Which would you anticipate to unearth? Would it be traces of roses, lilies, tulips, candy and fruity trails, and aromas of cleanliness all around; or old food odors, hairballs, used tampons and sanitary napkins, toothpaste, urine, and blood stains? Of the two particular scenarios given, the latter is likely NOT to be your guesstimate for the plethora of possible findings in a women’s dormitory. I’m here to show you that it, and the bathrooms in it, can be one of the filthiest places known to man on a college campus. Let’s take a walk through one on West Carolina T&M University’s campus. The dorm of terror for today is Curray Hall.
As we approach the heavy glass doors to enter Curray Hall, observe the glass covered in fingerprints and drink splatters. Notice what seems to be a huge, red, smudged letter “F” or a plus sign on the left door—which does not open for some unknown reason. It appears it could either be blood or bad paint. Regardless, it looks quite disgusting. Notice as you are now entering the door the scent of garlic, old pizza, and rotten fish is permeating through the air with force directly into your nostrils almost instantly. As you turn to your immediate right you see a trash trail coming from the lobby due to the trashcan overflowing so ferociously with food containers. The large, mid-wall to ceiling mirrors are covered in fingerprints, hair grease, and food smears from people eating and touching them. The carpet is covered in food and drink stains as well.
Continuing your entry into the dorm, now arriving to the hallway of the first floor, you notice it is covered in flyers—for parties most of the young ladies will not attend—and hair balls. You think to yourself these hair balls are roaming through here like tumbleweed in a desert. Ahead of you as you turn left making your way towards the stairwell; there is a trail leading to the bathroom. It is a golden-like liquid fluid. What do you believe happened? Someone apparently did not make it to the bathroom before releasing their bodily fluids? Correct! Upon closer observation you witness that the golden-like liquid is urine. You’ve finally reached the stairwell. Our next stop will be the basement.
While you’re going down the steps to the basement inspecting everything, you see a path of underwear traveling in both directions, up and down the steps. Are they dirty? Or are they clean? That’s a mystery you choose to leave as an absolute mystery. Carrying on down the steps halfway, you look up and see that the glass on the ground-level door has the same red marking, this time with the letter “L” on it, as did the main entry door. Persisting on your journey, you are now at the basement door. Open it and walk in. Located in the basement are the snack room, laundry room, and kitchen. After walking about fifteen steps into the basement, you direct your attention to the first room on the left which is the laundry room. You walk into the given room: there are three chairs to your abrupt left, a few paces up from that is the card swipe machine for using the washer and dryer, a little further is the oversized sink used for soaking/prewashing and/or washing delicates, straight ahead on the back wall are four dryers, three that work and one that doesn’t, and against the right wall, next to the dryers are four working washers. You decide to take a closer look in the oversized sink and find that someone was soaking a pair of white with lime and teal flowered underwear. The garment contained fecal marks and blood stains …EWW! Thoroughly disgusted you step back into the hallway, walk about ten steps, and enter the kitchen.
Standing in the doorway of the kitchen, you see it has three microwaves, one on your right and two on your left, a thirteen ounce trashcan about thirteen feet away from you on the right, and a closet across from it on the left. Your senses tell you the kitchen has a foul odor and has been left in an uproar. Traces of overcooked popcorn, ramen noodle bags, and crumbs are everywhere. The counters are so filthy you avoid getting too close to them so that they couldn’t touch your clothing during your inspection. The floor is horrendously covered in thick coats of what might be ketchup, mustard, collards, and barbeque sauce. You begin to approach one of the three microwaves with intentions on opening it. The initial scent your nose detected a few moments earlier appears to be getting stronger; therefore you cover your nose before opening it because you fear what you may discover. Upon opening the door of the microwave, an aroma mixture of onions, garlic, guys’ sweaty gym soaks, and garbage truck juice hurdled out of it. The appearance is worse than the scent though. You examine the glass tray and there are various foods that splattered and popped, as well as water that appears as though it has been stagnant for so long it has started to grow mold in the microwave. Now that is a shame. You decide to skip the snack room due to now being in complete repulsion.
Walking up the steps to the 3rd floor, you see that all the windows on your way up are covered in the same red, smeared, letters that were on the main and ground-level doors. The letter on the first floor window was an “O,” on the second floor window was a “V,” and the third floor window contained an “E.” Reflecting on the letters, you realize it makes out the phrase “F LOVE.” Thoughts? Someone bitter or heartbroken had to do that. Haha, you are pretty funny.
You’ve finally reached the third floor and decide the bathroom should be the first of your last two stops due to all you’ve seen thus far. Entering the bathroom, you feel an uneasy sense of relief because you didn’t know what to expect. It feels nice and warm with traces of candy and fruit trails in air from the soaps belonging to those currently showering. All that ends as your smell senses catch a whiff of a garbage-like odor rippling lightly below the scent of a cucumber melon and a midnight pomegranate body wash. Walking into an empty toilet stall, there are urines stains all on the toilet seat in this first stall. Looking into the next stall, dried blood stains on the floor and toilet seat pop out at you.
“How in the hades did blood stains get on the floor of all places?”
Avoiding the other toilet stalls; you walk over to the empty shower to see where the garbage-like aroma could have been seeping from. Deciding to turn on the shower, you angle the shower head down so you won’t get wet and turn on the water. Stepping out of the shower careless you almost step in some random fluid on the floor that you did notice when first approaching the shower; it seems some nice, young lady has urinated (and it contains blood in it) in an area the water doesn’t reach. Okay, while you stand back and observe, the smell of garbage and fecal matter becomes more prominent as the water from the shower beats down into the shower drain.
“It has to be something wrong with the drainage system; no one actually smells like that.”
Nonetheless, the longer you stand here you inspect how the water starts to puddle up. That’s not the drainage alone though. Letting your eyes roam the shower, you see those tumbleweed-like hair balls, a razor, and a toothbrush. Weird combination, but it happens. You turn the water off and exit the bathroom shaking your head.
Curious to know what the inside of at least one of the rooms look like after seeing the other travesties of a women’s dormitory, you reluctantly knock on a door labeled as 304. While waiting for someone to open the door, you quickly scheme up a story for why you want to view the room. Not thinking fast enough, a young lady opens the door sooner than you expect:
“May I help you?”
“Yes, I am doing a story for The News of Us on dorm life for men and women, and I am curious to know if you would be so kind in accommodating my need of viewing the inside of a woman’s dorm room and their cleanliness?”
“Mmm, sure I don’t mind, my roommate isn’t here but come on in.”
“Thanks.”
Glancing across the room, it appears the two young ladies balance each other out at first look. Straight ahead, there is a neatly-made bed, clothes neatly folded, and no trash lingering around that portion of the room. On the opposite side, as you step in closer to see the room entirely; you note that the roommate’s garbage is running over and the stench isn’t one to love: her bed is messy with her covers sprawled all over the bed, laundry that is clean has just been tossed on the bed, and on the floor dirty laundry resides right in front of her closet where her laundry basket is located. *Hears key jingling in the door*
“Alright, that’s enough, you’ve got to leave.”
“Okay thanks for your cooperation. I believe I have seen enough to understand the struggle that lies within a women’s dormitory.”
A women’s dorm can either be the cleanest or filthiest places on campus and in the world. The worst part of it all is knowing that it is a dorm filled with only women. Not all of the women within the dorm are unclean, but the few that are make the rest appear to be just as horrid.
Evankha Terayn™ 