tips for dolls in dormitories?

I don't know if there's that much of a threat of doll theft - anyone who breaks into your room will go for the obvious valuable items such as a laptop, phone, or video game system. However, that doesn't mean that it's perfectly safe, and there are other threats such as careless guests or somebody setting off the fire system.

I'd recommend that you treat your doll like you would any other valuable object. Don't leave him out if you're gone for a long period of time, and always lock your door, especially on moving days. You might want to keep him in his box up in your closet or the back of your dresser if you're not playing with him. Since you mentioned he's a Yo-SD, he probably wouldn't take up too much space, but you might want to leave most of his stuff at home, since space is pretty tight. A larger doll might be better off at home for sheer reasons of space constraint.

Especially since you're so close to home, I'd recommend leaving him there for the first few weeks, too. Get to know your roommate, decide how comfortable you are having him around her, and see if she'll stick to the roommate agreement or not. If you do decide to have him out regularly, make sure she's comfortable around him. Also, you might find that you don't have a whole lot of time to play with him, and might be better off keeping him at home if that's the time you'll have a chance to play with him.

 

I'm not in college now, but when I was I, too, was majoring in art. I shared my dorm room with another girl (who I'm still friends with). The room was tiny. T-I-N-Y! There was just enough space for us, 2 desks, and 2 beds. That's it. We had so little space that I ended up using my floor more than my desk for art projects. My roomie (who majored in biology) had to go to the commons area to spread out all her paperwork.

I didn't have a doll back then. But even if I did s/he wouldn't have joined me at college. There's so little space that I might accidentally dump paint or ink over the doll when trying to do homework. Our college was also known for its drunken parties. Another friend of mine had her door kicked in by some drunk guy. He didn't steal anything. He simply felt like kicking her door open.

In other words:
1. Get a good feel for how much room you'll have before bringing a doll. That includes when you have all your art supplies spread out.
2. Even if your roomie/floor/hall is friendly and trustworthy, that doesn't mean your items are necessarily safe. If Denver is close to home I would strongly consider leaving the dolls there.

 

Don't let all these warning scare you, eternal-song. My experience is that college is really just a microcosm of the larger world and unfortunately there are some not-so-nice people out there. I think the best thing you can do at first is to leave your dolls at home until you get accustomed to school and the dorm and your possible roomie(s) and just see how things go for a while.

 

^ What Landlocked Mermaid said.

I actually live down the road from Newark, which is apparently one of the most dangerous cities in America. Definitely if my dolls have been safe from doll theft (can't say the same for my friends who got mugged for their laptops..), I think it's highly unlikely you'll come across that problem. College isn't that bad, just be careful who your roommate is and who the dorm guests are.

 

Probably not *useful* advice, as I only commute, but I'll throw it out: I think you'll find a lot of people interested in a positive way about your doll, rather than a negative way. I showed Emma to my class (a lot were dorm residents), and they thought she was cool, and I got the impression that they'd be super good overall about my doll.

 

I think my college is a bit of an oddity! Theft is pretty rare there, at least among the student body, since we take our Honor Code very, very seriously. You can leave your laptop out on the quad or in the library, go get food, and come back, and nobody's even thought about touching it. Most people even leave their doors unlocked. But I do recognize that such behavior is not at all typical!

Me, I've had my dolls out with each roommate I've had so far; they didn't seem to care, since the dolls were semi-tucked away on my bookshelves to protect them from the sunlight. I always made sure to ask if they were pediophobic first, though!

 

I live alone in a single dorm with a bathroom on my campus and never leave my door unlocked because stuff can always happen when you least expect it to. Better safe now then sorry later. My dolls stay in my room, hanging out on my desk, sitting on my full size bed or sitting in my lap while I do homework. Sometimes, I will take them out of my room into the floor lounge when there's no one there because the people on my floor are terribly nosy about everything. <.<
I put up blackout curtains on my only window and those are closed 24/7 unless I'm cleaning. When the curtains are open, the resin kids hang out in their sleeping bag to protect them from sunlight exposure. My good friends who know about Mase and Aria are fiercely protective of them, which is a good thing. The one time I took Aria to a psyc class was for a reason-the sub wanted to know about our hobbies and what makes the hobby special to us. So I brought Aria-everyone loved her and thought she was a cute but mischievous angel. You will be surprised by people's reaction to BJDs sometimes.