The recently purchased Colony Hotel allowed U of T to ease the student housing crunch, but what is it like to live there? Jessica Holloway fills us in.
Monday
My experience at 89 Chestnut Street began at 12:30 pm on Monday, Sept. 1. It was not busy and was okay for unloading and parking. As I was standing in a lineup to receive a big brown envelope containing a card key, room number, information about the laundry etc., the fire alarm began to wail. A voice came over the intercom in the lobby saying that we were to all evacuate the building while the firemen checked out what was happening. After a few minutes of several students standing outside the residence with all of their belongings, the alarm went off and people were able to go back inside.
Chestnut has a beautiful lobby. Leading off to the left is a lounge where students can play pool, relax and watch television on a big screen TV. There is a cafeteria leading to the right that has a wide selection of food and doesn’t look like it has been sitting out for a week. When I saw all of this I began thinking that U of T was trying to compensate us for the 15-20 minute walk from campus.
On the first day the only thing that I was annoyed with was how long the line-up was to get into an elevator. The line-up only took about 10 minutes, but I would have waited an hour rather than having to haul all of my things to one of the top floors of the 27-storey building.
As I walked into my new room I saw that my roommate had already been there and unpacked. She had left me the window side of the room with a view of the water and the CN Tower. The rooms are nice and spacious. We both get a double bed, a desk and suitable storage for our things with plenty of room to spare. One of the best things about Chestnut is the fact that every room has its own bathroom and cleaning service. Once a week we have someone come in and vacuum the carpets as well as clean the bathrooms, as long as it isn’t disgustingly messy.
Later on that evening we had a floor meeting and went over some of the rules with our don, mainly stuff that applies to every residence. She told us that our voicemail and mail were still being organized and should be up and working soon as well as the Internet. There are still a few kinks to be worked out, however the building has gone through many changes and improvements since a tour I received at the beginning of the summer. After this some of the people from the floor did a little mingling and activities and I went out with my roommate and some family members for the last time before saying goodbye.
Tuesday
On Tuesday morning it was time for registration. I woke up at 8:00 to be able to get ready and have something to eat and get down there for 9:30. In order to be a little early for a specific time it is good to leave Chestnut 25 -30 minutes in advance. Walking out the revolving doors of our building, some people from the residence and I walk to Wetmore Hall to receive schedules and other things. After receiving frosh kits and listening to opening ceremonies a few of us headed back to Chestnut to drop off all the new stuff we had. While I was dropping off things in my room I heard a voice coming over an intercom in my room that I didn’t even know was there. They were going to be doing some tests with the electricity so the power was to be temporarily shut off. This didn’t last very long and was bareley even noticeable. After relaxing in the room for a while with my roommate and some friends we went out again to participate in more of the frosh activities. We weren’t in the hotel very much today because of the events planned for us.
Wednesday
My day began with waking up at 6:20 to make sure I was on time to check out the U of T women’s rugby team. The practice started at 7:00, so I had to leave at 6:30. It wasn’t until the moment I stepped out of the hotel that I realized how hideous the walk would be to campus in the winter and that I needed to figure out what was going on with the street cars before it started to snow. The route is very simple from Chestnut to the heart of the campus. It simply requires making your way up to Dundas, over to University and then up to College. Once practice was over by 9:00, the walk back to Chestnut felt 50 times longer.
After getting back to the hotel and grabbing some breakfast, my roommate and I decided to relax in the room and skip the running around the student council had planned for us that moment. The building is still going through several tests to ensure the safety of the students. From around 10:00 to later on that day the fire alarm would sporadically go off. The man on the intercom told us to disregard this until otherwise notified.
There are two main advantages and two main disadvantages that I can see to being at Chestnut at this time. Of course for the disadvantages, number one would have to be the distance to every class (especially at night), and number two is the fact that this residence costs more to live in, more than $1,000 more. The advantages, on the other hand, are that it is an excellent establishment to live in for a year, with many luxuries offered to us. Also, the students at Chestnut are away from what can be referred to as the “U of T bubble” and can experience and get to know Toronto better for future years where we will not be confined to campus. After visiting the cafeteria a few times for random meals, more frosh activities were to be enjoyed including Sex with Sue at Con Hall where Sue Johanson lectured students on safe sex and various topics, and a boat cruise where New College students got to dance and mingle. After this it was back to Chestnut and off to bed.
