...and a Cot

The living situation is dorm living similar to what I experienced in the Army (similar to college dorm life as well from what I've been told), with most people having 1-4 roommates, depending on season, station population, and dorms being shut down because of fire or carbon monoxide (another story, another time).  There are also some areas designated for overflow or people transiting McMurdo to Pole or camps that can have more to a room.

I live on the second floor of building 155 (part dorm, part chow hall, part office space, part gym, library) and share a room that is approximately 19'x14' with 3 other guys.  The rooms can be arranged in any manner that is agreed upon by everybody, provided all the furniture stays in the room.  The beds are modular and in our room, we have the beds stacked and on one half of the room with the wall lockers and leave the other half as a living room.  Other rooms have a bed and wall locker in each corner, with a small living room in the middle of the room.

Bathrooms are communal and have 2-3 showers, 4-6 sinks, and 5-7 toilets.  On my floor there are 2 men's bathrooms and one women's bathroom for at least 100-150+ people (there are people living on the first floor, but I'm not sure how many, 155 has about 300 people living in it total).  The other dorms typically have a men's room and women's room on each floor and serve no function other than living space.

When I first arrived, it didn't seem like enough resources for the number of people, but so far I have not seen much backup.  The longest shower line I've seen is two and there has never been a line for a sink.  Even with the population peaking right now, the 24x7 shift operations and the fact that most people take a shower every other day helps.

The big resource scarcity is laundry.  155 has one laundry room with 5 washers and 6 dryers, though at least one of each always seems to be broken and it can be tough to get laundry done without a lot of waiting around.  Waiting until Saturday night when everybody is focused on partying and getting drunk works if you don't want to be out partying with everybody else.  The other dorms each have a laundry room of a similar size and I have had some luck going over to a different building on Sunday mornings.  They are looking at remodeling part of 155 to accommodate a larger laundry room, but nothing is funded yet.  It can be frustrating, but not too big of an issue if one is patient.  My routine is to do two loads (socks/underwear/gym clothes/undershirts and jeans/shirts/hats/jackets) each week, with an extra for linen as needed.