So You Think You Can Handle Hall Life

March 2nd, 2007 by lynn under Blogroll

Hall stay applications for next semester have opened, and it’s time to dig up my dusty old post on hall life.

I can’t be bothered to review them all once again, due ironically to hall commitments. In between performance practices, DnD meetings and school, I have barely any time left for myself. Instead, I have some hardened, cynical advice for the bright-eyed undergraduates-to-be who will soon enter hall life, not knowing what they’re getting themselves into.

Firstly, there is no best hall or worst hall. They all suck. Yes, all of them. Whether they’re riddled with staircases, have lousy food, or really insidious hall culture, each of them has at least one major flaw. Find the one with the flaw you can tolerate.

Secondly, do your research. One hall may be making the news for winning all the competitions, but if you like a quieter hall life, it might not be for you. The hall that gets its ass kicked at sports may put the others to shame when it comes to performance arts.

Thirdly, to be in hall is to conform. I know there will be many hall residents who will present themselves as the epitome of nonconformist cool. Well, maybe in some aspects. Like in that episode of South Park where the goth/emo kids conform through their non-conformity, being a rebel makes you part of the crowd. You smoke? Yeah, you and the rest of your corridor. You love to party all night and make out with random guys? Good, you’ll find other girls with similar interests. On a more serious note though, you can’t live in hall and not take part in hall life. They’ll force you to, and make you feel bad when you don’t. I should know, I send people on guilt trips all the time. I don’t care for supporting the sports teams, but I’ll pout and plead to get people to show up for our band gigs.

Finally, hall life does come at the expense of your own. Well, I had none to begin with, so that’s fine, but out-and-out hall life, the kind that makes you a 4-year resident and not a 1-year dabbler, will suck up your time with outside interests. It won’t eradicate it totally - after all, you should have some time management skills, right? - but there will be an impact. Many relationships start in hall, but many end because of it, too. Don’t say you weren’t warned.

Hall life is an experience which I think everyone should have, at least for one semester. Of course, with NUS accommodation being limited, not everyone has a chance, but if you do, grab it. Not just for the kiasu factor, but just for the experience of it all. Living in hall sometimes feels like an extended school trip of the sort I went on back in secondary school. Late nights with friends, without parents to supervise. Left to handle your own time, with no one nagging you about your dirty room. The privilege of being able to just call friends for an outing on the spur of the moment. Shiokology.