Keeping pets in college

As much as it may pain you to leave your beloved dog or rat or snake at home, I'm going to say what everyone else says, and tell you to not try to sneak it into the dorm. It's way too stressful, plus when it's combined with your first semester of college (because I'm assuming that after a semester you'll know better and wouldn't even dream of trying to keep a pet in the dorm) you are pretty much guaranteed to develop an ulcer. Trust me. I had a cockatiel that I had to give away before I left, and yeah, it was very sad, BUT. If I had tried to keep him in a dorm, he would have annoyed everyone else on the floor and made so much noise someone would have wrung his little neck. Imagine what some drunk kid would do to your cat.

That said, Rachel and I marched ourselves down to the pet store on Sunday and bought two fish bowls, a bag of gravel, two jars of fish food, a bottle of water conditioner, a net, and two betta fish. Seriously! That's all you need! You may be wondering if a fish can really satisfy your need to pet something. Well. No. But they're quiet and you can get bettas that match pretty much any color scheme, so they'll fit into your dorm nicely. Plus they're cheap enough that if your RA gives you whatfor for having a fish in the dorm, it's not really a financial loss to just dump it over the edge of the curtain while she's in the shower.

Not that you would want to. I've gotten pretty attached to Gabriel in the um, two days that I've had him. He's a pretty chill dude. Mainly he just likes to sit and watch me type/watch him make bubble nests. The total cost of everything was about twenty five bucks. That's how much you'd spend on a pizza, Miss Freshman 15. Not to mention the entertainment you can get out of showing them mirrors. HA! He thinks it's another fish. What an idiot.

(N.B.: Rachel and I bought two fish, but if you weren't in such a hurry to get to the end of the sentence, you would know that we also bought two fishbowls. Do not, in an attempt to be as cool as I am, buy two betta fish and put them both in one bowl unless they're both girls. They will beat each other down until one of them is dead. That is what I deem uncool).