<p>Well, it has been several years (I was there pre-renovation) since I have lived there, but I returned recently after graduation to visit (my sister currently lives there), and honestly it’s still as much a lovable ****hole as it was when I was around (for 2 years, 2007 - 2009). The conditions of the rooms are usually decent, but can vary wildly because a semester-end houseshift option allows people to continually customize their rooms as they see fit; murals, paintings, interior decorating, all these things are allowed under the houseshift option for room members to customize their rooms. If you are an artist, you might this amusing. Maybe.</p>
<p>Food can vary from tolerable to unacceptable. Because food preparation is done by the house members who do the kitchen workshifts, members will decide what other members want to eat. Pantry food and other stuffs are ordered through the main BSC kitchen, and therefore the ultimate decision on what food is brought into the house is made by the food manager/committee. You can have a say in what food you want in the pantry and fridge, and can also communicate with kitchen workshifters on what food you want for dinner. When I was there, I was often eating out for meals in restaurants on Euclide. If you are vegan or vegetarian, the Cloyne food will often be enjoyable, because all meals have to make accomodations for vegans and vegetarians. Since I am not a vegan or vegetarian, I was often eating food I did not enjoy very much.</p>
<p>The noise level of the house will not necessarily be determined by location, but moreso by who is living where. When I was in Cloyne, the east wing of the house was always chaotic, because there are quad-rooms in that wing that tend to promote raucous activities. The central wing of the house has the highest concentration of rooms, so it will be active. The west wing (where I lived during my entire stay) is VERY quiet. There are some triples and doubles, but almost that entire wing is single rooms. Moreover, because the kitchen and viewing rooms are on the east wing of the house, most people will be over there during the course of the day (and night) for that matter. Also, a room facing the courtyard will be exposed to lots of of noise. A room facing LeRoy Avenue will be very quiet. Usually noise in the house will not die off until quiet hours (2AM - 8AM). Even then it will still be very active. From my perspective, the house was not extremely loud at any given time, except of course for parties. Cloyne is a very social co-op, and if you love a quiet residence, it will take some acclimation before it stops bothering you. Living on the east wing may suck (I know someone who lived right above the kitchen area, and being a Molecular and Cell Biology major, she obviously did not have the environment conducive to her studies, and moved out of Cloyne and into Hoyt).</p>
<p>Living in Cloyne was one of the wildest times of my life, and after a while you will either love it more than anything else than you have seen or experienced in your life, or it will make you lose your mind. A common slang around the house is “Cloyne is Suck,” which is a phrase that a disgruntled Korean foreign-student wrote on the walls of Cloyne sometime back in the late 1990s or early 2000s upon moving out, in obvious broken English. When going into Cloyne, the “BSC by-laws” are thrown out the window, and anything goes in this place, whether it be the house managers growing pot in their closets, or social managers embezzling house funds for coke binges (these have happened before). The house can consume 150 condoms a week, which are put outside the health manager’s door for Clone “consumption.” </p>
<p>During my time at Cloyne, a former Clone sent a lengthy letter that was posted to the wall near the entrance to the dining room. It summarized up best what you will experience in Cloyne, which in paraphrase, said, </p>
<p>"You will have some of the most enjoyable and memorable experiences of your life in Cloyne. Also, you will have the worst and most forgettable experiences of your life, IN CLOYNE.</p>