Finding Home on Campus: My Northeastern Apartment Experience
I am nineteen years old, living on campus in a Northeastern apartment with my five best friends that has breathtaking views of Boston. I have endless appreciation for our Sunday night dinners, when we all take turns cooking in the spacious kitchen and eating together to reflect on our weeks. It has become one of my favorite traditions – the laughter, the shared stories, and the feeling of home it creates. I also love coming home after a long day of classes, work, and clubs to find my roommates all talking in the living room, watching Dance Moms for the hundredth time. No matter how busy our schedules get, we always find moments to slow down and just enjoy being together. During the day, I love sitting by the window and watching everyone walk by, trying to spot my friends from the second-to-top floor of our building. There truly is no better college experience than the one I am living right now, and I owe that to Northeastern’s on-campus housing.
As an upperclassman at Northeastern, one of the best decisions I made was to live in an on-campus apartment. When students become upperclassmen, they have the option to live in campus housing with a roommate group of their choice. Each student receives a randomly assigned lottery number that determines when they get to pick their apartment. While there are countless beautiful options to choose from, my roommates and I decided on an apartment on the West side of campus on the fifth floor – and it couldn’t have been a better fit.
The apartment has three spacious double rooms that each come with desks, dressers, and a closet for every resident. There are also two full bathrooms with sinks in the middle, which makes getting ready in the morning surprisingly easy. The kitchen is one of my favorite parts. It's equipped with an oven, stove, refrigerator, and plenty of cabinet space, perfect for cooking dinners together or making late-night snacks. The living room comes furnished with a couch, two chairs, and a coffee table, making it the perfect place to hangout with each other and relax. There is also a dining room table with six chairs and a lot of open space.
Still, the highlight of our apartment is the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook Northeastern’s campus and the greater Boston area. Outside the window, there is a view of everything from Centennial Circle to the Prudential Center, and the view at sunset never fails to amaze me.
As an upperclassman at Northeastern, one of the best decisions I made was to live in an on-campus apartment. When students become upperclassmen, they have the option to live in campus housing with a roommate group of their choice. Each student receives a randomly assigned lottery number that determines when they get to pick their apartment. While there are countless beautiful options to choose from, my roommates and I decided on an apartment on the West side of campus on the fifth floor – and it couldn’t have been a better fit.
The apartment has three spacious double rooms that each come with desks, dressers, and a closet for every resident. There are also two full bathrooms with sinks in the middle, which makes getting ready in the morning surprisingly easy. The kitchen is one of my favorite parts. It's equipped with an oven, stove, refrigerator, and plenty of cabinet space, perfect for cooking dinners together or making late-night snacks. The living room comes furnished with a couch, two chairs, and a coffee table, making it the perfect place to hangout with each other and relax. There is also a dining room table with six chairs and a lot of open space. Still, the highlight of our apartment is the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook Northeastern’s campus and the greater Boston area. Outside the window, there is a view of everything from Centennial Circle to the Prudential Center, and the view at sunset never fails to amaze me.
Another major benefit of living on campus is convenience. It’s incredibly easy to get to class every day. Most classes are just a few hundred feet away, and the longest walk is about seven minutes. I can stop by the apartment between classes to grab a snack, take a quick nap, or just hang out for a bit before heading back out. This convenience also makes it easy to attend club meetings or events at night and still have a comfortable place to come home to afterward. It makes balancing academics, work, and social life feel much more manageable.
There’s also an invaluable social aspect to living on campus. In addition to living with my five best friends, I am surrounded by other Northeastern students in every direction. During the first week, it’s common for people in the building to knock on each other’s doors to introduce themselves, and that’s how so many friendships begin. These connections feel different from the ones you make in classes or clubs because they’re spontaneous and constant, built from the small moments of seeing each other in the hallway or sharing a quick chat in the elevator. It’s not unusual for one of our neighbors to knock on our door and invite us over to hang out, and we often do the same. It makes the whole building feel like one big community.
Living in an on-campus apartment has truly been a highlight of my college experience so far. Northeastern’s housing has made Boston feel like home. Between the incredible views, the comfort of living with my closest friends, and the sense of community that surrounds us, I couldn’t imagine spending my college years anywhere else.
