With a flood, a temporary stay in an old faculty house, and countless accommodation requests, Machan’s dorm has kept the school on its toes this year. Fortunately, with help from the Deans, Buildings and Grounds, and all of the faculty who had to stay with us at our temporary arrangements, the flood brought the dorm together. And even after a term and a half since the original flood, the boys of Machan’s are still getting closer.
And although most dorm bonding is not this extreme at Groton, the close-knit style of every dorm creates unique experiences to become close with people you might not normally talk to that often.
On the final night of winter term, a few of us found that we should have started studying a little earlier that night, which made for the perfect multi-subject, late-night study session. We grabbed a speaker, some snacks, and water and spread our work among the couches and tables. What started as an intense debate over whether it is more beneficial to listen to a single song on repeat or to listen to classical songs when working turned into a focused and intensive period of work (while listening to classical music).
As the workload began to lessen, and the music became more upbeat, the study session subtly shifted towards watching old videos of Groton from 2012 and talking about everyone’s plans for the upcoming break. Apparently, it was a loud enough conversation to gather the attention of our dorm head, Mr. Machan, who walked in with some chips and salsa to contribute. The conversation only went up from there, leaving us entrenched for two full hours in the early morning.
And although I wouldn’t usually recommend staying up until 3 in the morning talking with your dorm head and peers about everything under the sun the night before a test, or flooding your dorm two weeks into school, moments like these are what make Groton so memorable. I have already forgotten almost everything I was tested on, and maybe that is because of the loss of sleep, but I would like to think that it is because what happened after was so much more important to me. The people, backgrounds, and experiences in a dorm are all incredibly different, yet the dorm itself is the closest thing to home that anyone could ask for. The smaller dorms at Groton cater to these relationships, allowing everyone to have a group of people that they can talk to whenever about anything.