Building Community Within Your Residence Hall Floor

As well as having a good relationship with your roommate, it is also important to build a community within the floor of the residence hall that you live in. Where you might not be living in one room as these people, they are your neighbors and you are living in close quarters with all them. In this post, I will be discussing how to build a good community with the people in which you share a floor with!

My residence hall is the biggest on campus, with over 650 people living in one building. This basically ensures that you will always be around others, which is really good for building a community. In this hall as well as others, it is likely that you will become close with the people living in rooms next to and around you just from simply seeing them often in the hallways or shared bathrooms. The best way to ensure a healthy community within your floor is to always be kind to everyone and smile and say “hi”! With an open mind and a friendly face, fast friends will be made and it will make living close to all of these people fun!

Shared bathrooms are also a reason to be nice and build relationships with the people on your floor. My residence hall, as well as many others, has community bathrooms that will be shared with a certain number of girls. Being friends with everyone on your floor is a good way to ensure that there is no tension or anger while brushing your teeth in the morning!

I personally am really close with the girls on my floor. We often hang out and do things together, whether we are staying in or going out! Most of the time we like to hang out in our residence hall lounge and talk, listen to music, do homework, or even have dance parties together! Our resident assistant (RA) also aids in our bonding as a floor by coordinating floor programs for us all to participate in. These include anything from going to Evanston for ice cream to baking cookies and talking. This is a great way to know everyone on your floor and to have fun while creating bonds!

Ultimately, the best way to ensure a fantastic year is to build a community and a good relationship with the people of your residence hall floor. Living together with the same people for nine months can be a struggle if you don’t live in peace and happiness with each other!