<p>How is living in the first floor of Markley? I’m in the front, and from what I’ve seen of the building you enter the building on the 3rd/4th floor. Does this mean I’m going to be in a windowless pit for a year?</p>
<p>You are on the First Floor I assume?</p>
<p>There are always windows, but the windowless pits are on the front side of the building, the back of the building has a full blown view.</p>
<p>Yeah, I am. I really hope I get the back-facing side then.</p>
<p>My recollection is that the ground floor has extra high ceilings which was great when they used to let you build lofts because you could create a duplex. not sure how useful it is with the current furniture. If you are on washington heights side your room probably faces the courtyard.</p>
<p>If I recall correctly (and unless they’ve changed it) the first-floor corridors on the Washington Heights (front) side of the building have rooms only on the courtyard side, with full-view windows. The bathrooms (windowless) were on the street side. No windowless dorm rooms. With half as many rooms as the typical corridor, it also tends to be somewhat quieter, which is not a bad thing IMO. (I lived on the first floor, back in the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth).</p>
<p>Rooms at Markley are small but it has some advantages. Unlike the other Hill dorms, Markley still has its own dining hall, so you don’t need to trudge to MoJo through the rain and snow. It’s also very close to the Arb and the Central Campus Rec Center, and more convenient to central campus, the campus-area retail streets (South U and State Street), and downtown Ann Arbor than Bursley, where most freshmen end up. And it’s a nice walk from there to the Big House on football Saturdays. I hope you enjoy it!</p>
<p>I am on the Washington Heights side. I don’t mind it being quiet either, as I’m sure I’ll spend plenty of time in other halls that are louder. One more question- is the whole first floor an entire hall- like, does frost have a first floor on the other “half” of the wing as well, on the Washington heights side next to the Reeves first floor (where I’m at)? Thanks for the responses btw.</p>
<p>Oh, I was in Frost. That’s where the first floor rooms were only on the courtyard side. I don’t actually remember how Reeves was configured on the first floor. It could be that there were rooms on both sides of the corridor, as Washington Heights is going a bit downhill in that direction (toward the Arb and away from Observatory St.), so ground level would be a bit lower on the Reeves side than on the Frost side. Or not. I just don’t have a clear recollection. This was 40 years ago, and we old geezers can’t always keep such details straight in our minds. You’ll need to ask someone with a more recent experience and/or a better memory.</p>