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Laundry Day

Thus far, I have generally enjoyed studying in another country and I still see it as the adventure of a lifetime. However, that zeal and inspiration has not merged with mundane tasks of life, such as laundry; laundry is still just laundry, and if anything, it is just a tiny bit worse. Everyone living on campus shares one laundry facility, which is located in the same building as the campus bar (yes, there is a bar on campus). There is an unwritten rules that students are told upon arrival: do your laundry on your days off, not on the weekends because every machine will be taken, and you will be frustrated and stuck with a smelly wardrobe.

There are written rules that one must follow when using the machines, as well. We are not allowed to use liquid soap/liquid fabric softener in the washing machines, nor are we allowed to use color catchers, bleach, or 2 in 1 detergent. However, we can use powdered detergent and Sept30LaundryDay.jpgsoap pods.

The dryers do not have as many rules, and the rules are more obvious, like do not overload the dryers. If one were to do that, their clothes would come out sopping wet. Anything thick, like the throw blanket I keep on my bed that I recently washed, does not dry well in the machines. I paid for two drying cycles for that sucker, and when I pulled it out, I could still wring water out of it. That blanket, along with other large items, end up hang drying in dorms. Because the humidity, the lack of fans, and lack of air conditioning, it can take days for things to hang dry.

The school has an interesting system for how their laundry facilities work. Instead of putting coins directly into the machines, like one would at a laundry matt, students have to purchase a "Laundry Top-up Card," that has a website, and a chip on it. Students then must go onto the website, create an account, and load money onto their card. Once they have done that, the website gives them a code that they put into a machine (it looks like a pay phone box, but without the phone) that is located in the laundry room, which essentially redeems laundry card and connects it to the money that was put into its account on the website. Then, finally, students can insert their cards into the washers/dryers, and actually do their laundry.

In my opinion, it is a lot of extra steps for something that could just be done with coins. Laundry is not fun as is , and adding a bunch of steps does not make it better. However, laundry is pretty much the only thing that I am not loving so far. My professors are great, and my classes are fun, and I am meeting interesting people every day.

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