Attending a university or college will almost certainly involve living in communal living quarters; sometimes single sex, sometimes mixed. Single sex floors, in this case female, are common. For example, Boston University in Boston, MA, USA, is known for its high female population. In fact, the graduating class of 2003 was 64% female. Therefore, the number of co-ed floors is not equal to the number of single sex (in this case female) floors.

But how does one live on an all-girls floor? Well, if you are male, your presence is requested anytime day or night on demand. However, if you are female, make sure you know how to do the following:

• Keep your room and areas you frequent clean.

• No loud music or conversations (it doesn't matter that it's noon or midnight or anywhere in between).

• All bags of popcorn which are cooked must be shared with everyone else, even if you suddenly find that you didn't get any of the popcorn which you have cooked.

• The restrooms will not be permitted to contain any feminine products (eg shampoo, hair spray, curling irons, hairdryer or toothbrush) for periods longer than ten minutes.

• At certain times of the month at least half of the girls are required to find other residences for fear of students killing each other. PMS is a major problem on all-girls floors as females who live together naturally cycle together and thus males are not permitted on the floor at certain times (unless they wish to receive severe tongue lashings).

Advantages

However, there are advantages to living on an all-girls floor. You can leave your door open for 20 minutes when you aren't in the room and not fear being robbed blind. You also have a strong bond that forms between floor mates - the girls band together to fight the evils of the world (namely boys and education). Also (only a girl could understand this), 'fat days', 'bad make-up days' and 'bad hair days' are not a concern since there are no boys to impress.

Living on an all-girls floor for a year can be enjoyable. It is a different experience, which is not suited to everyone, that truly expands the views of how to live not just with a roommate, but with a floor. And as Karl Marx said, 'Workers of the world unite!', we now say: 'Girls on single sex floors unite (and have an occasional ice cream social)!'