Living in close quarters gives students out on their own in the world for the first time ample chances to socialize. For many, life away from home means learning to compromise and accept responsibility. Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

That’s the pronouncement of Kevin Yoza, a resident of this apartment located on the University of Hawaii’s lower campus.

A collection of more than 60 empty bottles — from Heineken to Snapple — are proudly displayed on the shelf above their kitchen counter. Multicolored Christmas lights are still strung throughout the living room, where the TV and Nintendo 64 are the center of attention.

Like its inhabitants, this two-bedroom unit gives personality to the corner of the low-rise building, its door wide open and inviting. A purple gooey lava lamp — won with 2,000 tickets at Hawaiian Brian’s — sits next to an open box of raisin bran.

Scott Watanabe and Kevin Shin, both information and computer science majors, blankly watch “The Simpsons.” Neither one lives here, though they spend most of their waking hours in this well-worn living room.

Yoza excitedly draws the shades, closes all the doors and turns off the lights. The 20-year-old graphic arts major wants to show everyone something cool.

“Oh, Kevin’s in his element now,” groans a visiting female student.

The flickering lights and crazy posters of Yoda, Dr. Evil and the Simpsons glow eerily in the black light he switched on. It’s very quiet, and everyone looks at each other, wondering what to do next.

“Well?” he asks. His friends just shake their heads. This is the most exciting thing to happen all evening.

Residential life at UH is at turns mundane and incredibly lively. It’s the extremes of experiences — from watching guys toss a full-size couch over the railing in the towers to watching “Felicity” with a group of friends — that make life away from home for college students so exciting.

Exploring freedom

Imagine thousands of college students living within a half-mile radius of each other, in buildings designated for only them. No parents, no curfew, no chores.

Now, imagine they have to balance the responsibilities of being a student with that of an adult.

Therein lies the difference.

“You don’t feel like you’re in the middle of all this craziness when you’re actually living here,” said Brian Howdeshell, 23, a full-time UH housing staffer who oversees daily operations and has seen it all — from flying cement benches to maintenance explosions. “I hate to paint that picture for someone, that it’s all crazy all over the place, but that kind of stuff does go on.”

And it’s the unpredictability of dorm life that lured Genai Keliikuli to Hale Mokihana, ever the “party” dorm. She never, ever wants to move. She loves life in the infamous dorm, which, incidentally, is the only tower that tolerates alcohol use. (As a substance-free/wellness hall, Ilima doesn’t allow it; Lokelani is for underage freshmen.)

“This is the best tower,” declared the 19-year-old biology and Hawaiian languages major from Hilo who also chose Mokihana for its T-1 Internet connection. “We have all the parties, all the computers and all the computer geeks that go along with those computers. What more could you ask for?”

Notorious for its rambunctious residential life, Mokihana is surprisingly empty on Thursday night. Except for Keliikuli blasting an MP3 version of Juvenile’s “Back That Thing Up” from her IBM computer, it’s rather peaceful. All the doors on the female-only third floor are closed.

Her room is adorned with photos of her friends and family, taped to the walls or displayed in frames on her shelves. Her purple comforter makes the twin-size bed look remarkably cozy. She’s well-equipped with a large-screen TV, VCR, refrigerator, micro-wave, cordless phone, computer and stuffed animals — all the necessities of home.

“If you don’t dorm, I don’t think college is worth it,” she said, sitting at her crowded desk by the window. “You have to get the full experience.”

Meaning ...

“Of course, we party,” she said, laughing and shaking her head. “That’s how we meet people.”

But parties don’t always mean excessive drinking or rowdy pranks. Last week, for example, more than 50 residents went on a dinner cruise.

And living in the dorms teaches you about life, Keliikuli said.

“It’s a joke, but we call this place ‘As the Towers Turn,’ ” she said. “There’s a lot of drama going on, relationship problems, stupid stuff.”

Then she quickly added: “But you’re never bored here. It’s easy to go to the next room and hang out.”

Kevin Yoza uses a copier in his University of Hawaii apartment, one of the electronic luxuries that makes student life in a dormitory more convenient. Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

Wild side

It’s this abundance of free time coupled with an urge to do something that leads some students to break the rules.

Because of his job requires him to handle the out-of-hand residents, Howdeshell sees the reckless side of residential life. But, he added, it’s really no different than any other apartment complex or neighborhood, except everyone’s relatively the same age and shares similar necessary evils (like exam week and bookstore lines).

“There’s still crazy stuff going on (elsewhere),” he said. “You hear domestic disputes next door, fighting, the same things. Here, it’s the same group that keeps offending over and over. Most of the residents just do their homework and mind their own business. They don’t cause many problems.”

But there is a one major difference between dormers and renters: Who’s paying.

And lucky for most residents, their parents are.

“A lot of the time, people living in the dorms or apartments are not paying for it,” said Howdeshell, himself a former dormer. “So they don’t have to put down a big deposit or work to pay for it.”

The violation of choice among residents varies week to week. Last week, it was fireworks, with students shooting off New Year’s leftovers from their balconies and windows. Not surprisingly, noise and alcohol violations are common on weekends, as are disputes and trespassing.

“You know, I don’t think it’s anything different from what you’d find out in the community,” said Janice Chu Camara, interim housing director at UH.

Escape from home

The somewhat independent lifestyle associated with dorm life — washing your own clothes, waking up by yourself, fixing your own meals — combined with all the reckless thrills of college life is appealing to students eager to flee the confines of home.

“It’s easier,” admitted Howdeshell, who could have commuted from Kailua. “You wake up 10 minutes before class, run to class, sit there for a couple of hours, then come back home and sleep or do whatever.”

Caron Ling was forced to dorm by her parents because they wanted her to grow up. “My parents really sheltered me, and my dad wanted me to just learn how to live my own life,” said the 20-year-old accounting major from Hawaii Kai.

Remarkably, Ling said, the experience has changed her. “I learned how to cooperate and compromise,” she said. “It must’ve worked, because when I was home this Christmas, my dad and I actually got along.”

“That’s the big thing about dorm life,” added Johnny Ha, a 21-year-old resident adviser in Hale Ilima. “You gotta learn to live with people. You gotta learn to adjust. You can’t always have your way all the time.

UH-Manoa dorm facts

• About 15 percent of UH students live on campus.
• About 70 percent of students have jobs.
• The 10 active residence halls (out of 12) house 2,762 students.
• 93 percent of residents are UH students; 7 percent from community colleges.*
• 70 percent of residents are from Hawaii, 26 percent from the Mainland, 3 percent international.*
• UH Student Housing budget hovers around $11 million.
• This year’s budget for renovations alone totals $4.78 million.
• Student Housing is one of the largest departments on campus, with more than 200 employees.
• Per semester, double-occupancy rooms in the dorms cost from $933.38 to $1,416.00; single rooms from $1,401.84 to $2,032.84.*
• Per semester, apartments rent for $1,310.00 to $2,896.80.*

* Fall 1999 figures

Dormitory inventory

• Hale Kahawai: female only, 156 residents in double rooms, four floors.
• Hale Anuenue: graduate only, 42 residents in single rooms, three floors. Formerly the male-only football dorm.
• John A. Johnson Hall: 195 residents in double rooms, two buildings, three floors each.
• Hale Laulima: substance-free/wellness hall, 160 residents in 73 double and 14 single rooms, four floors.
• Gateway House: graduate and upper-division underclassmen only, 208 residents in four-person suites (24 residents in two-person suites), two buildings, 10 floors each.
• Hale Aloha: 828 residents in double rooms (30 single rooms), three towers, 13 floors each. The towers are: Ilima (substance-free/wellness hall); Lokelani (first-year freshmen only); Mokihana (technology hall, with T-1 Internet access).
• Hale Noelani: fully furnished apartment complex, 524 residents, five buildings, three floors each. Building D is designated a quiet building.
• Hale Wainani: fully furnished apartment complex, 650 residents, two high-rise towers (13 and 14 floors), two low-rise buildings (three floors each). Buildings G and H in low-rise and Building I in high-rise are designated as quiet buildings. Building H is also a substance-free/wellness facility.

What’s in an athlete’s room?

Jennifer Carey, starting setter for the University of Hawaii Wahine volleyball team, took the coaches’ recommendation and chose to dorm with other first-year student athletes the first year. Some things you’ll find in her room that you might not find in just any another 19-year-old business major’s:

• Six pairs of athletic shoes
• Two drawers full of practice clothes
• Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic individual trophy in the shape of a pineapple
• Calendar of workouts
• Fabric lei from fans
• Tube of Ben Gay and Mineral Ice
• Pictures of the volleyball team