“The nice thing about having a friend living on campus during May Session…”

McGraw-Long Hall, June 2002The nice thing about having a friend who lived on campus during May Session, besides their company after our last classes and the dinner at D-Hall each day, was that JMU is using McGraw-Long Hall as the summer dorm. I’d not been to McGraw-Long since I was a freshman, and it was kind of cool to return to visit and see the place again after two years in Potomac Hall. They’ve made some improvements since I was there, like new sinks in the bathroom, but so many other things are the same. One thing that was interesting about returning to McGraw-Long is that the fire panel and the pull-stations are the same as Potomac Hall. Though I remember when I heard the signals in McGraw-Long for the first time… I wasn’t quite sure what the sound was until I checked for strobes and lo and behold, they were flashing (at 1:00 in the morning). Still, McGraw-Long was such a learning experience… it was there when I really got good with laundry, and when I first experienced living with a roommate. And of course I remember the first time I saw room 104, my freshman year room. My exact thought was, “What have I gotten myself into?” The room was bare and empty except for the standard-issue furniture. But I soon made the place home with two different roommates over the course of the year. Still, it was so great to return to McGraw-Long after all this time, and to see what’s new and what’s still just as I remembered it…


Date posted: June 10, 2002