Themed Engagement Community: Geek Edition!

As a New York University Student, you have the option of choosing to live on Campus! If you do live on campus your first year, you’ll be placed within our First Year Residential Experience or FYRE. FYRE ensures that you can get accustomed to the city and university, and have fun while doing so! I’ve chosen to live in Residential Halls all three years so far! I absolutely love NYU’s Res Life. My first-year experience really shaped that fondness. As I truly found a community within that key period. 

Additionally, all of the Residential Halls have their unique set of perks. Allowing students to figure out what hall is best for them. And the best part about living on campus is that housing is guaranteed all four years! Finally, we do not have communal bathrooms!

I ranked my preferences based on what I wanted. Personally, I wanted to live in an apartment style dorm because I hoped that I would figure out how to cook. I sadly haven’t learned how to cook yet, but hey, I still have my senior year. My First-Year Hall, University Hall, also had our campus Dunkin Donuts located on the ground floor. Even today I still stop by Dunkin Donuts whenever I need a quick meal in the morning! 

The Themed Engagement Community Application is located in the housing application! You are able to opt into applying if interested. You then get to rank your preferences of Themed Engagement Communities. After that, you write an essay tailored to your top picks. The essays are then reviewed. If you are selected, you get placed in your Themed Engagement Community. Themed Communities are actually themed floors located in different halls. These communities are in both First Year and Upper Residence Halls. 

If accepted, you live in a specific hall that houses that community. For me, when I did the application I was torn between two communities: Geeks in the City in University Hall and Third North Theatre Arts Company located in Third North. Geeks in the City is entirely based around big fandoms such as Marvel, DC, Dungeons and Dragons, Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who, and many more. While Third North Theatre Arts Company is tailored to Broadway and Off-Broadway, and Theater in general. 

I am a huge fan of “Geeky” things but also Broadway. So, I reflected that in my application. Ultimately, I ended up in Geeks in the City, which for my year, was housed on the upper floors of University Hall. 

During my first year, I went on a variety of different fun events all done by my RA! All of these events were connected to the theme of the floor. This just meant that the people participating in these events were part of this themed community! I also established a core group of friends my First Year by living in a Themed Engagement Community. All of us were into the same types of fandoms, so it allowed us to quickly bond over these similar interests. 

One of my first friends and oldest friends here at NYU, Joe, was my suitemate. Joe and I met when I first moved in. We bonded over our love of Broadway. He was originally not part of the Themed Engagement Community, but had been randomly assigned to live on the floor due to vacancy.

Eventually, he ended up joining after finding out that he shared similar interests to the community!

The two of us bonded over things such as old childhood shows and movies. We watched the entirety of the Scream Franchise, the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit Franchises, and the entire first and second season of House of Anubis to rekindle our love for Nickelodeon. Joe and I have stayed in touch ever since. Before I studied away, we even roomed together in Gramercy Green my second year! He has become an unofficial member of my family and still joins me whenever my family is in town!

By the end of the second week of school, I managed to get close with my next door neighbors, which resulted in our rooms frequently doing hang outs. Because the Themed Floor was so small, there were only two full rooms on my side of the floor. This meant that me and my neighbors were able to connect with each other, frequently hanging out in the hallway between our rooms. I remember specifically one time the week after I recovered from Covid, we did a neighborly game of Betrayal: A house on the Hill. Then we moved into my room to play The Quarry where each of us took turns playing a character! 

I went to Comic Con for the first time my First Year and I went with my friends from the Themed Engagement Community. Three of us tackled the entirety of Comic Con, going on Sunday. I even dressed up like Dipper from Gravity Falls, while my friends dressed up like Marvel characters! Those same friends and I went to the Bronx Zoo at the ending of the Fall Semester. And in my Spring Semester, a group of us went to the midnight release of Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. 

My RA also helped really shape this experience! Honestly, transitioning from High School to College is stressful. I had a lot of questions about my own major, how to navigate the city, and how to take advantage of NYU’s resources. My First-Year RA truly allowed me to feel like I had someone in my corner if I needed it. I got a ton of support my First Year which made me want to eventually apply to be an RA. Which I did! 

My RA planned all the events for the Themed Engagement Community. From a watch party of the Dungeons and Dragons movie, to seeing George R. R. Martin talking about Game of Thrones live. I managed to explore so many unique experiences through this community! I even got to play a Dungeons and Dragons one shot with him and a few people from my Hall.

One of the highlights of my First Year was an event that my RA took us to. This event took place at Radio City Music Hall. And it was Lord of the Rings themed! This event was a showing of the first movie – The Fellowship of the Ring. The score was performed live by the Lviv National Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine! 

The showing was in honor of the 21st anniversary of the film! There was a giant screen showing the movie and it was probably one of the most breathtaking experiences of my life. The live orchestra elevated the emotional soundtrack. The tense movements, the conflict, the ending – all brought to life by a slew of musicians with a chorus and even soloists. During the Elven parts of the soundtrack they even sang in Elvish!! As someone that grew up with Lord of the Rings, this touched home for me, and honestly sang to the inner nerd inside of me. 

I remember leaving the showing with my friends honestly in shock by everything that had happened. I regret not grabbing any of the merch to have a physical embodiment of this memory. But I do remember going home and rewatching the entire Lord of the Rings franchise with Joe. After we finished that – and of course it was the extended editions- we moved onto the Hobbit. We did in fact debate whether or not we should move onto the Hobbit, but ultimately we gave in and did another movie marathon.