With over around 40 or so on-campus housing options at Ohio State, I was able to experience life in Smith-Steeb Hall! And let me tell you, it was a pretty good dorm overall, with it being renovated in 2013. Personally, dorm life wasn’t what I was most excited for coming in as a freshman, but it proved to be something unique and memorable for my first year of college! Here are some of the specific things you would only understand if you live in Smith-Steeb at Ohio State University!
Trust me, the difference between south campus and north campus is like night and day. Stereotypically, there are rumors that north campus is where all the engineers live and at night are usually found cooped up in the study rooms doing labs ‘til 3am. Meanwhile, south campus lives for its nocturnal reputation. Yes, after classes have ended, I’ve seen groups and masses of students getting out of the elevators looking like they were ready to hit the clubs on a Tuesday. And they did.
Speaking of elevators, having 11 floors was fun, except when the one, or two, or all three of the elevators on a side were out of order. Ugh, the worst.
Cheap but yummy pizza place right outside the entrance? That’s Catfish Biff’s Pizza, with Smith-Steeb residents being their main customers. I’d often order a pie to share with my friends, Hawaiian being our favorite. And for those morning bagel needs, Panera was just down the corner.
Have you ever seen a zombie apocalypse in real life? Well that’s what every morning looked like for those kids with an 8 AM class (aka me, 5 days a week first semester.) It wasn’t so bad because Smith-Steeb at Ohio State has some super nice OA’s (office assistants) at the front desk greeting us groggy students with “good morning” or “have a good day guys!” Though it was a small gesture, it helped put a smile on our faces to start the morning.
The Board of Activities for Smith-Steeb at Ohio State (BASS) is always hard at work, planning events for our residence hall. These were free, had FREE food, and talked about important things depending on the event. Free ice skating was by far the most fun.
It happens. You get out of the shower, realize you didn’t have your BuckID which is your room key, and you’re on your way to the front desk to loan one. All in your towel. The looks you get in the elevator are accompanied by a slight laugh and nod of understanding. It’s more common you think. But thank goodness there are 12 chances to loan one throughout the year without paying a fee.
In fact, anything of ours is better than Park-Stradley. When people who don’t live in either of them, confuse the two dorms, having to explain the difference becomes an eye-rolling task. They basically look exactly the same on the outside, but our green and blue cool colors just add that nice welcoming touch.
If two of the same exact dorms wasn’t hard enough, needing to identify which side you were: Smith or Steeb? Well I was in the connector, so figuring out which side was which, took me nearly two months. Also, Smeeb is the quirky nickname given to our hall because hyphenated words are too long.
It’s really great having the Union right outside the dorm because of the food options, with the Marketplace, Sloopy’s and Woody’s. I have spent countless late nights studying in the Union because they have the Center for Student Leadership and Service open to student orgs’ eboard members 24/7. But generally, a lot of students will study there because it’s open until midnight every night and 1 am during finals week.
Smeeb was the chosen dorm for tour groups to come to. No matter what time of the year it was, there were tour groups coming in and out of the dorm. So getting used to large masses of high school students and their families crowding the entrances became part of life.
I quite enjoyed how artistic many people were in my building. There were even daily drawings on a whiteboard downstairs telling us a fun fact, motivational/funny quote and the forecast. It’s the little things about Smith-Steeb Hall.
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