Tour de Steds.

Gambardella, Susco, Andrade, and Isakson chilling

Our Tour de St. Edward- a weekly tour of resident rooms, study lounges and popular hangouts in Notre Dame’s favorite residence hall- continues. Our today’s tour stops by room 406, a freshmen quad for Josh Gambardella, Chris Susco, J.P. Andrade, and Nick Isakson. Here's what they had to say about Steds living...

St. Ed: What did you think when you received your housing assignment placing you in St.Ed’s?

Susco: The first thought that came to my head was an excessive amount of testosterone. I had never had an experience with a roommate, much less three of them. I immediately thought of a crowded room with two sets of bunk beds and the four of us squeezing by each other every time we wanted to leave the room. I honestly thought that all of my roommates were foreign exchange students because they all had some pretty exotic last names that I could barely pronounce. I was not looking forward to a year of hand gestures and speaking in a loud voice all the time. However, it turned out all good in the end because now we only have to use the hand gestures.

            Now Steds was a completely different train of thought. I asked two of my cousins, both of whom had graduated from Notre Dame, how St. Eds was and if I had to start thinking about transferring dorms after the first year. One had lived in Keough and the other had lived in Morrissey, but they both had no idea how Steds operated. I was intrigued because my cousins know a heck of a lot about Notre Dame so I assumed that Steds was the black ops sector of Notre Dame residence halls. So, I had to go in Welcome Weekend with a blank slate with no insight to what I was getting into. I was pleasantly surprised when I realized that Steds was more about traditional ops instead of black ops.

 St. Ed: How’s “loft living”?

Isakson: At first, loft living seemed like it would be a pain.  You have to climb all the way up to the bunk to sleep every night, you can’t fully sit up in bed due to the ceiling, and trying to get air conditioning up that high can be difficult.  However, it actually has not been that bad. The close proximity of the bunks lets us all hold hands while we sleep. The lofts also allow for more space to do whatever we want below them. There’s plenty of room for a couch and television which is really nice when you are really stressed and just want to lay down and watch TV.  I love coming back from classes to see my roommates cuddling on the couch watching the Bachelor or Dance Moms. The lofts are also great places if you want some privacy to study or if you are just trying to hide from roommates. Nobody will ever find you if you’re playing hide and seek and hiding in the loft!  As for the heat, we have adapted and gotten multiple fans up to the top bunks to keep us cool.  It makes it much easier to sleep and it isn’t even that difficult to get power up to the loft.  Loft living in Steds has definitely been good for our room because we have so much more space and it gives us a nice place to lay down and not be bothered.

St. Ed: Aside from your loft, what makes your room unique among the other rooms of St.Ed’s?

Andrade: Gambiarra - (n.) The Brazilian cultural practice of solving problems creatively in alternative ways, with low cost and lots of spontaneity, or giving unusual functions to everyday life objects; the use of improvised methods / solutions to solve a problem, with any available materials.

Other rooms in Steds may look cool with their fancy lights and stolen street signs, but only one of them has an expert Brazilian like myself to practice this fine art, for one does not simply create a gambiarra masterpiece on their first try. There are plenty of examples in 406 of gambiarra, some which have already fallen as anyone would have predicted them to. There will be new additions of gambiarra to the 406 scenery in the upcoming months, as we keep purchasing more and more things-that-we-have-no-space-for.

Yet the fact that we are the smallest quad isn’t all that bad. It is actually a way to bring us closer together, and allows for the fans to reach across the room. It also means there is less space to cover with Christmas lights.

St. Ed: What do you wish your room had?

  Susco: More light.
   Isakson: Air conditioning.
   Andrade: More space.
   Gambardella: A cardboard cutout of Jennifer Lopez

St. Ed: Say, the word in the hallway is that all of you want to transfer to another hall. Is that true?

Gambardella:  The only other halls I’d consider are Lewis and Cavanaugh. I mean I could definitely see JP in Walsh. For those who are less-informed, all three of these are female halls. But on a more serious note, I love it here in St. Edward’s Hall. The “Gentlemen” name certainly doesn’t get left at the doorstep. There truly is a mantra here of togetherness, community, manners, and respect. On top of that, nothing beats waking up at the crack of dawn on game days to go vandalize the reflecting pool (we call it floating. I’m sure Fralph will give you guys an article about that sooner or later. But Steds truly has it all. We have the best rector, the best traditions, and the best in-hall eatery. Nothing beats a chocolate milkshake from Ed’s. The Milkshake Mass at Dillon is actually an entire Sabbath Day dedicated to our milkshakes. It’s kind of humbling.

            One of the best, and certainly most underrated part of Steds is the lounge life. Our Sky Lounge is the site of some of the best conversations to be had. Sure, you won’t get any work done, but it sure is a heck of a time. I once tried to study in the Sky Lounge, huge mistake, and have since learned that it is a place to kick back and enjoy the brotherhood that embodies our Hall as a whole. Still, it was in our first floor lounge that we assembled before taking on our trip across enemy lines to visit the other school across the road. Loyal readers read about our trip to St. Mary’s. I had previously never had a conversation with a female before, so it was a big step for me. I owe it to Steds!

There you have it folks... room 406!