Lucky Resident Testimony #1
This resident is a male, who hails from just outside Philadelphia. He was in sophomore year when he lived in Lucky, and he shared an apartment with one of his male friends. Q: Why did you choose to live in Lucky? A: It was the perfect location for classes, the gym, and social life. Q: What were some of the benefits you personally saw during your time there? A: I was able to go downstairs to Fresh and buy a quick item or two without having to do a big shop. Also, the study lounges proved to be quite useful when I had to get out of my room, but didn’t want to make the trip to the library. Q: Were you ever worried about safety in the building? A: No, not at all. The doorman out front and the keycard system were two reasons why my parents and I felt this was the best place for me on campus. Q: Did you feel excluded in any why during your time living there? A: No, but sometimes it was difficult to get my friends - most of whom lived on Langdon - to come to my place, especially at night. Q: What floor did you live on? A: 11 Q: What were the demographics of the building? A: Mostly college students, although I did see a few people who looked like faculty members from time to time. Q: Were there any international students? A: Yeah there were a lot of international students, mostly Asian students. Often times I found myself in an elevator full of people speaking a different language. This resident commented a lot on the convenience of the location for daily activities, such as getting to class, going to the gym, and picking up food. The inconveniences he noted were that most of his friends were not in the building, and he did not really make friends with the people who lived there. He noted that there were a lot of international students, and that there was not a true communal feeling in the building. He highlighted the safety of the building, and the prominence of college students throughout the building. He chose to not renew his lease, as the rent was very costly, and he wanted to live closer to his friends. |
Lucky Resident Testimony #2
This resident is a female, who was raised in a small farming town in Wisconsin. She lived in Lucky with her sister as her roommates for the first three years of her undergrad at UW-Madison. Q: Why did you choose to live in Lucky? A: My sister’s roommate graduated the year before I started my freshman year. My sister…was preparing for potential medical school interviews the final year we lived together during my junior year. Once she left Madison, I felt there wasn’t a need to live there anymore. I wasn’t interested in living with another roommate…especially not knowing them. Q: Do you know why you’re sister chose Lucky? A: It probably had to do because she was rooming with her best friend. They had heard good things about it so they did tour and filled out the application form. She had a car on campus so having the garage was important. Q. What were some benefits to living in Lucky you personally saw during your time there? A: I had my safe and quiet space with my sister. My parents already approved the living arrangement with my sister living there previously. There’s Fresh Market downstairs so I didn’t need to worry about making long Trader Joe runs on the bus. UHS is next door. Close to campus. Although, most of my science classes were closer to Lakeshore than Southeast – that was difficult in the winter. Good distance away from Union South and College Library. Q: You mentioned quiet…does Lucky get noisy? A: Yeah, the parties. My sister had a couple but we were never that noisy. Q: Were you ever worried about safety in the building? A: No. Just the parties that sometimes would get out of hand when I needed my sleep for an early class or exam. But I never feared for my personal safety. There’s a door person in front of the building and there’s always a security guard on duty. Plus, if parties would get out of hand, the police would take care of it after the warnings. Q: Did you feel excluded in any way during your time there? A: Not really. I could access all the facilities just fine. I wasn’t ever discriminated from what I could tell. Q: Did you think you would be discriminated? A: Well, I’m Latina from a small farming town in Wisconsin. People on campus see my curly hair and think I don’t necessarily belong. Half the time, they only see my light-skin but once they see my hand gestures and slight accent…Anyway. If I was ever excluded, I mostly did it. I wasn’t involved much. Lucky was where I would go to sleep and shower. College [library] was my study space. Q: What were the demographics of the building? A: People our age. Although, not many freshmen from what I could tell. When my sister did invite her friends over, they were all surprised I was a freshman living here. Asked me why I wasn’t in the dorms. I didn’t see the reason to pay roughly the same amount and I would get to live with my sister instead of a stranger. Q: Do you think you missed out on the college experience not living in the dorms your freshman year? A: Not at the time. Maybe now? I’ve been told by you and others that you’re still friends and even renting with students that lived on your floor in the dorm. I stuck mostly with my sister and her friends. Never of our year. Many of my best friends have graduated because they were a year older than me. At the time, it made sense to live with my sister in a nice apartment with our own shower. Q: How nice was your apartment? How large was it? A: It was a decent size for two girls. We had our own rooms, own closets. We shared a bathroom – which was fine, we’ve done that before. We of course had our own refrigerator, microwave, and stove in the kitchen which overlooked the okay-sized living room. Q: Did you have a balcony and a view? How important was it? A: We did. For me, it wasn’t a big deal. Q: Were there any international students living in Lucky? A: I think so? I hardly ventured outside my apartment. There were a lot of Asian students but I couldn’t tell you if they were international or not. Q: Do you know what Studentification is? A: No. Something involving students on campus? This resident rarely used her apartment as a space to study or have parties. She would spend the majority of her day on campus while returning to the apartment at the end of the day for activities such as sleep. For her, the status of a freshman living in Lucky did not immediately alarm her the first year. She also highlighted quiet, safety, parents’ approval, access to groceries and health services, and distance from campus and study areas. Although, the primary reason for her choosing Lucky falls back to her sister living there previously. She guesses the reason for her sister’s decision to move there was largely due to parking availability. Wanting quiet, she now lives in an apartment off State Street with other girls who also value quiet. Cost does not seem to play a major factor in her residential decision making. |