<p>I'll start this off with some helpful links...</p>
<p>Campus Map: Colby</a> College | Campus Map</p>
<p>Dorms: Colby</a> College | Dean of StudentsInfo and pictures of residence halls at Colby!</p>
<p>Dining Halls:
[url=<a href="http://www.colby.edu/campus_cs/dining_services/dining_halls/index.cfm?hall=Roberts%5DBob's%5B/url">http://www.colby.edu/campus_cs/dining_services/dining_halls/index.cfm?hall=Roberts]Bob's[/url</a>]
[url=<a href="http://www.colby.edu/campus_cs/dining_services/dining_halls/index.cfm?hall=Dana%5DDana%5B/url">http://www.colby.edu/campus_cs/dining_services/dining_halls/index.cfm?hall=Dana]Dana[/url</a>]
[url=<a href="http://www.colby.edu/campus_cs/dining_services/dining_halls/index.cfm?hall=Foss%5DFoss%5B/url">http://www.colby.edu/campus_cs/dining_services/dining_halls/index.cfm?hall=Foss]Foss[/url</a>]</p>
<p>..and a disclaimer that with the Chem-Free and Quiet dorms changing every year, it's slightly difficult to pin-point the character of each residence. Here's the gist:</p>
<ul>
<li>Frat Row (Robert's Row):
Pierce, Goddard-Hodgkins (Go-Ho), Treworgy, Grossman, Perkins-Wilson (Pe-Wi), Drummond, Johnson, Pierce </li>
</ul>
<p>In general, each frat row dorm is small with a close-knit, family-like atmosphere. While Colby's campus is small enough to walk to any classroom/dining hall in under ten minutes, frat row dorms are particularly close to Bob's dining hall, Bixler (music and art), Mudd (Physics, Maths, Geology), and Arey and Keyes (Chemistry, Bio, Environmental Science). With the exception of Pierce and Pe-Wi, frat row dorms are old. This means character, but also means smaller rooms and slightly more "run down" than the rest of the dorms on campus. Especially noteworthy dorm-personalities include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Grossman
-- The music-and-art dorm. Students here tend to be fairly artsy (go figure).
-- Muraled by students (freshly per annum, I believe), Grossman's common room is home to pianos, a drum set, and amps for students to jam on.</li>
</ul>
<p>+Go-Ho (Goddard Hodgkins?)
-- Green/environmental dorm.
-- If it's yellow, let it mellow. Water-saving shower heads.
-- Students in this dorm lead many of the "green" initiatives on campus, including an awesome local, organic barbeque in the spring.
-- Students seem united by a cause = stronger sense of "family."</p>
<p>+Pierce and Perkins-Wilson (Pe-Wi)
-- Newly remodeled in 2009!</p>
<ul>
<li>The Quads:
East Quad and West Quad</li>
</ul>
<p>Mirror-images of each other, East and West Quad are structurally identical... well, mirrored. The large size of East (or West) quad along with its copious number of "singles" (one-person rooms) make for a less tightly-knit residence. Fortunately, the quads are conveniently adjacent to Johnson pond-- surrounded by a beautiful grassy "shore," ideal for quiet rendezvous or campus golf (oh, that's a whole nother thread topic) with friends. Another convenience is the proximity of Colby's maine (heh) library: Miller. It's really just a stone's throw away! Bob's is the closest dining hall, but Dana is still just a 3-5 minute walk away. Also worthy of note is that one of the quads is typically reserved for chem-free students.</p>
<p>*Averill</p>
<p>Probably the most central dorm. Literally a stone's-throw from Miller Library; close to the chapel; and a quick jaunt to the student center, health center. Averill is a medium-sized dorm, and, depending on the year, has been both a tight dorm and a dorm with pockets of closely-knit friends (clans?). That being said, Averill is usually not a haven for introverts.</p>
<p>*Dana
mmmm... fine dining</p>
<p>Dana is a large dorm. While not unfriendly, the atmosphere is definitely not akin to that of a close-knit family. It also has a "party-dorm" reputation-- a perpetual, ambient aroma of stale Natty-Light lingers in the halls. This means loud (but fun) weekends. The rooming options are nice (fairly new), however, and include a good number of suites (ergo: party-rooms). A key component of Dana-living is easy-access comfort food. Wake up 15 minutes before that O-Chem exam? No worries. Just roll out of bed, slink down the stairs, grab an omelet, and glide 90 seconds across campus to Arey.</p>
<ul>
<li>AMS or, less commonly, Anthony-Miltchell-Schupf
Swanky</li>
</ul>
<p>AMS consists of three segments: Anthony, Mitchell, and Schupf. Each section is almost exactly the same-- each with similar numbers of singles, doubles, quadsuites, and five-man suites. It's the newest residential building on campus (only older than the renovations of Pierce and Pe-Wi), which means the rooms are clean, and the HVAC, reliable. Ok... there's no AC, but the heating is reliable. Some years see one or more of A,M, or S as chem-free or quiet housing options. Also, AMS is close to Johnson Pond. Nice.</p>
<p>*Hillside
Williams, Marriner, Sturtevant, Leonard, Taylor </p>
<p>Ugly. But they have their charm, including spacious common rooms, that cozy small-dorm feeling, and their own parking lot. Proximity, however, is poor at best. Trudging through the snow, up the hill, at 2AM after a long night of Art History cramming can be somewhat annoying. Also, no dining hall is "close," but Foss is by far the farthest. Again, from farthest point to farthest point at Colby is maybe a 15 minute walk. So, no need to get bent out of shape. Plus, "I live in Hillside" can be another point of bonding-- bonding through adversity, hah.</p>
<p>*Foss and Woodman (connected)
Crunchy.</p>
<p>Earthy, crunchy, granola-ie students tend toward these two dorms. Foss dining hall, located in, well, Foss Dormitory focuses on the local and organic ingredients, and serves healthy, hippie-ish food (lesbian tofu, local salads, granola). Foss dining hall also looks resembles the Harry Potter dining hall. Style points. Foss and Woodman are fairly large, and don't typically lead to an O'hana kind of living. They do, however, have some good suite options. as far as proximity goes, Foss and Woodman are pretty far from the academic buildings, but is closest to Diamond (Econ, Gov, ES) and the humanities complex.</p>
<p>*Mary-Low and Coburn (connected)</p>
<p>The Mary Low coffee house is a great venue for band performances, band practice, club meetings, and play and a capella group rehearsals. International coffee hour is also hosted in Mary Low. What this means is that Mary Low is a) happenin' and b) sometimes sort-of loud. Mary Low is also somewhat large, which detracts from close-knitness. Because Coburn was a quiet dorm when I was at Colby, it's sort of hard for me to place a personality on it, but for those four years, it seemed somewhat less social than the other dorms. ML and Coburn are slightly closer to the center of campus than Foss and Woodman, and have been renovated within the last 10 or so years.</p>
<ul>
<li>Alfond Apartments
Ohh, you'll find out. ;-)</li>
</ul>
<p>Please, if you have other insights, add away!</p>