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My Old House: 411 Lowes St.

411 Lowes St.

My Old House: 411 Lowes St.

Danielle Damon ’18 • January 05, 2017

A pale yellow house stands at the end of the 400 block of Lowes. Inside, lives two sets of sorority bigs and littles, and one honorary Theta Phi Alpha. The five senior residents are living together for the second year in a row, but this time, they each have their own room, and there are three bathrooms split among the group. The house is handicap accessible, but for now, it is used as a "student engagement" theme house that the housemates gained through the Special Interest Housing process.

The laundry machines are set up on the wrong sides, so when both of the doors open, they hit each other. A tradition since two of the residents lived together sophomore year - placing funny and memorable quotes on the world map in the kitchen. Two of the residents proudly hang an Ireland flag on their walls, a reminder of the times they shared together when they studied abroad there during their sophomore year. The bedrooms are spacious, but one fridge is not enough for the girls of 411. Many of them keep their own mini fridge in their room. This communal one was decorated for the holidays with crafts a resident's grandma had her and her cousins make at Thanksgiving dinner. Borrowed permanently from the residents' sorority bid day decorations, the gold streamers add color to the house and are commonly used as a backdrop when taking pictures. Four out of the five residents are in Theta Phi Alpha, the other they call an "honorary Theta Phi." This hand painted flag was wasting away in a basement box at the sorority house, so they took it out of retirement and hung it for all to see when they walk in the front door. One resident has a montage of her favorite things on her bedroom wall. The Argentina flag holds a special place in her heart, since she spent a summer abroad there and stayed with the same host family as one of her current housemates. Upstairs there is an extra storage closet, “which is half the size of our room that we shared last year,” two residents said.All of the girls throw random items in there for storage. “Not that we even need to," they continued. "We have so much space." The bedroom desks get a lot of use. The residents say they know and respect each others' study habits, so they would rather study at home than take a long walk to the library.