Two years ago, Mark* was a freshman. He lived in McCarty Hall, and from the moment he stepped on campus, one of his main goals was to meet new people. He passed the same students in the halls, the lounges, and the dining rooms of McCarty, and it didn’t take him too long to feel a spark every time he spotted one of those regulars. As is freshman style, he found someone who knew someone who knew that person, and voila! He was in a relationship — with someone who lived a mere three floors below.

In the midst of realizing their newfound freedom and taking advantage of their curfew-less, parent-less, high-school-less lives, many “dormites” who take part in this form of finding love on campus understand the benefits and the struggles to living in such close quarters with a person they’re just beginning to know and love.

Immediately, the thing that strikes most freshmen when starting out a relationship in the dorms is the amount of time they can spend with their boyfriend or girlfriend. Compared to high school, this is an instant plus: Couples can practically live together, and their parents never have to find out about it.

Mark had two roommates; his girlfriend, Stacey*, only had one. To his dismay, Stacey’s roommate was much less comfortable with him spending the night in her room, so the two had to bunk with his roommates and their female companions. At times, the much-too-small room held six people — three couples. Needless to say, privacy quickly became an issue, especially for couples that were reaching relationship milestones much quicker than they ever would have in high school.

To explain his and his roommates’ scheduling, Mark said that most of the time, each of the boys understood when it was time to step out. For Stacey, it was more of an understanding of class schedules that allowed their privacy. After an arrangement was put together, the couple could usually have sex four to five times a week, but only during the daytime so no awkward situations would arise.

As respectful as this couple was to their roommates, many people have to deal with being “sexiled” — sometimes without warning. Obviously, in dorms, it would be peculiar to hang a tie on the doorknob. But, at one point, Mark was left a note on the door reading: “Give us 15 minutes.” There was no start time to this warning, so Mark, assuming that the job was done, stepped in only to jump right back out, seeing much too much of his roommate and his then-girlfriend. Stacey, too, woke up one morning to be told that the guy sleeping in her roommate’s bed the night before didn’t end up doing much sleeping.

Apart from awkward sleeping arrangements, the close quarters can also prove to not only speed up a relationship, but also spark the conflicts that couples living together would normally have to face. Seeing so much of a loved one every day sometimes isn’t the best thing with midterms approaching and new friends to entertain.

Nevertheless, Mark and Stacey are now UW juniors and have successfully survived the dorm system for two years before finding their own housing off campus. The dorms allowed them to get close quickly and to meet a lot of mutual friends, even if they sometimes saw a bit more of those friends than they wanted to.

*Name has been changed.

Reach Copy Chief Parisa Sadrzadeh at lifestyles@dailyuw.com.