“Gnome is where the home is”. That is something that will be heard within the halls of Collins. Our mascot, which is the gnome, was given because of this window.
Since it's fall, most of you that are reading this are thinking about residence halls for next year or are hoping to get that beautiful crimson envelope of admittance (Class of 2020!). I’ve come to tell y’all about my wonderful home that is Collins or also referred to as Hogwarts.
A little history is that Collins is one of the oldest residence halls and used to house the football players since the lawn across Collins was the football field. You will notice that it is an LLC and that means you will have to request it, write essays (they are real easy, don’t worry) and pay additional funds for the activities. These activities include using our ceramics building, clubhouse, and going on trips like Chicago.
Location:Collins is located on 541 North College Ave and is literally 10 minutes or less away from your classes. The only buildings that take longer are the ones on the southeast side of campus, which take 15 to 20 minutes.
Buildings:Collins has 3 buildings: Edmondson, Smith, and Cravens.
Edmondson: 
This is the building that I am living in and it is the main building that you see when facing Collins. The front desk, mailboxes and duty office are housed here. The formal lounge or flounge is where people like to study or hang out with friends. It also contains a piano and anyone can come and play it. Upstairs are the dorms. Ed 2 is for males, Ed 3 and Ed 4 are for females. These are doubles, triples, and for upperclassmen, double singles. The top level is our library. The library has an amazing collection of movies and books and is also a great study spot. Our bottom floor houses our dining hall, which serves lunch and dinner on the weekdays. Dinner is what Collins is famous for since it is an all-you-can-eat buffet. We also have the Flamingo Grill open for breakfast and lunch and the Deli for sandwiches and paninis.
Night in the Chesh
During the evenings from 8 to 12, we have our Cheshire Café, or the Chesh. It is student run and they sell baked goods and of course, coffee at low prices starting from 50 cents to the most expensive being $2.50. The basement has a classroom which also serves as a music practice room (which includes a piano) and a laundry room.
Smith:
When facing Collins, Smith is located on the left. As you walk in, there is a flounge. There are 3 levels besides the ground floor and they are split by gender as well, two guys floors (2nd and 4th floor) and two girls floors (Ground and 3rd floor). These dorms are doubles and singles. The basement houses a kitchen, or smitchen as we like to call it, which students can rent out to bake cookies or make meals. All utilities are provided, just bring your ingredients! Also, there is another flounge, which has a TV for you to watch while you do homework and talk with friends. We have a computer lab, that contains both Macs and Pcs for students to choose, a few classrooms and of course, a laundry room.
Cravens:
This building is on the right side facing Collins. The first and second level house co-ed doubles and singles. Then the third and fourth floor house both double females and single rooms. They also have three flounges, and one contains a TV. The bottom floor has classrooms and a laundry room.
Rooms:Collins is one of the oldest residence halls and so that makes for its character. Nice wooden doors and closets. They even have drawers so you have plenty of space for your clothes. Just like in any dorm, you have your own bed, desk, shelf, and drawers. A cool feature to Collins is that the rooms are all different sizes, but graciously spaced. I have never once felt cramped in my dorm. You can either bunk your beds like what did I or you can have them on the floor (these are my friends rooms since my room is pretty messy). This is a good representation of a typical room you'd find in all three buildings.
Cravens Room
Typical closet with 8 drawers on left and hanging space on doors
Living with the Gnomies:Collins is said to house some of the "weird" people of IU, but I like to refer to it as having the most diverse group on campus. Everyone here is so nice and when you talk to someone of Collins or Collinsites, they will telling you some amazing stories about themselves or what how there day has been. This is a community that supports each other and is very much student run. We have our own student government and a board that runs programs. You can become involved here if you wish to do so. When you become part of Collins, you have to take a Q class, which is to get students to learn more about their new home and about what IU has to offer. Students also take a Collins seminar, which has a wide range of selections from yoga, to learning about edible plants, to discussions on death. If you wish to learn more about Collins, visit their web page here. You can also read Emmalie's post about Collins for anything I didn't mention above. (All photos were taken by me)
Have a **sparkling** day!
~MJ