Visiting Rights

All college campuses have different policies on visitors, and all residence halls have differing policies too. But what most people forget to consider are the policies you should make up on your own.

Like all other college students I had plenty of friends and family from back home that wanted to visit me. And I couldn’t wait to show them everything from my room, to my roommate, to the buildings I had class in, to the places where I went to eat.

So naturally I invited my best friend over for the weekend. I thought to myself, “we’ll paint our nails, talk about each other’s lives, dish gossip, go to a party, stay up all night, she'll meet my new friends, and it will be so much fun. But of course, none of this happened. Somehow my one visitor turned into two, she had decided that her boyfriend would tag along. And while I knew I wasn’t allowed to have boys in my room past a certain time, I also knew that my RA was extremely nice and she would let it slide. I don’t think even Allen Poe could have made a more frightening story than what I experienced that weekend. Not only was I third wheel, I was left on my own and frustrated most of the time.

This is what I learned about visiting rights:

1. Number one, check out the residence hall policies on visitors. You don’t want to be unnecessary trouble just because your friends decided to visit.
2. Check and double-check with your roommate that she’s okay with you having visitors over for the weekend.
3. Never invite more than one person unless you know you have the room and you know you will all hang out together, without leaving anyone out.
4. Call them in advance and tell them what to bring. If they, however, forget or ignore your instructions, tell them they either have to make do with that they brought or buy new things. Nothing is more annoying than having to lend out things you don’t want to let others borrow, can you imagine letting your best friends boyfriend use YOUR OWN towel?
5. Plan the weekend out. The more downtime there is, the more opportunities for your guests to say, “I’m bored,” there will be.
6. Lastly, try to have fun no matter how unbearable the weekend may seem, because your friends will always remember the weekend they came to see you at college.

And I just want to point out that not all weekends with visitors turn out as appallingly horrible as mine. Encourage your friends to come see you and make plans to go see them, because they are after all your friends.

“Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget.”

-Unknown