Spring Break
The Daily OrangeOut in the rain
When registering late, students can find themselves without housing, direction from university
By Chelsea Prince
Posted: 9/27/07, 11:33 PM EST Section: News
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All seemed lost in a moments' time.
"My first week of school was a tall order, to say the least," Josh Barbara said.
Sleeping on a foreign couch was a luxury. Attending class was actually a relief.
Barbara, an undecided junior, had found direction since transferring from Sacred Heart University last year - until Syracuse University pitched Barbara an unexpected curveball.
Barbara came to school planning to move into 604 Walnut Ave. He thought he was doing a favor for his former roommate who couldn't come back to school and had already signed an apartment lease.
"Everything was looking good over the summer," Barbara said.
But Barbara arrived on campus Sunday, Aug. 26, to his friends telling him that his new roommates had no idea who he was, despite the fact that he signed a lease guaranteeing him a room.
"This is a catastrophe. I'm going to walk in and they are going to have no idea who I am," Barbara said.
His roommates were left in the dark, and due to room complications, Barbara was rendered homeless.
"I ended up couch hopping for four days," Barbara said.
Barbara spent his first night on the couch at his fraternity, Tau Kappa Epsilon. He was awoken the next morning to his sarcastic friend telling him that someone broke into his car.
Barbara thought it was a joke. It wasn't.
"I called the police thinking they would give me help. They basically gave me a 1-800 number instead," Barbara said.
There was $1,000 worth of vehicle damage and his $300 Global Positioning System was ripped out of its socket. To Barbara, this was only a material problem. It could be fixed.
"I wasn't that mad because I almost felt lucky that they didn't steal my laptop, television or the $3,000 that were also in my car," Barbara said.
Barbara had superior predicaments on his conscience - the girlfriend. Barbara's 3.5-year relationship ended the day he arrived on campus.
And while his fraternity brothers and friends were buying books to prepare for classes, Barbara stared in question at an empty class schedule. There was no time to wallow in grief for his ex-girlfriend.
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