Living off Campus

For those of us living off of the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus, there is something to experience. Living off campus means that bills have to be paid and a wage has to be earned to pay those bills. For me this is a perfect lifestyle because it encompasses both student life and living the true Alaskan experience.

A job is a necessity to pay the bills, but a balance is needed to keep life running smoothly. I choose to work on campus, which enables me to walk easily from work to school which is very convenient. Something that sometimes comes with living off campus is a roommate.

Roommates are something that are hard to escape, even when living off campus. The costs associated with living off campus can be expensive but with roommates you can cut them down and save money. Having a roommate doesn't mean you have be best friends, but like in a dorm room, it does mean you will have to get along. Now there are also a plethora of awesome things about roommates from sharing the food bill to carpooling to hanging out. My roommate and I are both students, and we carpool to save money and gas. We also split the food bill which is nice because that leaves us extra money to save or use for other things. A roommate can greatly help living and working off campus which includes carpooling.

Transportation is one of hardest parts of living off campus; there is no limitation to how involved you can be on campus, it just takes a little more effort. Living on campus gives you the advantage of finding events while hanging around, something that cannot be accomplished while living off campus. Living off campus means that if you want to attend Starvation Gulch, than you would have to arrange to get to campus somehow. Some students notice that they feel less involved when living off campus, but it does not have to be that way. You are still just as much of a student as those that live on campus, and you can equally involved in on-campus activities, it only takes a little extra planning.

I like living off campus because it gives me the opportunity to experience Alaska in the way I pictured it. It makes me feel that I am being immersed in all that Fairbanks has to offer. I am also a student and I like what UAF has to offer, so I make sure that I am on campus for the events and activities that interest me. I live in a dry cabin which means I have no running water, (yup) no shower or toilet. I have a sink but I have to bring all of the water I drink and use for cooking to my cabin from the water station. I shower on campus which is useful because its another reason for me to go to campus. The outhouse is something that adds to the Alaskan experience and it definitely different from other parts of the U.S. Living in a birch forest, far from campus, in a dry cabin is what I imagined I would be doing when I got to Alaska and it does not disappoint; it takes a dream of mine and solidifies it, turning a childhood dream into reality.