sounds really relaxing
 

These "cold porches" sound good to me! I have a question though. If it's 24 hour quiet, how do you wake up for classes? Are you allowed to have an alarm clock?

preciousjeni

We have a wakeup system from 6:30 until 7:45. You can choose to be woken up at 6:30, 7:00 or 7:30. We have a lot of pharmacy majors that all have 8AM classes so the majority of the girls in the cold dorm wake up at those times. After those times you can use an alarm clock but you must be courteous.

:D

im gonna say that more guys snore then the women.. i could be wrong... but if you have like 5 brothers who snore.. i would go nuts!!!! how do you ladies with these porches deal with snoring...

We have a few rooms with beds but for the most part there isn't a problem with snoring until certain people get sick. Usually those girls end up sleeping on the couch in their rooms.

A girl in one of my classes years ago was a DG and she was telling me they had a similar wakeup system...no alarms til a certain time, girls would sign up for times they wanted to be woken up, etc. I always wondered how those girls woke up to do wake-up duty: was there a special room for them to sleep in so their alarms could go off? I also am curious how it's decided who does it: by seniority (or lack thereof), does everyone take a turn, is it the responsibility of the girls who sleep in their rooms instead of the dorm or is it by volunteering?

Also, jharb, what happens if a girl wants to wake up earlier than 6:30?

The way we do it is you can set your alarm for before then but if you want to get up from 6:30-7:45 you use the wake up system. Same with getting up after 7:45. The people who do the wakeups are generally girls who haven't done their house duties yet. Each girl who lives in the house must complete three house duties before graduating. The house duties range from doing weekend dishes, taking out weekend trash, to wakeups. I've never done wakeups, instead I've done dishes, taken out the trash and cleaned out the kitchenette. Other girls will take 6:30, 7:00 and 7:30 wakeups on a Tuesday (or some other day) and have all three of their house duties done for their time in the house. Girls who have 7:00 wakeups would be woken up by the girl doing the 6:30 wakeups.

I hope that explains it!

In the northeast (New England) these sleeping rooms are called "Rams" (not sure why). I was told they were created for insurance reasons.

I slept in one at the Lambda Chi Alpha (Beta chapter) House at U. Maine, Orono back in the '70s. The first floor was all common rooms, kitchen, dining room. The second floor had study rooms shared by two brothers each, with all their personal stuff. The third floor was like a barracks, running the length of the building.

Just rows of beds. The windows are open 365 days a year. Everyone has an electric blanket on his bed. In the winter, snow will drift in the room. Yes, no kidding! Dig around for your shoes or slippers.

In the morning, there is a brother stationed outside the door with a list of wake-up times. He discreetly shakes each guy at the appointed time, who then runs like hell downstairs where it's warm.

I didn't make this up. I stayed in the Ram one night. Emphasis on ONE. I was just visiting. I have heard they also have a similar arrangement at Syracuse. Perhaps ironically, Florida would be too hot for this.

Jono

There was a coed GLO at my school that had this type of sleeping arrangement. Everyone slept in the attic - girls at one end, guys at the other. (no alarm clocks allowed) Each resident also had a room in the house (2-4 people per room) where s/he would keep a desk, chair, computer, etc. Each night, one person would sleep in a separate bedroom with an alarm set for 5:30 or something, and it was his/her job to go around and wake everyone at his or her requested time. This duty rotated among all the members... It was called "arousal" :p

I didn't even rush there. I value my privacy too much ;)

Arousal!!! I love that. Only ones who could beat that are the British, who "knock you up" in the morning :eek:

Seriously, does anyone know why this saves on insurance premiums? Or maybe that's not the real reason.

Jono

We do it because it saves space in a room. You can fit four desks, closets and dressers in a room and not have to worry about beds! :D

A problem has aroused recently at our cold airs, since most people here now do not have alarm clock. Instead, they set up their cell phone for alarm clock, and bring them to the racks (cold air).

I'm OK with that, except some nights, crazy friends/girlfriends/family or whoever it was, call the person in the middle of the night and the cell phone ringing loudly at the racks ... at 2 in the morning!! :mad:

Time to add a house rule, I guess ...

But generally, I LOVE cold airs. Especially in the winter times like this, when the air is super cold. Nothing better than just cuddle up under TONS of blankets and pillow to warm up :D Especially if there is someone with you ;)

Ok so do you actually have people sharing a bed with like 40 other people in the room? When I had a roomie, my boy NEVER stayed over when she was sleeping in the room, just too weird. So how does that work. It kinda seems like it would be nice cause you can easily keep an eye on sisters and their shadiness. But hum...non sisters sleeping in the chapter sleeping room...

LOL ... it's actually more like guys cold airs. Some girlfriends stay with the brothers, including cuddle up at the cold airs. :D

We don't have a problem with it. If you're going to sleep with someone else you do it elsewhere. No guys are allowed in our house period after midnight. It's simply not done.

My boyfriend's fraternity on the other hand has an upperclassman cold dorm and a freshman cold dorm. Last year his bed was in the cold dorm (his room was too small for ANYTHING other than a desk!) so we would stay up there when I came to visit if the guest room was already booked. There's extra beds in each of their cold dorms so there would always be girls staying there on the weekends (it's an all guys school so most girls have to drive to go visit!).

My mom was a Phi Mu at Purdue, and she always talked about how much she loved staying in the cold air dorm! She said sometimes you would wake up and have snow on your bed! I, however, go to school in Mississippi, so any time of the year besides Jan and Feb, you would roast to death sleeping in an open air thing like that!! Hee, hee!