As we roll out the luggage and discover books and such we haven’t seen since fall, some students might get quite a surprise.
Insects and pesky rodents are a nuisance in a majority of the world (the exception of course being frozen Antarctica). Their strength in numbers is greatest in warm, humid climates, a climate such as our lovely District’s. Furthermore, they attract themselves to foul conditions, a factor which is not helped by hundreds of college students living together in semi-squalid conditions.
On campus, roaches have been invading several rooms lately.
“I was putting on my shoe a month ago, and I discovered this cockroach in it,” said Angela Crandall (SFS ’10), of Village C. “It then proceeded to scare my roommate a few days later in the bathroom.”
There have been reports of roaches running around Darnall and mice in Village C, though they tend to be quite rare occurrences.
Because of the age of many of the dorms on campus, these annoying creatures have had a long time to settle in and find students at their weakest moment. These annoyances can also prove to be a health problem, or at least an indicator of unclean areas, though not everyone agrees. “I grew up with bugs, so it’s not a big deal,” Crandall said.
Jess Kuntz (COL ’10) has never had a problem with insects or mice invading her room.
“Since I’ve never encountered it, it does not affect me, but if there was something crawling around my room, then it would definitely be a problem.”
Overall, it seems as if Georgetown does a pretty good job of fighting these annoyances and maintaining the dorms as a healthy living environment. Kuntz mentioned that she has friends who once had mice troubles and that they called maintenance, who arrived quickly and set mouse traps. This prompt response, along with the spraying of the dorms during breaks, seems to do the trick. Even in Darnall, hands down the worst dorm on campus, the annoyances seem to be few and far between.
So as the end of exams looms, if you are one of the unlucky few to discover something strange in your footwear, know that those horrid creatures will be leaving this life fairly soon.
