For today’s post I wanted to give you the run-down on Residence, and I figured there would be no better way than to share with you a few stories from Siegfried and Ryan Hall. I had a little help on this one from the wonderful students at SJU – thank you to everyone who shared their stories!

“There are so many great memories I have from these past few months at SJ, it’s hard to choose! But I’d have to say one of my favourites was around Christmas time, when my floor did Secret Santa with Christmas-themed pyjama pants! We took photos together, curled up and watched a Christmas movie, and even went out for a floor trip to a diner a few hours before. It was nice to bond with all my floor-mates before everyone gradually left for Christmas break!” – Nicole, 1^st Year

“My favourite thing about living in residence was living with such great minded individuals who have helped me through so much this year! (And also getting floor wear)” – Antonella, 1^st Year

“My favourite part of living in residence was going to the Green and Gold Gala at the end of the year!!!” – Rachel, 1^st Year

“I loved going out to floor events. Floor 2 brunch, sushi and ice cream were all awesome.” – Mitchell, 1^st Year

“I think my best memory from residence was being neighbours with a floor-mate that would go on to become one of my best friends. We shared a wall, and I could hear her every time she sneezed. As we became friends, I started saying “bless you!” through the wall and she started doing the same for me! A year later, we no longer share a wall, but we love to reminisce about how saying “bless you!” deepened our friendship and made us both feel less alone.” – Zayn, 2^nd Year

“My best residence memories have been with my floor – Making Christmas cookies, watching Christmas movies and ordering the “Big Kahuna” pizza that was so big the box could barely fit through the door!” – Emiko, 1^st Year

“I think watching White Christmas with two or three of my floor-mates right before the Christmas break was my favourite residence memory!” – Madie, 3^rd Year

“When I was in residence, myself and 9 friends created a dodgeball team called the “Dirty Dodging JerHomies”. We were an intramural team that played weekly, but we definitely took it to a new level by creating matching t-shirts and headbands, and we even had our own Instagram account for our loyal followers. While we never won the finals (coming in second place both terms) we definitely had a ton of fun having the opportunity to hang out together and play dodgeball. We even had the “Least Invaluable Player” award after every game, which would get a feature on the Instagram account.

Another memory I have is when a few of my fellow dodgeball teammates would finish off our games by making “late night noods” (microwaved mac and cheese) in the empty caf late at night. Residence is such a fun place to start your own friendship traditions and to this day I still miss having some good noods before bedtime” – Bethany, 3^rd Year

Now, having lived in Residence for two years myself, I couldn’t finish this post without telling you my own personal favourite stories. I have so many fond memories of St. Jerome’s that it was difficult to choose just one, so I’ll tell you two. When I was in my first year here I had the privilege of meeting one of my best friends. Together we were true UWaterloo innovators – we came up with so many ideas, from dog adoption apps to microcontroller-powered watering systems for our plants (I won’t go into too much detail because I still think we might have a million-dollar idea). Our best innovation though was attaching “Wallace,” her stuffed isopod, to a Roomba vacuum and letting him roam the floor. Wallace travelled well that day.

My favourite memory from being a Residence Don at St. Jerome’s is definitely when my floor built a shrine to carbohydrates by covering the post on our floor in East Side Mario’s bread bags (shoutout to Heather for the idea). It was a really strange thing for them to do, but it brought everyone together and we ended up taking a floor trip to East Side Mario’s as an end-of-term celebration before winter break to get more bags for our shrine. We actually had to go to the far East Side’s because the one close to campus couldn’t take a reservation for 30 people. My girls told our waitress that it was my birthday (it for sure wasn’t) and I got to have one of the most embarrassing moments of my life while 30 people sang “Happy Birthday” to me in the middle of a restaurant.

If you’re still wondering if St. Jerome’s is the right place for you, come take a tour! There’s no better way to get a sense of fit than coming, experiencing the community, and maybe making a few memories of your own while you’re here. To book a tour, fill out our online form here.