Freshmen adjust to sharing bathrooms, unknown germs in residence halls

What’s in the toilet?

If it’s anything but water, Kelly Kotsatos won’t use it.

Kotsatos, freshman pre-med major, wishes people were neater and more considerate when using the community bathrooms on her floor in Koonce Hall.

“People throw water on the floor, and they just aren’t very clean,” she said.

However, Kotsatos is willing to sacrifice cleanliness for the price of having fun at college.

For incoming freshmen, one of the biggest adjustments from living at home is learning to use a bathroom with an entire residence hall floor.

Sharing a bathroom becomes a very intimate experience at college. Students realize if they have a neat, sloppy or laid-back attitude regarding their bathroom use.

Communal bathrooms also give freshmen an opportunity to meet people who live in their hall.

“Everyone is very friendly,” Kotsatos said. “The upperclassmen are always there to help out if you have a question.”

Freshman business major Falyn Platt enjoys using the newly renovated bathrooms in Wright Hall.

“They offer more privacy than the freshmen dorms,” Platt said. “They’re very nice.”

Nicole Kwiecien, freshman broadcast journalism major, has never shared a bathroom prior to living at college. Kwiecien lives in Centennial Court F and shares her private bathroom with only one other person: her roommate.

“I stayed with a friend at Ohio University and had a bad experience with community bathrooms,” Kwiecien said. “There’s no privacy. I didn’t like the idea of sharing and someone else’s things being in the bathroom.”

Kwiecien’s roommate, freshman nursing major Lexi Hanson, said she felt “disgusted and scared” to use a community bathroom because there are “too many people without good hygiene.”

In the Centennial Court buildings, a housekeeper cleans the bathrooms once a week.

Even so, Tiffany Martin, a fashion merchandising major who lives in Centennial court F, cleans her bathroom every day.

“I’m a very neat person,” she said.

Like other germ-conscious students, Martin is afraid of a disease-ridden bathroom. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the most important thing to do to prevent illness is frequent hand washing.

CDC recommends scrubbing hands with soap for 10 to 15 seconds to “dislodge and remove germs.” The government agency also estimates that one out of three people do not wash their hands after using the bathroom.

Deora Mowry, freshman hospitality management major, said vomit was the most disgusting thing she’s seen in the bathroom.

Mowry added, “there’s never a dull moment living in Koonce.”

Contact features correspondent Abigail Fisher at [email protected].