Living in School

A CHamorro from Tini'an and a Palauan

The dormitories are the residence halls for the University of Guam. People from all over Micronesia, the United States, Asia, Europe, and Australia come to live at the dorms, which helps build the diversity of the University.

The dormitories are really diverse in cultures and lifestyles. At the dorms there are CHamorros from the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas Islands, Palauans, Carolinians, Chuukese, Pohnpeiians, Kosraeans, Marshallese, Yapese, Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, and Germans and these are just a fraction of the nationalities that live there. The people are friendly and get along well with each other. There are many activities that the residents engage in throughout the semester, examples are: Wine and Cheese Tasting Night, Karaoke Nights, Movie Nights, and parties just to name a few. Essentially, the dorms is a melting pot where different ethnicities come to mingle.

The diversity of the dormitories are immense. There are CHamorros from the Northern Marianas Islands, which includes Saipan, Tini’an, and Rota that are staying at the dorms, some are fluent in the CHamorro language and they show great pride that they are from the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands. There are the Palauans from all over Palau from the Northernmost Island, Kayangel, to the Southernmost – Palauan-speaking island – island, Angaur with their betelnut baskets and spitoons, or “olbaol” in Palauan. There are the Carolinians from Saipan and the other Carolinians from the Southern Islands west of Chuuk and East of Yap. There are the Chuukese from all over the lagoon most speaking the varied dialects of the lagoon. Pohnpeiians from all over are residing at the dorms that are from Pingelap, Kapingamangari, the lost island of Polynesia, and the main island of Pohnpei. There are also people from “The Jewel of Micronesia,” or Kosrae, residing at the dorms. There are also Marshallese and Yapese residing at the dorms with their colorful cultures. There are other ethnicities such as Koreans, Chinese, Japanese, and Germans that have been residing at the dorms and are just as lively as the Micronesians. With all these different nationalities residing there, who wouldn’t want to stay and experience the thriving cultural melting pot?

There are many activities that the dorms takes part in. The dorms has Wine-and-Cheese Tasting Night, basically, it’s an outlet to share the creativity of the people of the dorms through different mediums, such as art, photography, poems, essays, songs, and etc. They hold Karaoke Nights with the help of Magic Mic and a a few brave people who are willing to sing first, which usually end up being a success with everyone having a lot of fun at the end of the night. There are Movie Nights, as well, that are usually held every other Friday night and most of the movies are fairly recent with the exception of themed nights, such as Halloween where they were showing such classics as Poltergeist, The Excorcist, and Nightmare on Elm Street. The dorms also has a lot of parties, they have a Welcome Party in the Fall semester to welcome all the new students and to welcome back all the old students. They have End-of-the-Semester bashes to celebrate the completion of the semester where people can wind down and enjoy themselves without having to worry because the semester is over. The dorms is definitely a great place to live with such diversity and color.

So why would you not want to stay at the dorms?