First year apartment blues…

By Toni Dimayuga
Daily Bruin Contributor

At about noon on a Saturday morning, Keith Nakamura is eating
lunch – leftover Persian food. In his sparsely furnished Tiverton
apartment there is no real dining table or chairs, so he opts to
eat standing by the sink.

The Persian food is somewhat of a treat for Nakamura, a
third-year marine biology student, who said living on his own has
caused his meals to be slightly more bland.

"Well, there’s Top Ramen, of course, macaroni and cheese …
(there’s) many different ways of cooking macaroni and cheese,"
Nakamura said.

Cooking is one of the many aspects of apartment life that novice
tenants face. As they learn to adjust to cleaning and monthly
bills, students realize that what they once took for granted is now
their responsibility.

One of Nakamura’s roommates says that they didn’t factor in
hidden costs like installment fees and taxes. Already, they have
encountered troubles with the phone bill.

"It’s a lot easier if you have a calling card. Every phone bill
I’ve had, there’s been like 10 phone calls we don’t know whose it
was," said Ed Lin, a third-year microbiology student.

Neither Nakamura nor his roommates anticipated a crash course in
consumerism, either.

"I don’t think I’ve ever really grocery shopped before, and now
I find myself looking at prices," said Lauren Hiyama, a fourth-year
physiological science student, another of Nakamura’s roommates.

Living with roommates becomes more intense, tenants say, since
new responsibilities like cleaning reveal everyone’s true habits.
Lin explained that while he would not mind putting off washing the
dishes, one of his other roommates prefers to do it as soon as
possible.

"You don’t really notice it much at the dorms because at the
dorms there’s no dishes to do, and they get the bathrooms clean for
you," Lin said.

The conveniences found in the dorms make students think twice
about their decision to move out of on-campus housing.

"To tell you the truth, it sucks. I hate everything about
(living in an apartment) because you have to do everything
yourself. I can’t stand it. I hate taking care of myself like
this," said Cheng-Wei Peng, a fourth-year chemistry student.

"I’d give anything to go back. I don’t know why everyone’s so
eager to move out."

Donning rubber gloves to clean the bathroom, Peng described the
positive aspects of living in the dorms.

"At the dorms, I’d just come home, do what I do, hang out or
whatever, and when I wanted to eat I’d just go downstairs to the
cafeteria," Peng said.

Nakamura also misses the easy access of food.

"It’s weird, you know? Because at the dorms, you have all the
food prepared for you and you can get it anytime you want," he
said.

And for anyone who thought they would concentrate more on school
outside of the dorms, Lin says apartment life is even less
conducive to studying.

"It’s really hard when there’s other people in here, and
everybody’s messing around and you kind of don’t want to go and
study. Even if you’re (in the bedroom) you can still kind of hear
(everybody else)," he said.

Along with convenience, new student tenants agree that they also
miss the social aspect of living in dorms.

"I miss how when you want to see somebody, and you’re kind of
bored and you just go outside your door, you walk down the hall and
talk to somebody," said Josh Schneider, a fourth-year biology
student and one of Peng’s roommates.

Managers have noticed similarities among new student tenants.
Yvonne Swaby, manager at the Strathmore Regency, explained that
students "new to the apartment environment are a little more
dependent," asking questions about applying for gas or phone
services.

Other managers said that some students do not know how to react
when faced with the unexpected.

"One guy came in and he kind of freaked out when he stuck
something in the garbage disposal, and he paged me in the middle of
the night," recalled Todd Covert, manager at Gayley Towers.

However, landlords agree that in time, their confused student
tenants get used to their environment and adjust.

"They do seem to get more comfortable as time goes on," said Jan
Karlsen, manager at Gayley Manor.

But, Peng doesn’t expect anything to get easier.

"We’re doing fine right now, because there’s nothing going on,
but I already know that when school gets really busy, it’s going to
be hard."

Some landlords, such as Adela Carpio of 944 Tiverton Avenue,
said that they sympathize with their young tenants.

"It’s understandable … it’s their first time, you know? So we
have this rapport with them," Carpio said.

However, Schneider has a different story, maintaining that
managers tend to be patronizing to new student tenants.

"They are nice to students, but they don’t tolerate us as much,"
he said. "They think they need to tell us everything we need to do.
They don’t treat us like adults."

While adjusting to an apartment setting may seem a little
difficult, most ex-dorm dwellers said that they do not mind their
new life.

"I didn’t think I’d like it as much, because there would be less
people and it would be harder to meet people, but I like it a lot
better because now that I’m here, I could tell that when I was in
the dorms, you’re kind of always in a pressure cooker," Schneider
said.

"There’s always people watching you, and your friends are always
there. That’s good, but you can never really relax."

"For the first time, when I go home from school, it actually
feels like I’m going home."