Some students cite mixed feelings about return to sharing living space
By Noel Ceriani
UNIVERSITY CITY, SHARJAH — After two years of tight pandemic-related restrictions, residential halls at the American University of Sharjah have returned to normal room occupancy.
The three kinds of rooms offered are shared, semi-private, and private.
As per a recent Residential Halls email, students are able to move back to their original room preference and should have finished moving into their new rooms by the end of week eight.
Students who prefer to move to another hall should contact their hall supervisor and transportation will be provided for them, according to the email.
It also highlighted that if a student chose a shared or semi-private room but does not have a roommate to move in with, they will be assigned someone who paid the same room fee in the same hall.
However, dorm residents have mixed feelings about this.
“I don’t really feel comfortable going back to the normal rooms because of the fact that the disease [COVID-19] is still out there and there is a good number of cases,” said AUS student and dorm resident Hanaa Sadoun. “But at the same time I’m enthusiastic to have a friend for roommate.”
AUS student and dorm resident Asma Dildar said she was happy when the common rooms opened, but is scared that the residential rooms are not single occupancy anymore because there have been COVID-19 cases in dorms. Dildar said she feels that it would put students in danger in case their roommates contract coronavirus.
“I have always lived in a semi-private room but now I live with another girl, so it’s going to take a while to adjust from single occupancy to having a roommate,” Dildar added.
Aside from the issues and worries that some students faced, most residents said they are happy to go back to living a normal dorm life.
