Communal Living

Now as interesting and important as Mississippi is, one of the key parts of Community Summer is living with other scholars. Though most people have a roommate freshman year, there is something very different about living with around 7 people for 8 weeks straight. For only-child, small-family me, constantly interacting with so many people was both unusual and fun.

There were 14 scholars in Mississippi randomly divided into two houses. There were 7 in my house (or the ‘Apartment’) and 7 just across a car park in another house. My ‘apartment’ was more of a small add-on to a long-abandoned dorm building, which was lovingly given the title “The Sketchy Space” and thoroughly checked for possible squatters.

Given that most of the 14 of us only had basic cooking and cleaning experiences, Cleveland didn’t offer much in terms of nightlife (or arguably day-life) and rare few of us would ever be described as passive, the summer made for some interesting, reality-show worthy moments. Arguments over who ate whose food, who let the mosquitos in and who used the last of the toilet paper…again were coupled with barbeques, card games and lots of long late night chats.

Things that become apparent when you live with people:

• Somebody always leaves the toilet roll empty and the tap dripping, but surprisingly no one is ever to blame. My sincerest apologies to my mother and father for the years at home where I was that person, you were right, it is annoying.
• For some reason BOTH packets of bread, ham, cheese or spinach will always be open at the same time, for no good reason.
• People who like to sleep early, or sleep at all (luckily not me) are in for a rough time, there will always be people awake talking or singing along with the guitar – no matter what time.
• Even the pacifists who resist killing cockroaches and spiders will surrender under the pressure of the bug onslaught, and even lead the mass-mosquito extinction.

All the different houses and locations had a different living experience this Community Summer so I can't speak for everyone. For me, living with Charlotte, Rachel, Brooke, Sebastian, Christina and Griffin made the summer an amazing experience. I could not be more grateful for their fun-loving natures, willingness to pitch in, interesting conversations and loving personalities.