You don’t realize how much you take basic comforts for granted until college: hot water, privacy, quiet, fresh food. That last one hit hard during my freshman year – the first and only year I lived in a dorm room.
I had a mini fridge-freezer combo. It got cool, but never cold, which in early-September Tucson felt like slow torture. Forget chilled sparkling water (I gave up on that fantasy by week one); my fruit would spoil. The frozen boxed meals I thought I’d cleverly stashed for late-night snacking? Mushy cardboard within days. And worst of all: it was ugly.
