It's been almost a month since the last group of UB students to live in the Super 8 Motel moved back to the dorms, and many of them are still adjusting to the change.
While many of the students are happy with their new accommodations, a good number of them miss their "home away from home" in the Super 8, and said they built an incredibly tight-knit community in the short time they lived there.
"We were all in the same boat over there, hating what was happening, but it turned out to be such a good thing. We ended up building a great group of friends," said Jacinta Royal, a sophomore anthropology and sociology major who transferred to UB from Onondaga Community College in Syracuse.
"It was really disruptive when we had to move to the dorms," she said. "The saddest thing was the fact that we all got separated. It was good to get moved into the dorms, but it was so sad in the end. Now, most of our nights are spent tracking down other Super 8-ers."
This was the second year that the Super 8 Motel on Flint Road housed students, and according to Joseph Krakowiak, director of University Residence Halls and Apartments, it will be the last.
While many students were initially unhappy with their placement in the motel, Krakowiak said the use of the motel was the best option for both University Residence Halls and Apartments and the students.
"It is an expectation of a new student from out of the area to live on campus," Krakowiak said. "And when the residence halls and apartments are full, we try to do the best we possibly can to ensure that these students still enroll in UB. Using the Super 8 motel to house these students was the best choice."
According to Krakowiak, University Residence Halls and Apartments has renovated Michael Hall and increased the space available in Clement Hall, providing UB with an extra 150 beds. This increase in housing space would eliminate the need to use the Super 8.
"We have enough other space on campus to utilize so that we won't have to go off campus anymore," Krakowiak said.
Jason Sorkin, a sophomore speech and hearing science major, said the Super 8 students became especially tight-knit because they all had to make the best of their living arrangements.
"It was by far the craziest college semester that I've had. I made a lot of great friends by living there, but I'm glad that I got out. I had a great time living there, but I wouldn't want to do it again," said Sorkin, who transferred to UB from Buffalo State College. "Nobody wants to be put in a dorming situation and get uprooted, but we made the best of it while we were there."
While no other students will have the opportunity to live in the motel, Sorkin and Christopher Dowdall said that it was an experience they won't soon forget.
"Living in the Super 8 had as many advantages as disadvantages. It was difficult academically because you'd wait thirty minutes for a shuttle and then it'd take another twenty minutes to actually get to campus, and then socializing with the other kids here really interfered with schoolwork," said Dowdall, a sophomore psychology major who transferred from SUNY Morrisville.
"I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world, though," he added. What I went through there, the friends that I made, all of it was awesome. A lot of people resented living there, but like I said: I honestly wouldn't trade that experience for the world."
