True life: I live in university housing

By Brittany Benjamin, Kathleen Grohman and Molly Gore

Do you want a sophisticated apartment, non-stop partying or a tight-knit community?

On-campus housing selection begins on Monday for next year, and for any students rallying for another year of dorm life, it's best to look beyond the pages of the university Web site and get some inside information on what life in each of the dorms is really like.

Check it out:

* Swig

Swig is home to the combined Delphi and Cypress Residential Learning Communities to make the Cyphi RLC (pronounced like sci-fi), and its themes are arts and sustainability. The rooms are all doubles, except for one floor that also has single options.

Sophomore Nathan Wirtz said, "It's loud, but it's a fun atmosphere. It's easy to make friends. People are always leaving their doors open."

Every floor has two lounges, one for fun and one for quiet. The 11th floor is called the Sky Lounge and has a great view, and there are two kitchens in the building. The rooms include a sink, two closets, drawers and two beds. According to Wirtz, the rooms are on the smaller side, but there are creative ways to make it work. He and his roommate lofted their beds and put their desks underneath, so they managed to add a queen-size bed and a couch.

* Dunne

Aside from Swig, Dunne can easily be called one of the liveliest residence halls at Santa Clara. Located on the corner of Market and Lafayette Streets (aka -- the "light side"), Dunne is known for being active during party nights. Residents estimated that on any given Friday night, 80 to 85 percent of residents go out to parties located on the streets close by. On non-party nights, residents in the Modern Perspectives RLC socialize by wandering from room to room resulting from the numerous doors that remain open on every floor. It's a very social and diverse environment, and residents always run into someone they know in the hallways and elevator.

The rooms, all doubles, are slightly larger than in other dorms, and each contains a sink. Because Dunne is one of the liveliest dorms, it's also known for getting trashed on weekends. The toilets and sinks in the bathrooms usually get clogged with vomit or other bodily fluids. In general, the Dunne social scene is similar to Swig's because of their common location on the light side. Dunne is not as dirty as Swig, but not as quiet as Sobrato or Casa.

* Walsh/McLaughlin

As two underclassmen residence halls, Walsh and McLaughlin have the social scene of Dunne and Swig in a quieter environment and a smaller setting. While Walsh and McLaughlin are still close to the festivities of the light side, they are not located directly on the street and avoid some of the craziness associated with the party dorms. Additionally, Walsh and McLaughlin only have three floors compared to Dunne's four floors and Swig's eleven floors. Because of this smaller size, residents of the Unity RLC, living in doubles, get to know everybody on their floor, as well as a lot of the people within the building.

Like the other underclassmen dorms, residents living in Walsh and McLaughlin complain about getting charged fines for damage to the building and bathrooms, but they say that neighbors are overall respectful of one another. The buildings are usually active on Friday nights, with the majority of the students getting ready and going out to parties in the nearby houses. Students say the buildings' locations are optimal because they are within easy access to Benson, classes and weekend parties.

* Campisi

Campisi has quite a lot of perks, thanks to the asbestos-spurred renovation over the summer. Now there is a personal air-conditioning system in every room, sills come with the windows and a fresh paint smell that still lingers in the stairwells.

"It's really relaxing and homey. I like that everything is carpeted. You can walk around barefoot," said sophomore Julianne Flores.

Known more for its sense of community than a party atmosphere, Campisi tends to stay on the quiet side during weekend nights.

"There's really not a lot that goes on here on weekends. People just get ready to go out, but then it gets quiet for a couple hours when everyone leaves," said sophomore Daniel Perry.

* Bellarmine

Bellarmine, located off campus next to Taco Bell, used to be a hotel that is now converted into a dorm. Therefore the dorm has some hotel amenities that are nice for students. Each room has its own bathroom with a Jacuzzi bathtub and kitchenette. Freshman Sarah Hui picked the Communitas RLC because its theme is local action with compassion.

"It's peaceful, and you get to do a lot of walking," she said.

Freshman Beth Cason admits that Bellarmine generally gets a bad reaction because it's secluded.

"People don't hang out here, they hang out in other dorms," she said. Hui said that she has not met as many people as she may have if she lived somewhere like Swig. Bellarmine is about half freshmen and half other grades. Bellarmine's location is very convenient for Safeway and University Chicken.

* Sanfilippo

Located between Campisi and Casa Italiana, Sanfilippo is a three-story dorm and shares a sunny quad with Campisi. The rooms tend to feel generally more spacious, thanks to the lofted ceilings and generously large sink area.

"The big closets are probably my favorite part. They're huge," said freshman Inna Asthana.

When the weekend comes around, Sanfilippo is lively, but manages to keep from reaching obnoxious noise levels.

"It's a perfect balance here, never too loud, but it's never too quiet either. I already know I want to live here next year," said freshman Kathryn Choo.

There is a strong sense of community, but it tends to more strongly bind freshman to freshman and sophomores to sophomores. * Graham

It may not have a pool in the quad anymore, but the Graham complex still has plenty to offer. Comprised of four two-story buildings, Graham has girls living on the second floor, while boys live on the first. With only about 50 to 60 residents per building, news spreads fast in the tight community.

"It's so small that you know everything that's going on. You develop tight relationships with the people in your dorm, especially people on your side of the hallway," said sophomore Aitor Zabalegui.

The floors are divided by a bathroom, and each floor shares a common room at the end of the hall. According to Zabalegui, the common room is a popular place late at night on the weekends. The division of the sexes by floor causes some to complain, but more seem pleased by the privacy. There are also no sinks in the rooms, but the boys don't seem to mind, and the girls get lofted ceilings and extra storage space to make up for it.

* Casa Italiana

Situated next to Sobrato Hall and Graham, Casa Italiana is home to the DaVinci RLC. Casa has two parts: old Casa, which has designed singles, and new Casa which has suites. Sophomore Jo Chiaramonte lives in one of the suites and said that her favorite part about it is having her own bathroom. Each suite has four rooms, two bathrooms and a common room. Underclassmen have two people per room (eight people per suite), and upperclassmen have one person per room (four people per suite) and a full kitchen.

According to Chiaramonte, Casa houses a lot of engineering majors. She also said that it is a good place to study if you need quiet.

"Casa's pretty quiet, and a lot of people keep to themselves. Not a lot of people keep their door open, but it can be social," she said.

Sophomore Adriana Asdourian said that she likes being able to close her door, but said that you can sit in one of the common rooms and talk to people as they walk by. Asdourian also likes Casa Café, a dorm program for the whole building to come make some coffee.

There are common rooms with couches and game rooms with pool, ping pong and foosball.

"It's definitely a comfortable option," Chiaramonte said. "It's like living in an apartment, but you still get the dorm atmosphere."

* Sobrato

Sobrato is comprised of two buildings separated by a small courtyard. The front building houses freshmen and sophomores in six-people suites made up of one double and four singles, two bathrooms and a common room. The back building has juniors and seniors in suites made up of four singles, a common room, two bathrooms and a kitchen.

Sophomore Sarah Esparza is a community facilitator in Sobrato and likes the community.

"The people that live here get involved in a lot of things around campus," she said. She chose Sobrato for its values: the Loyola RLC is all about faith and social justice.

Freshman James Spadafore likes not having to walk to a bathroom with all his stuff, as well as the suite set-up, because it is a quiet place to come home to.

"I knew it would be the nicest place, even though it has a reputation for being 'Sober-ato,' " he said.

* Nobili

Compared to Swig or Dunne, Nobili is like living in an apartment complex. As one of the most recently renovated residence halls, Nobili is an upperclassmen dorm, reserved for juniors and seniors. Residents have the choice of living in a single or double room. The building is four floors tall; the first floor houses a section of the interim library while the top three floors are all residences.

Compared to the underclassmen dorms, residents enjoy more spacious rooms, complete with a bathroom in every room. However, as an upperclassmen dorm, the social atmosphere is much quieter than the underclassmen dorms.

Nobili does not have an established RLC, and many of the older residents don't feel a need to do much socializing within the dorm. While there is a stigma that Nobili is a "studious dorm," most of the residents are not geeks.

The building is usually buzzing on Friday nights with people going out with friends. On the other hand, the residents do have a lot of activities going on -- attending classes, going to work and being involved in school clubs and sports. These students use Nobili as a crash pad, a place for sleeping and studying, in between these activities. Overall, Nobili has better facilities than the underclassmen dorms, but it's also too quiet and secluded at times.

* St. Clare

Located two blocks from campus, on the corner of Fremont and The Alameda, St. Clare is one of the most unusual residence halls. Residents are all upperclassmen, transfer students, international students or students returning from study abroad.

Each room, larger than those of Swig or Dunne, comes equipped with a bathroom and a few even have balconies. One wing of the building is reserved for single rooms, while the other wing houses students in double rooms.

Residents enjoy free parking in the lot in front of the building and access to a private swimming pool. However, the pool is closed to residents because no lifeguard is regularly on duty.

Additionally, the distance from campus proves to be inconvenient for many students who feel isolated on the "dark side" of campus. This said, every Friday night, students gather outside the building around 9 p.m. ready to hit the party scene.

St. Clare provides a quieter and more mature atmosphere than the crazy environment often associated with college dorms.

Contact the scene staff at (408) 551-1918 or krpowers@scu.edu.