Recently, I woke up in my dorm room and realized I was actually comfortable sleeping in a college bed.
Earlier, that felt impossible. For the first two weeks, I learned Jones Hall is a BYOP (bring your own pillow) place. I didn’t know. So I stuffed spare bed sheets into a pillowcase and made do, sleeping on the standard-issue Twin XL mattress. No topper, no padding, just me and the springs.
Between chasing down interviews and writing my feature story, I was too exhausted to care about comfort. I collapsed into bed each night with freezing cold AC blasting, telling myself: This is just dorm life.
But after wrapping my story and finally catching my breath, I decided enough was enough.
I headed to Target with a goal: Make this bed feel like mine. I picked out two blankets – a smooth, thick outer one to fight off the AC chill, and a softer, fluffy inner one. I grabbed a $3 pillow for my head and a plush, fuzzy one for a cozy touch.
Then came the real game-changer: a $12 foam mattress topper. It had a textured, “multi-zoned contour design” that supported the “head, neck, torso, and legs.” Soft but firm. Supportive but gentle. It transformed the bed. Truth in advertising.
I splurged on a bottle of Gain Moonlight Breeze detergent. It smelled like lavender and wildflowers – as if were in the Mediterranean. I washed everything and let the scent settle into my sheets.
That night, as I climbed into bed, I felt amazing.
A few days later, I woke up wearing my favorite pajamas and realized: I didn’t just sleep. I rested. That bed, once a cold slab of college-standard misery, was now something I looked forward to returning to.
With less than $30, a little layering and some lavender-scented care, Jones Hall became (almost) a luxurious place to sleep.
