed out of the way for other furnishings.

The closet space is very small, probably about 4ft by 8ft. They supply two desks w/ shelving, two bed frames, and a clothes drawer. We also fit in a futon, a small fridge, and a small stand for the t.v. You will be forced to be very creative in setting up your room. Look in other student's rooms to get an idea of what to do - they don't mind.

How 'social' your house is will depend on who lives there, and how forgiving your RA is. Some floors would be dead silent every day with all the doors shut. On other floors all the doors would be open and people would be walking to and fro at all hours of the night.

The bathroom situation isn't that bad. I rarely had to wait to get in a shower in the morning, and when I did the wait was short. Definitely wear sandles in the shower though, and buy a small basket to carry your shower stuff around.

For meals you will have a very short walk to Friley. There are two dining areas there that you can choose from each day. On orientation they will serve you good food, and once your parents leave they will start serving the not-so-good food. There is not a wide variety of different meals, but each day you will have like 2 or 3 options to choose from. There are vegetarian meals as well as a full salad bar. Breakfast is very good with a wide variety of things to choose from. Meals are all-you-can-eat!

Downstairs in the basement there is a weight room, an all-night study room, and the laundry room. Each load in either the washer or dryer is 75 cents and requires your id to operate. To access the weight room you have to pay for a membership.

For security reasons, the floors are locked after 10:30 on weekdays, and later on weekends. You will have a key that opens only the doors on your floor. Student Security officers patrol the dorms very frequently as well.

My experience in Helser Hall was a good one. I had lots of fun, and learned to call it home eventually. You will meet many cool people, and you will make many friends. I promise. I would recommend Helser or Friley over the other dorms just because they are closest to everything that goes on. If you are a Design major I would highly recommend them because they're so close to the Design Center. I am a Graphic Design major, and I appreciated living that close when I hauled projects back and forth to class.

But like me, you will probably find out that there is only so much you can take of dorm life. I got sick of living in such tiny rooms and being so cramped, and that's why I have an apartment now. But the experiences I had and the friends I made there were well worth it! For your first year I would not recommend getting an apartment just because you won't meet as many people. Enjoy dorm life!

If you have any questions leave a comment below!



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