The Rosenthal Quad is in every way the epitome of Brandeis housing in that it can be described in the same way as the sixth season of New Girl: “eh”. Although Rosie comes in as the second-best place to live for sophomores, Skyline takes top honors, Rosie has difficulty maintaining its second place standing. As Charles River apartments and singles in East (only the Lord knows how that happened) become more appealing, the luster of Rosie is slowly turning into lack in some major areas.
Rosie was built in 1969, and much like the last two numbers of that year, Rosie is sloppy in some regards and really can’t keep everyone pleased at once. With that in mind, the first and most important issue that comes with Rosie is the common room. To explain this better, allow me to first describe how Rosie is laid out. When selecting roommates for Rosie, you can only choose one half of the entire suite, which includes one double bedroom and two singles. The four of you will share one bathroom, which can get congested during high traffic hours before class and before bed. But never fear, because so long as you have the bladder of a truck driver, waiting out everyone else is your best option.
After you meander down the short hall from your bed or bathroom, you will find yourself in the common room. Since you can only select the three others who live on your side, this is where life becomes more complicated. If somehow you manage to have another friend, who also has a good number and gets the same floor in the same building as you then, you are home free, but life is never so kind to the typical introverted Brandeis student. So most likely you will find yourself in a living arrangement about as exciting as this year’s virtual Springfest. By that I, of course, mean that the four people living adjacent to you will most likely be strangers you haven’t an inkling of knowledge of.
Do not fear the “others” though! For the battle for the common room has just begun and early assertion can change the name of the game and tilt the odds in your favor! A simple move, as done by the other side of my Rosie this year, was to buy a TV to place in the common room to watch all the time. The noise was an issue to a small extent since Rosie walls, despite being cinder block, are thinner than our diploma papers. However, the real issue was the usage of the common room. I am particularly clean and the “others” are less so, but I guess it does not matter so much since the common room is truly only my hallway to leave. But a larger issue is highlighted here: sharing a common room with strangers is impossible.
The ants, which either come in biblical marches or are never there, become less relevant. There is still the issue of the generally ugly nature of the Rosie quad since it is simply paved and dull just like any business major, but the redeeming quality of Rosie is the common room! Rosie offers sophomores who do not want to walk from Grad and cannot get a room in Skyline a place to call their own! It is an apartment where they do not have to cook but can have a lounge and friends around them at all times. It is low maintenance and easy to decorate, but when the design flaw at the heart of it interferes with the student life within it, then it all comes crumbling down. Rosie has so much potential, it is lively and generally party central, but as time sees more unhappy sides of Rosie being forced to share a common room, the whole notion of suite style becomes unappealing. Nevertheless, if you can live with all of that, including the ants and ugly quad, I will let you in on a little secret which will change your life—the Area Coordinator has cats you can see in his apartment. So, when life is just “eh” in Rosie, stop by the cats because it’ll remind you why you love living there.
