#41 I'm Living in a Co-op (Life Update)
Cooperative Living...
Well, shit…
Looks like it’s time for a life update.
I don’t really remember when the last time I did one was, but I think it’s about high time that I did another one.
Here, I’ll tell you about my experience living in a co-op.
Also, throughout this article, you will see various photos of artwork and features of the house that I currently live in. I think that it adds a lot of character to the place. Enjoy!
About a month ago at the end of January, I moved into a co-op on the Northside of Berkeley. I had been living in my hometown the semester before, and commuted to Berkeley twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays.
This situation was alright, but I had very little social life and I was about to enter into my last semester of college. Because of this, I wanted to move back and live in Berkeley since it most likely would be the last time I would live there and in a college town.
There was a big problem with this though — I needed to figure out a place to live.
The other problem was that wherever I lived, I wanted it to be social. In my experience, the people you live with fill up a majority of your social life.
I didn’t want to live with roommates in a apartment as I had done in my junior year—not that I didn’t enjoy that experience with those roommates—but I would be living with random people now. It’s usually gamble whether you get along with a small group of strangers, and there’s a good chance that they just want to be roommates, and not do anything besides that, which is fair.
The second option I had was to live in a single room that my friend Alan offered in his fraternity. This seemed to be a better option because I would have my own room, and there would be some social life. The only problem with this is again, I might just be an outsider to the guys living there since I wasn’t part of the frat and didn’t rush with them.
I would just be a random guy who lived there.
Also, it was a frat, and different problems arise from that itself—drama, drugs, and uncleanliness.
My third and final option was to live in one of the co-ops in Berkeley.
I heard about the co-ops a little bit in the time that I had lived in Berkeley, but still had no idea about how they worked. I initially thought it would be cool since it would be a different experience, but I still had some doubts in my mind as I didn’t know anyone who lived in them.
Despite some hesitation, I thought that it would be the best option for what I wanted which was cheap rent and social life. So after having breakfast with my friend Dennis who lived in the co-ops in UCLA, and talking to him about it, I decided to go ahead and try to figure out how to live there.
I used the BSC (Berkeley Student Cooperative) website to get some more information, and although it’s a little outdated, I learned a lot about the co-ops.
There’s a lot of them in Berkeley. According to the website, it’s the largest student cooperative system in the US, with about 17 cooperative houses and 3 apartment complexes. Together, they house over 1300 student members.
The explanation for why there are so many is due to the BSC having a long history, which dates all the way back to the Great Depression. In 1933, fourteen UC Berkeley students banded together to form the first co-op out of the need for affordable housing.
The First Members… As the decades went on, the BSC acquired more and more houses always with the goal in mind to keep it affordable for its students. Apparently, the house that I live in was built for a professor and was bought by the BSC between 1943 to 1945. (Kevin Hart: “DAMN!”)
Part of what keeps the BSC affordable is that all the members have to do chores around the house, including cooking dinner (more on this later). Each member has to do about 5 hours of house work per week. This way the house doesn’t have to hire people to clean, and saves money to make the rent more affordable.
Each house has a council of residents who decide on different issues regarding the house. Residents elect managers and vote on house policies, which give them a direct role in what happens.
After reading all of this, I decided to go ahead and apply in the portal on their website. After filling out some information, it was time for the crucial decision.
I had to choose which of the houses I wanted to live in.
The website had information on each of the houses and apartments, so I decided to make a ranking for my preferences.
I immediately decided no on the apartments since that just seemed like a regular apartment with roommates and wouldn’t be as social. I also crossed out some of the theme houses and the bigger houses.
I was looking for a house that wasn’t small, but also wasn’t too big. I wanted to live with a medium amount of people because I figured that there would be some people that wouldn’t be as social and some that would be - and looking back, I was right.
After narrowing down the houses, I settled on one that had a moderate amount of members. Looking through the photos, it seemed nice and cozy and had many rooms. Also, it was in a side of town that I hadn’t lived in before, so I thought that would be a plus to get to know that area better.
A couple weeks later, I got to choose my room. Although most of the rooms were taken, I decided to choose a triple that already has two people living in it. I actually had the option to take a single, but I personally like living with roommates given that they are respectful roommates. I was taking a chance here because I wasn’t going to meet them until I moved in.
Fast forward to move-in day, and I got to meet my first roommate, Lucas, who is from the UK. He helped me move in and we went to dinner afterward, where we talked about a variety of things. We continue to have interesting conversations in our room to this day that I highly enjoy. Great guy.
I met my other roommate, Carlo—about two weeks later—and fortunately, he was just as friendly as Lucas. He’s also from Berlin, Germany and through him, I’ve been learning some of the differences in culture between the US and Germany which I really enjoy. Also, I would say out of all of the people I’ve met at the co-op, Carlo just has a suave aura about him.
Alright, after living in the co-op for a month, here is what I’ve observed.
It’s definitely different from any previous place that I had lived before, but it’s probably my favorite place that I have lived so far in college.
There are a lot of different personalities in the house, and this makes for unique conversations especially since you can usually find someone to talk to.
It’s actually a flip from last semester where I was living at home and basically had no social interaction besides my parents—unless you count nights where the books on my shelf started talking to me. (They’re very knowledgeable for some reason)
Now in the co-op, I just have to go downstairs and can find someone to talk to, which is an aspect that I really enjoy. Plus, a lot of the members come from different backgrounds which makes for good conversations like I mentioned before.
There are different social activities as well—some people go out on weekends, and a while ago, we took an overnight trip to Point Reyes, which was really fun. (Photos below.)
We also have awesome social managers—my roommate Carlo and the lovely Jules—who put a lot of time into planning our parties. They do an excellent job.
As I mentioned about my current roommates, there are some international students who are living in the co-op this semester.
I think this is common, because you are able to do semester leases in the co-ops—which is why I was able to move in my last semester—while most leases in Berkeley require a full school year commitment.
Currently in this co-op, there are international students from Chile, Spain, the Netherlands, India, and the very remote destination of San Diego.
It’s been intriguing talking to them about what it is like where they live, the cultural differences, and how their experience in America has been. I haven’t gotten to know any international students—beside surface level interactions— while I’ve lived in Berkeley, so it’s nice surprise that I’ve experience this while living here.
Since it is ‘cooperative’ living, everyone has to do their fair share of work.
Since it’s technically “cooperative” living, everyone has to take care of the house by doing 5 hours of work during the week. This can consist of cleaning the bathroom, kitchen, living area, dishes or making the food.
The cooking shift is actually one of the shifts that I have.
On Tuesdays, another member, Chris, and I make dinner. It’s kind of funny since neither one of use has much cooking experience. We usually have at least one 'Fuck it' moment during the shift—where we have no idea what we’re doing but just roll with it and hope for the best.
Actually, it makes for some interesting and funny occurrences during the shift. For example, both of us trying to figure out how to use the mixer to shred chicken that has speeds faster than a F1 formula car or throwing food back in after it fell on the greasy floor. (That last one is a joke! (Or is it???))
Chris, though, is cool guy to cook with, especially since we both like rock and Latin music and listen to it during the shift. I also get to ask him questions about Chile, which is where he is from, and learn about it’s culture. It’s always cool to learn about different cultures.
Since we have managers overseeing different aspects of the house, such as the garden or kitchen, we also have a council that meets every Sunday to discuss house-related issues, led by the president.
The president does a lot of different stuff (I think) and he is a very friendly guy, but apparently he has one chair in the main room that is off-limits. If you sit in it and he sees you there, he will start singing Beatles’ songs real aggressively till you get off. Woah…
Also, since the house has been here for so long, it’s interesting to think about how many people have lived in it and what their experiences were.
Actually, we can kind of peep into it.
There is a whole bookshelf in the main room that contains yearbooks of members who lived here in the past—and it goes way back.
You can take one and see old members living their lives in the house and having a good time. You can even try to see which parts of the house still look the same.
I don’t know why, but for some reason, I really enjoy looking through the photos and seeing strangers having a good time in this house with their housemates and friends. They probably forgot about those memories, but it’s still captured here in these photos.
There’s something heartwarming about that.
All in all, I’ve only lived here for one month and a week, but I’ve quite enjoyed it so far. There’s a lot of pros and not many cons, and I’m glad that I’m spending my last semester here.
See ya,
-Justin
Song of The Week:
Spotify Link above and Apple Music link here
I haven’t listened to Creed before, but had heard of them. This song is their most popular one, and I really enjoy it. Let me know if you like it as well.
What an amazing tribute to your co-op, Justin! I’m actually so happy you moved into the Berkeley one, all the pictures and stories are awesome :)