Taking dolls to school or college?

All I can say is thank God for the English system! No room mate for me. :grin: See how you feel about your room mate first - if they seem fairly calm (i.e. not the type to come home drunk and have a party in your room) go ahead and bring your doll(s). If not, well... I probably still would, but it's a tough call.

Annika

 

I was actually curious about this too, and I was gonna ask, but y'all beat me to the post! :grin:

I'm not actually too concerned. The college I'm going to has lockable rooms and the windows bolt... And as for my future roomy- I'm also not too concerned... I'm going to an Art School, so we're more likely to have similar mindsets then adverse ones like there would be at a Liberal Arts or a State school... So I'm not that worried. In the off-chance that my roomie hates my dolls or something....I'll figure out how to put keychain-locks on my DOD bag. That way if the bag's all torn up then I can have proof that my things were actually broken into- not just 'misplaced' or 'borrowed.'

Piyoko, you're so lucky to have such a cool roomate!!!

 

5 Simple Rules to College Dorm Rooms:

1) Negotiate with your roommate about what's acceptable to take place in your room.
(And hide your food.)

2) Never point out the true value of an object: "Oh this necklace was very expensive...."

3) It's a rarity on some campuses that things get stolen, or broken into. Check your campus history... Ask them how many things have been stolen in the past.

4) If you're worried about something breaking while you're gone; put the object away while you're out of the room in a nice safe, secure spot. When you return, pull it out, and welcome it back merrily into your arms, or on its proper shelf. I did this with a china box my grandmother gave me.

5) Always lock your door!

 

There are colleges WITHOUT lockable dorm room doors??? *shudders*

My advice? Be wary of new roommates... mine tended to give MY stuff away to make friends. I'd come back and something would be gone and she'd say "Oh, So and so said they really liked it, so I let them have it! They seemed really thrilled!"

... and she'd never go and get this stuff back either... I had to do it.

 

I'm not at college, but I'm at that point in high school where I get something like 5 college letters a day... xD; Poor mailman. And my Cien should be in the mail soon, too. (Hopefully). Need to bake the poor man some cookies. ops:
I don't think I'd be very worried about a BJD being stolen by a burglar because most, if not all of them, would see them and think of it as a big Barbie, worth maybe $20. Electronics would be a much bigger draw.
As for roommates/random passersby, I think it would depend on the roommate. If they were a big partier or had a lot of friends in the room like that, I'd probably get a nice chest with a lock to put all my doll stuff in. ...I think I may do that anyway.

 

I am still at awe of some of the (horror) stories that you guys have! Now I'm triple-glad that I stayed at home... ><

But honestly, even WITH the insurance, it still doesn't feel right if Yue got stolen and I got the money to buy another Chiwoo. It just won't be him anymore, ya know? :cry: Just the thought makes me shudder and wanna cry. *sniff*

For those that stayed in the dorm before... Can we bring those safety deposit box or something? (I know, it's drastic, but....) Even if common burglars are more likely to go after electronics than dolls, there is STILL a chance of a slight-artistic (????) burglars out there that might just take the doll, and I'm still scared. *sniff*

 

*****n/a*****

 

if i happened to still be in the dorms (i'm out! yay), i'd just take dawn around in my carry-bag all day. no sense in worrying all day long about roomie leaving the door open or whatnot... there were too many drunk people to worry about... really...

 

I'm at university at the moment living in a house with 4 other students. Luckily (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) I don't get on with my housemates and have absolutely no trouble with locking my room whether I'm in it or out of the house. The only time I need to take more precaution than that is if I'm going out for more than a couple of days, then I'll take Arashi with me (which I'm glad I did this week as I found out that my French housemates are having a massive party, I'm expecting to go back and find the house destroyed).

In a couple of months though, I'm moving into a house with friends from my course, and all of them like and respect dolls (one of them has two already) and that's obviously the best thing to do!

 

Okie.. I stay off campus with another housemate...

I had my Amelie and Dean for previous semester. I put them hidden under their dollfie bed sheets (on my bed ) before I go to sch.

I don't allow anyone into my room. I just close my door~ it's a understood fact/house rule that we don't bring in strangers or people that either one of us are not comfortable with into our apartment . Just some friendly advice, ALWAYS tell people/friends ur room/dorm is out of bounds unless given permission~

When I go out, I bring them out in my make-do carrier. I don't let questionable people who see them as a toy to flung around as a joke. Another thing is DON'T let any super drunken people near them (whether they are friends or not), hide your dolls and protect like a lioness with her babes (that's me when my friends came over my place and they were taking tequila shots like no tomorrow )...

This semester, I will be bringing back only Darryn/ Mirki/Mini May for practicality . I finally decided to leave my lovebirds in Singapore as it will be just too heavy for me to manage . I am flying back on Thursday and it is getting difficult with each passing day to leave my other two dolls aside. I am spending as much time as I can with those that I am leaving behind. (I made my parents promise me to send them via overnight if I really miss them like crazy , let's hope I don't get to that stage)

Hope this helps... BJDs are such good companions for studying... they just look at you and tell you that in another 45 mins, it will be another chocolate break.. Mmmmm (Homer moment~)

 

Snowdrop didn't live with me yet when i lived in the dorms. but i hated living in the dorms, it smelled bad and was always loud and way over priced. I ended up renting a house with my boyfriend and 3 of my friends for half of what the dorm cost per month, and so i have my own room and snowdrop is safe. But, i would get a nice chest for your doll, and line it with pillows or something, and keep him inside when you're not home. Then it won't be like a box, it will be comfortable for him and it will look like furnature. And you can keep his clothes in it too.

~Erin

 

All I can say is,"Single" I don't know anyone who enjoyed the experience of being crammed in a space with someone they didn't know. I'm sure it happens but...I got a single room until I moved in with my husband. I had to pay a bit more, but it was worth it. Who needs the added stress of a roommate? Not being able to be naked in your own room, living with someone else's schedule, guests you don't know/like, snarky comments...No thanks. -_-;

Disclaimer: Nekomata hates people, especially strangers,most -especially- stereotypical girls. -_-;

 

Yes yes!! I, too, had a single at college--and I was really excited about the fact that my college offered singles to freshmen. That's something you can ask on a tour. And singles don't tend to be THAT much more expensive than doubles, anyway.

(Because I had a single, I loved the dorms--all the action you'd ever want, and when things got annoying, you just closed the door! *cheer*)

Rae

 

I'm probably an anomaly...

I have both my dolls with me at school, and I can leave for class and leave my door unlocked and the dolls sitting out with no fear of them being stolen. Almost nobody locks their door, we've never had anything stolen (haha, knock on wood). I'm sure whoever would want to would go for my computer/camera/stereo first, nobody here knows how much the dolls cost. The only reason somebody would steal it would be if it was someone close to me that wanted to hurt me and knew that the best way to get right at me would be to steal the doll.

BUT I assume you're going to school large enough to warrant door locking? I'd definitely take him - it's pointless to leave something so precious and worth so much at home where you will never see him. Plus there are a lot of good photo ops at college.

 

If I were you, during classes I'd keep my doll with me in his carrier. I'd never leave such a beautiful doll like Jaede all alone in my room when I'm not there!

 

I guess I'm also one of those lucky souls who has no worries at all about leaving Kai in my dorm room. I go to a private Liberal Arts school, 2500 people on the whole campus. My roommate and I leave the door unlocked all the time, unless it's over break or something, but Kai comes home with me then anyway.
My roommate is also a huge anime/manga/Japanese anything fan, and she's from China, so she's not freaked out by Kai at all... in fact, she adores him. ^^; When I showed her pics of DoDs before I went home for Christmas (I got Kai over break), she freaked out and started insisting that she wanted a Too. The first thing she said when I got back to school from break was "OH MY GOD I WANNA SEE KAI!!!!!!" I don't worry at all about her stealing him, and almost all of her friends are friends with me too, and they're used to Kai. It helps that most of them are Asian international students. XDDDDD My roommate next year is going to be one of my friends, who is currently in the process of getting a Souldoll Lune. ^________^
I'm actually more worried about him when I take him to class with me... I got a lot of nasty glares when he sat with me at breakfast one day, and I worry that someone will break him out of spite. ;_;

Now, if I went to OSU (for those who don't know, it's the biggest school in America, you have to take a bus to classes -_-;;, then I'd hide him in a drawer and lock the drawer, hide the dresser in my closet, and triple-bolt the doors.

 

Yeah, I think that's a great point--you have to take into account the culture of the school as well. I went to one of the most nerd-friendly schools in the UNIVERSE. I didn't have a doll then, but I can't imagine that 80% of the population at my college wouldn't have thought they were "cool" and would probably have treated them with the same respect that I do. BUT not all schools are like that. Best advice would probably be to wait a semester and see what things are like at your school before deciding.

Rae

 

I have a roommate who's cool with my dolls, even though we live perfectly different lifestyles. She even thinks they're kinda weird(as does the rest of the halls), but as long as you let them know seriously how much they range in price, I seriously doubt things will happen to them. Unless you're in a guy's dormroom, I seriously can't see anyone living with a 'mate that would be that much of a bitch to break your expensive beloved doll.

In any case, HECK YEAH they come along to college with me!!! The whole point of buying a BJD is keeping them by your side, isn't it?? There was a couple days when I had to leave my boys at home because I'd be right back at home so soon, but even for those couple of nights I was so freaking lonely. If you're worried about them being bumped into or something, find a spot in the room that's out of the way, like on your personal furniture or on the bookshelf. My boys are on a set of drawers from the container store, and they've been quite happy there.

 

My first year of college I was in the dorm, no roommate. But this was before I got my BJD, I kept other dolls, my favorite ones, in my room. They had a shelf behind the door. I also didn't leave my room without locking it, even for a second. No one came in there either way, the only times I worried was when facilities management (the repairmen, essentially) would get in there and leave it unlocked. They never messed with my dolls, but often used my clothes to wipe up whatever mess they'd made...