Staff writer Nora Deemer reviews their Elliott Hall Double and explains why the building’s bad rep is slanderous!

Every year, when housing lottery numbers come out, every Barnard student with a bad number inevitably says to anyone who will listen, “I’m probably going to have to live in Elliott!”

Last year, when my roommate and I opened the housing portal to choose our room, there were only three doubles left to choose from in all of the Barnard housing buildings, and all three were in Elliott. It was not a good sign that no one wanted to live there. We begrudgingly chose a room on the sixth floor and moved on with our day. Move-in day was nerve-racking for all the usual reasons but also because we had yet to see, with any real clarity, what an Elliott Hall double looked like and whether the rooms really were as small as people said they were. Also, after surviving the Brooks seven floor-pooper, we were not looking forward to sharing a bathroom with the whole floor.

Sure, some hard work went into making everything work out, but I’ve grown into the biggest Elliott Hall fan. If Elliott Hall has zero fans, it’s because I’m dead.

The first thing I noticed when moving in were the windows. Our room has three whole windows, one of which peeks out into Riverside Park. Seeing a snippet of the sunset and plant life gives me such joy (it gets me through my Orgo two classes).

The second thing I noticed was the storage. As any student will probably tell you, unpacking on move-in day of your second year is the moment in your life when you most wish you could time travel just so that you could stop yourself from paying to store every tiny little trinket that you accumulated over your first year. Luckily for residents of Elliott Hall doubles, there is storage space up the wazoo. Because the closets and dressers are built into the wall, you don’t have anything taking up space under your bed, which ends up being able to perfectly fit three medium-sized boxes and a suitcase with some room to spare for shoe storage. You also have little nooks above your closet, which perfectly fit broken-down boxes saved for move-out, spare paper towels, and anything else you may need to tuck away.

One of my only complaints about the Elliott Hall doubles is the weird shelving unit. I will admit that the placement of my bed was completely my choice, but I do believe that I will end up with a permanent dent in my skull from braining myself on the shelf corner. It’s all worth it to be able to roll over and look out of the window, though.

One of my greatest fears in life is wasps. One of my other greatest fears in life is one of my children falling out of the window. For some reason, the window near my bed does not have a screen on it (stoner previous residents maybe?), which allows for a nice breeze but, unfortunately, creates the opportunity for one of my beloved soft toys to fall out of my room, down six stories, and onto 120th street. For that reason, the window mostly stays closed.

One thing about me is that I love my Kindle. If anything ever happened to my Kindle, it’s generous to say that I would survive 48 hours. I would probably have to go home to the comforting arms of my parents if she ever kicked the bucket, got lost, or (knock on wood) fell out of the window. More reason to keep the window closed, I guess. On the same note of comfort items, this is the mug that my mom got me for my 18th birthday. If this mug ever broke, I would probably have to drop out and go home to my parents.

Enough about me, though. One of the most important things to a successful Elliott double experience is a good roommate. My roommate and I were randomly assigned together last year, and we are kind of the same person, which is helpful when it comes to sleep schedules, cleanliness, and overall ability to exist in the same space.

The first part of my roommate’s space that stands out to me is her blanket. It is called the “Coma-Inducer,” which is exactly what it does. I don’t know what chemicals they put in that duvet but it will put you to sleep simply by existing in the same vicinity.

Her desk area is very, very close to her bed. I would have assumed that it would make doing any homework difficult but when I asked her about that, she said “No, I have more discipline than that.” Wow, no need to call me out like that.

I will highlight the fact that we have roomie nap time most days, anywhere between 1 pm and 5 pm, depending on our schedules. I am sure that the close proximity of our desks to our beds has nothing to do with this fact.

I for one love to decorate my corkboard with little notes from friends, photos of my family, and art I make. She has nothing on her corkboard because she “doesn’t have printouts.” Hmm, if only there were a way to move past that issue.

All this is to say, Elliott Hall is a wonderful place to live, and if you are reading this having resigned yourself to living in another year of hallway-style living in tiny rooms, stay strong. Elliott Hall will love you when none of the other Barnard dorm buildings will.

All photos via Bwogger Nora Deemer