Your home away from home
Movies portrayed living in university residence as one shared room with your best friend, one shared bathroom, and microwaved ramen noodles. After some research, I found out that there is a variety of residences available to students. Some options are very similar to the movies, which have single and double rooms available, complete with communal floor bathrooms and a residence cafeteria. Those are traditional dorms, where I would also have to get a meal plan. I would be paying to have my meals made for me because I would not have a kitchen to make my own food. Whether you follow a vegan, vegetarian, halal, or kosher diet, University of Waterloo does a great job at fixing your meal plan to fit your dietary needs. There are also living accommodations similar to apartments called “suites”, where I would get my own bedroom, share the bathrooms, living space, and kitchen with 2-3 other roommates. If I live in the suite style residence, then I could cook for myself, no meal plan needed, but I can still purchase a meal plan if I wanted to. After figuring out which type of dorm I want to live in, I need to choose a residence. Whether it is a residential building or one of the University of Waterloo's four university colleges, I have options. Going through all of my research, I would probably apply for residence at St. Jerome's University (SJU). Even though they only offer traditional rooms, I feel like it would be a good way for me to meet new people. As well, the SJU community is small and tight-knit, so it is much better for people, like me, who prefer to have some time and space to themselves. Check out costs and tuition fees to make sure residence is the right choice for you.