Building Community: A Year in the House on Warring Street
During my senior year of college I lived in a house with nine other women, and believe me when I tell you: it was better than the movies.
This was a reality my freshman-self could never have predicted, especially having started college on Zoom amidst the COVID pandemic. I went from having no in-person college community to coming home to one every day. The added excitement to this senior year housing extravaganza was that I only knew 4 of the 9 women before moving in. Most of us didn’t know each other at all! My experience goes to show that the Berkeley experience is full of surprises, and you gain the most from it by embracing them.
And embrace we did. So, consider this blog post an ode to my intelligent, beautiful, talented, extraordinary housemates on Warring Street. You all rock.
To kick off our school year, we took a camping trip to Yosemite. It was chaos at its finest. Despite forecasted rain, most of us were unprepared, resorting to wearing bright blue trash bags while trekking through the hills. To make matters worse, I had never camped before and had forgotten a mattress pad and snacks (it was rough). The trip made me realize how different we all were! While Jacqueline and I scampered from the snake on one of the trails, Mia and Jenny marveled at it, even calling it “cute.” I left the trip vowing to never camp again (sorry guys… I’m just not the biggest nature girl), while other housemates were already planning for the next camping trip.
The Yosemite trip set the tone for the rest of the year. Our different interests and perspectives made the housing experience so incredible, and being Berkeley students, it made sense that my housemates each had their own “X factor.” For instance, when we went to support Vicky at the Golden Gate Half Marathon in November, she placed 3rd overall in the female category! We cheered for Emily at her stand-up shows, proud that she was one of the very few female performers. Jenny and Belle would bake incredible sweet treats that were gobbled up within hours, and Carli, a volleyball champ in high school, led our house’s IM volleyball team proudly as team captain. Mia would come home every week with a new climbing achievement. Hannah won a competition for her Data Science research and got flown to a conference in Boston; Alexandra was recognized for her multilingual talent and got flown to China; and Jacqueline was flown to New York for her work in political economics. The list goes on and on. My admiration for my housemates and their abilities is a testament to the students at Berkeley. One of my favorite things about being a student here is constantly feeling inspired by my peers.
As I’ve reflected on the past year, what I love the most about my house is the sense of community and enthusiasm. Living in our house meant birthdays were not taken lightly. October saw three house birthdays, each celebrated with a Saturday night birthday party followed by a Sunday morning birthday brunch on our serene terrace. Watching The Bachelor became a communal activity. We had late-night study sessions around the dining table just so that we could go all out for Big Game over the weekend. Living in our house meant secret santa gift exchanges, dance parties in the living room, late-night frolics through the streets, welcoming each other’s friends as our own., ad hoc meet-ups at the library, sunbaths on the Memorial Glade, and miscellaneous side quests from beach bonfires in San Francisco to a weekend getaway in Las Vegas, Nevada.
It’s funny to think about how terrified I was to start senior year with all of my best friends from junior year having already graduated. Yet, this past year was a whirlwind of new friendships, shared experiences, and personal growth, and I could not be more grateful. Our house on Warring Street was more than just a place to live; it was a vibrant family that enriched my college experience in ways I could have never imagined.
To those of you embarking on or continuing your Berkeley journey, don’t be afraid to immerse yourself in the Berkeley community – one of the greatest college communities in the world. You never know what memories and lifelong friendships await!