Zebra Tales
2022-23
Andres '24

Decorating My Room

When I arrived back on campus after three months, I was eager to reconnect with my friends, begin the cross country season, and decorate my new room. One of the quintessential boarding school experiences is to personalize your dorm room, and I was lucky enough to get a two-story room; my roommate (Zack ‘24) and I had so much space to fill! Therefore, Zack and I got to work in order to make our room feel cozy, homey, and unique.
During preseason, a week before classes begin, when athletes arrive for practices, my roommate and I made time to organize our room. With quite a bit of free time, we made it our mission to complete our room decor before the first day of classes. First, we had to carry all of our boxes from storage in the basements, packages from the mailroom, bags and new couches from the car. By the time we had all of our belongings in the room, it was so full that we could not even walk inside.

The next few hours consisted of lots of unpacking, reorganizing furniture, and moving boxes around. In addition, we placed our two new pieces of furniturea bean bag downstairs and a small couch upstairs. The work was exhausting, but every bag unpacked meant we were closer to the best part of the process: decorating the bare white walls of the room. Throughout the summer, I had been collecting images of cities I had traveled to, posters of paintings I had seen in museums, and flags/posters that remind me of home. Meanwhile, my roommate took advantage of summer to collect vinyls to use both as room decor and for his record player. Therefore, we were beyond excited to finally make our new room feel like ours.

As I hung up a big Mexican flag and posters of artwork, my roomie diligently decorated our walls with a myriad of vinyl. From The Beatles to Mac Miller, a couple dozen vinyls are displayed in our dorm, showing our love for music. Around my bed, I showcased images of Mexico and the colorful culture I am part of. To top it all off, we carefully placed LED lights all around in order to add neon colors to our room. While Groton is far from home, having a space to make your identity and interests tangible is amazing.

Now, after hours of work, our room feels like a space of our own. It is always refreshing and calming to walk into my room and almost feel as if I am at home. 
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