Freshman still fond of mess
Liz Essley
Issue date: 1/22/09 Section: Focus
Freshman Maria Lams and her roommate cleaned their room about three times last semester. The rest of the time, clothes and objects sprawled around the bed, desk and floor of their McIntyre Residence room.
"We would both get these mounds of clothes right by our beds," Lams said. "It was common I would just turn over stuff and find a milk-encrusted cereal bowl."
Because her roommate transferred, Lams now lives by herself, but her room is already well on its way to forming more mounds. The topography helps - Lams has combined the two beds in the room to make one big one; now she, a beanbag and the emptied contents of a duffel bag - mostly socks - can all occupy the bed together.
"Somehow I acquired three times more clothes over break," Lams said. She has a hamper for dirty clothes, a hamper for clothes she's tried on but didn't wear, as well as other clothes strewn around the room.
"It's nice to flop on a pile of clothes and pick up a book and read," Lams said.
She explains that she sometimes likes to hang out or study in messy rooms, hers or others'.
"Sometimes I feel more at home if it's a mess," she said.
Lams said she has been messy for as long as she can remember. Until age 11, she had special spots on the floor where she put the ball of her foot so she could walk across the room.
She said she has never done a load of laundry in her life. About every five weeks last semester, Lams managed to go home to Ann Arbor, Mich., where her mother would do it for her.
Though she said she knows where things are, even in the piles, she sometimes stumbles upon objects she'd forgotten about. While pointing out two oranges that had been in her room since before break, she stopped to remark, "Oh. That's where my toothpaste went."
But this does not faze her.
"It's the little surprises. You can just be looking for something and find something else. It can brighten your day."
But Lams said she also dreams of cleaning up her room.
She wants to get her posters to finally stay on the wall, instead of incessantly falling off, as well as put one of her desks in the basement, to create more space. She also wants to hang up a calendar and a blank poster that friends can write on with crayons.
"It has potential," she said.
But to begin decorating, Lams said she will need "a mix of excitement, determination and, I don't know, an idea."
Lams plans to decorate and clean this week, next week or the next week after that. She also plans to get laundry lessons from a friend sometime this semester, probably whenever she first runs out of underwear.
She says it's important for her to have a clean room for the start of the new semester. So far she's managed to put away her clothes.
"It'll get done," she said. "Maybe it'll do itself... It's a change I can believe in."
"We would both get these mounds of clothes right by our beds," Lams said. "It was common I would just turn over stuff and find a milk-encrusted cereal bowl."
Because her roommate transferred, Lams now lives by herself, but her room is already well on its way to forming more mounds. The topography helps - Lams has combined the two beds in the room to make one big one; now she, a beanbag and the emptied contents of a duffel bag - mostly socks - can all occupy the bed together.
"Somehow I acquired three times more clothes over break," Lams said. She has a hamper for dirty clothes, a hamper for clothes she's tried on but didn't wear, as well as other clothes strewn around the room.
"It's nice to flop on a pile of clothes and pick up a book and read," Lams said.
She explains that she sometimes likes to hang out or study in messy rooms, hers or others'.
"Sometimes I feel more at home if it's a mess," she said.
Lams said she has been messy for as long as she can remember. Until age 11, she had special spots on the floor where she put the ball of her foot so she could walk across the room.
She said she has never done a load of laundry in her life. About every five weeks last semester, Lams managed to go home to Ann Arbor, Mich., where her mother would do it for her.
Though she said she knows where things are, even in the piles, she sometimes stumbles upon objects she'd forgotten about. While pointing out two oranges that had been in her room since before break, she stopped to remark, "Oh. That's where my toothpaste went."
But this does not faze her.
"It's the little surprises. You can just be looking for something and find something else. It can brighten your day."
But Lams said she also dreams of cleaning up her room.
She wants to get her posters to finally stay on the wall, instead of incessantly falling off, as well as put one of her desks in the basement, to create more space. She also wants to hang up a calendar and a blank poster that friends can write on with crayons.
"It has potential," she said.
But to begin decorating, Lams said she will need "a mix of excitement, determination and, I don't know, an idea."
Lams plans to decorate and clean this week, next week or the next week after that. She also plans to get laundry lessons from a friend sometime this semester, probably whenever she first runs out of underwear.
She says it's important for her to have a clean room for the start of the new semester. So far she's managed to put away her clothes.
"It'll get done," she said. "Maybe it'll do itself... It's a change I can believe in."
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