Langdell Hall Joins Campus Community
Sean Ricard / The Exonian
By JILLIAN CHENG, ETHAN DAI, BRIANNA HOU, CAROL LEE, DANIEL LEE, LAUREN LEE, and CHARLIE KIM
On Friday Sept. 20, more than two weeks after move-in day, the residents of Langdell Hall ventured into their new home. They wheeled in their luggage, and then headed straight to their 8 a.m. classes. Since the start of school, Langdell had been undergoing renovation and only now became available to house students. In the meantime, the students were living in Hampton Inn & Suites on Portsmouth Avenue.
“There were ups and downs for [our time in] the hotel,” prep Sam Fisher said. “The best part was probably the individual showers. But overall it sucked because we were really far away from campus, a 15 minute walk. It was really hard to do this back [and] forth every day, and mornings would be really hard too. The buses weren't on time, like almost ever.”
“It was awful,” said lower Simon Taylor. “We had to wake up at 6:30 every day because we had to get the shuttle.”
“The bus was either too late or too early,” said Max Gerbut, a new lower.
“[It was] definitely a bonding experience because we were all in it together,” added prep Craig Lynch.
Faculty residents of Langdell needed to be on duty in the hotel, oftentimes staying consecutively through multiple nights. Instructor in Art Adam Hosmer praised the hotel rooms. “The rooms were quite nice…spacious and comfortable. The hotel staff spoke to me repeatedly about how well behaved, courteous and respectful the Exeter students were, which was great to hear.”
Though the timing of their move-in day was inconvenient, Langdell residents reflected on the process as a whole.
“Moving and packing was really difficult as we had classes the same day,” said Fisher. “[However,] the moving process was pretty, pretty easy. Because there weren't a bunch of parents and other people on campus, we could efficiently move everything.”
Lynch remarked on the role of the administration with assisting students on move-in day: “A great help was that they helped us bring our suitcases and all our luggage over from the hotel to campus in trucks. Also, they helped bring our luggage up the stairs.”
“The administration was involved in each step of the process, from preliminary meetings, to troubleshooting things that came up while we were in the hotel. Principal Rawson also came to the hotel the night before the big move and brought more pizzas than I could count. He handed out the room keys to each student and stayed to chat with us all about the experience,” said Hosmer.
Taylor explains the implications the move-in had on students’ sleep schedules and academic performance: “I got like two hours of sleep that day. Because I had to do all my homework and then I had to pack up everything and then I had to wake up super early to put everything on the truck. Long story short, I bombed a chem test.”
On the whole, though, students are settling in nicely. “I think it's different from living in a hotel because in our own dorm we get to make it all a lot more personal––[it] feels more cozy,” said Lynch. “The hotel was just a temporary place to live that we couldn't call home”.
“I am most excited about not having to wake up so early now,” said Gerbut. “As well as being near campus facilities.”
“People come in my room like all the time, so it’s…a little bit different socially,” said Fischer. “Also it's just way closer to everything else and now we can socialize a lot more with our friends.”
Instructor in Health Education Mr. Mackenzie Kraines looks forward to the coming year and the growth of the Langdell community: “Their way of life has definitely been made a lot easier since the move. I think the bonds that they made at the hotel will transfer nicely to Langdell and continue to grow as we move throughout the year now that they are on campus.”
