[GDUFS:Past and Present] Dorms Developed, Affection Remains

On our campus, there is a place where we stay most of the time—a shelter that keeps us safe and warm—the dorm. Over decades, the dorms at GDUFS have changed a lot. However, the people who have dedicate themselves to serving and managing students’ living—the dorm keepers—are always there, with their affection forthe old days which still remains.

I spent half an hour with one of the dorm keepers, Miss Zhu, who was in a plain suit and invited me to sit beside her on an old wooden chair. She described old GDUFS as“quiet and elegant”,as if it were a suave intellectual. “I came here 10 years ago. It was in 2006. Bumpy roads, old fans—no air conditioners—which was quite unbearable,especially during summers in Guangdong. That’s what the old days were like.” However, she emphasised that the inadequacy of the facilities didn’t reduce students' passion for studyand their daily lives,which were simpler and more regular than now.

Over the duration of the interview, a few students came by to buy barreled water through online payment and inquired about the fixing of their water heater. After giving some replies and doing the routine register, she turned to me and went on, “As you can see, facilities in the dorms have improved a lot: the water heater, air conditioner, Wi-Fi service as well as the adoption of online payments —like Alipay or WeChat Pay— which provides massive convenience for students’ daily lives.” With the living condition improving gradually, students' extracurricular lives are also becoming more varied. “Socialising and developing specialties instead of studying seems to be the mainstream nowadays. It’s hard to evaluate the trend as good or bad, because time has changed. It’s a new era now.”

Apart from the colleagues that have been working with her all these years, Zhu also keeps contact with some alumni. “Fouryearsis really short,and in a blink of an eye,they graduate. Some of them even have their own family and career now, but we’ll still give each other a thumbs-up on WeChat.”

When asked about the habits that she has kept for 10 years, she answered after a long pause that she has moved forward with GDUFS and has been completely changed by it.” “But,” she added, “One of my colleagues still listensto an old radio instead of her mobile phone in the morning, just as she did 10 years ago.” Though things develop so quickly at GDUFS, there are still some people choosing to retain their old habits and to live their previouspace of life, which to some extent indicates theirdeep affection forthe old days.

Whether built recently or decades ago, all the dorm buildings at GDUFS cover the light of both history and modernization; no matter moving forward or staying still, dorm keepers’ affection for these buildings and students won’t change. 50 years have passed; dorms are developing; affection forever remains.