Emma Halman ’26 is a prospective English major from Virginia Beach, VA. Along with writing for The Flat Hat, she loves to dance, spend time with friends and rewatch 90s romcoms. Contact Emma at eghalman@wm.edu.
The views expressed in the article are the author’s own.
For all of the wonderful things that the College of William and Mary is known for, its on-campus housing is without a doubt its most charming feature.
Last year as freshman, I lived in Griffin E, one of the 13 dorms that makes up the Green and Gold Village, otherwise known as GGV. Built in the 1960s and once fraternity houses, each year this is where the majority of the freshman class spends nine months living in uncomfortably close quarters — or in the ‘trenches,’ as most students at the College would say. As the school year carried on, we dealt with every GGV quirk that we had been so kindly warned about from our upperclassmen Orientation Aides, from ant infestations to mold on our mattresses.
This past spring, my roommate and I couldn’t believe our luck after we chose our dorm for sophomore year: Hardy Hall. Since its opening in the fall of 2006, Hardy has had the reputation of being the crown jewel of upper level on-campus housing at the College. While I dreaded hearing the question “What dorm are you living in?” last year, I have annoyingly mentioned that I’m in Hardy this year several times already. As far as on-campus housing goes, we had gone from the very bottom of the totem pole to the very top.
However, while strange to say, after living in Hardy for only a little over a week, I have found myself missing certain aspects of GGV.
Now, don’t get me wrong, Hardy is undeniably an upgrade from my living situation last year. Rather than sharing a communal bathroom with 15 other girls, I have an on-suite bathroom that I share with my roommate and our two suitemates (two fellow Griffin E survivors). Instead of an old AC window unit (filled with mold that so kindly gave me a smoker’s cough for about two months) in my dorm now, the entire building has central air conditioning and heating.
Still, the many perks that come with living in Hardy are hard to compare to the certain je ne sais quoi that GGV has.
For starters, I found it so much easier to connect with the people that I lived in Griffin E with as we could commiserate over the size of our rooms and lack of water pressure together. Now, I just know to expect the mutual smile that comes with sharing an elevator ride with another student in Hardy.
There was also the benefit of having so many shared spaces in Griffin E. While I might not have had my own private bathroom last year, I had too many conversations to count while waiting for a shower to be free or brushing my teeth.
The dorms in GGV are known for fostering close-knit communities because quite frankly, it’s much easier to deal with living there if you have friends to do it with. Last year, my friends from Griffin E and I would get a meal at the dining hall together or talk about our days in each other’s rooms for hours, practically everyday. These were the moments that helped make transitioning to college life feel a little bit easier.
While my time spent in GGV is not something that I would necessarily do again if given the choice, looking back, it made for both a unique and fond freshman year experience.