Students enjoy living with majority male or majority female housemates
Clockwise from left (Will Lyons | The Beacon)
By Will Lyons, Staff Writer -- lyons14@up.edu
It's 3 a.m. and junior Monica Down is a solid two hours into her early Sunday morning sleep when she hears four boys from the living room through her paper- thin walls. They bellow, "Cause we all just wanna be big rockstars and live in hilltop houses, drivin' fifteen cars..." The purposefully awful rendition of Nickleback's "Rockstar" has ruined her previously quiet existence.
Down is one of many UP students who has experienced the good and bad of sharing a house with only members of the opposite sex.
Down lived with four male roommates during the fall semester. This semester, one of her roommates decided to study abroad, and a female student took his place.
After studying abroad in Salzburg during her sophomore year, Down decided to live off campus with the four boys she spent the most time with while abroad. The resulting combination gave Down some key insight into the Y chromosome.
"I've learned a lot about patience and how to pick your battles over little things," Down said. "Why would you get mad at one of your closest friends for not cleaning up when you can just let it go?"
Down was happy with her living situation.
"We're all friends and I loved living with them last semester," Down said. "Even if our house ended up being incredibly loud."
One of Down's housemates, Evan Gabriel, noted the difference from having a woman around the house, especially when it came to the two bathrooms in the house.
"The bathrooms are vastly different," Gabriel said. "The girls' bathroom is well kept and actually smells good."
Junior Alex Hyde agrees that female cleanliness standards is an advantage. Hyde lives with three girls.
"I like living with all girls - the house stays incredibly clean," Hyde said.
He also sees the drawbacks of living with three women.
"We only have one bathroom and girls do spend a lot of time in the bathroom," Hyde said. "At a certain point I started to just shower in Howard."
Despite bathroom conflicts, Hyde and his housemates spend a lot of time together and even have a special tradition.
"Our house movie is 'Bridesmaids,' and we've gotten to the point where we can quote pretty much the whole thing," Hyde said. "We also have this ongoing joke about Lacey (Hall) and I being the illegitimate children of Liz (Romero) and Heather (Bladek)."
Senior Elizabeth Romero loves having Hyde around the house.
"Alex is hilarious and balances out the dynamic between the girls," Romero said. "As much as I want to hate him, I really can't. He's the baby of the house."
According to junior Brett Cates, another benefit for women of a mostly male house is that he can offer relationship advice to his female housemates.
"They definitely value my opinion when it comes to guy problems," Cates said.
Hyde agrees.
"(My housemates) have always got questions for me like, 'what does it really mean when he says this or that,'" Hyde said. "Their boy problems do sometimes exceed my limit for dealing with them though."
Junior Jana Peters lives with four guys and couldn't be happier with her decision.
"I'm not much for girl drama so living with all guys has been a lot better for me," Peters said. "I wish they weren't graduating next year."
For Peters, working on long-term projects helps to keep her housemates together and happy.
Last year Peters and her roommates, under the leadership of senior Kelly Burgett, built a chicken coop. It now houses three chickens named Betty Clucks, Gary Busey and Esmeralda, which supply the housemates with fresh eggs.
Burgett appreciates knowing where his breakfast comes from.
"Between the five of us we eat a lot of eggs," Burgett said. "And we feel better about what we're eating."
Peters recognizes the importance of having a project to gather around.
"We couldn't have had a dog or a cat because our lease doesn't allow for indoor pets, but we can have chickens outside," Peters said. "We all try and do our part to help with them."
Whether one guy living with all girls, or one girl with all guys, a mixup of the sexes benefits everyone, according to Burgett.
"It balances the house out so you're not bro-ing out all the time," Burgett said. "It's good to have another perspective on things."
