Cut a rug

Being the cheap college students we are, my roommates and I opted out of the college carpet “deal” and instead managed to get a carpet for free from a friend. Unfortunately, this carpet was considerably larger than the area of our room. So we just left it in the middle of the room all rolled up and decided we would figure it out later.
After two weeks, we had still done nothing about the rug. So one night, we finally decided it was time to either figure out how to spread the thing out, or it had to go. After calculating that it was impossible to fit it in our room, we decided we could just cut a couple feet off. Using two pairs of scissors, one of my roommates and I started on opposite ends and raced to get to the middle. After half an hour of cutting, the carpet was in two pieces. The scissors, on the other hand, were in about four.
The next big obstacle was getting the carpet under the beds, mini-fridge, bookcases and bedside tables. Our room looked like a tornado went through it. But I’ve never laughed so hard as I did when I watched Heidi crawl under the bed in order to straighten the carpet out, or when three of us strained to move a bookcase only to realize that the rug didn’t reach that far. It took us forever, but we got that carpet down.
I finally bonded with my roommates, even if it was over something as silly as installing a carpet. We spent two hours laughing and having fun as we put together what is now our home. I’m glad to know that I have two new friends. (And a place to sit on the floor, too.) Caitlin McMullin is a freshman at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Penn.

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