Tucked away in the corner of our dorm’s common area stands what should be a simple sight — our shared fridge. A modern appliance designed to preserve food and keep drinks refreshingly cold, it was meant to be a communal asset in our journey through freshman year. Instead, it has become something far more terrifying — a thriving ecosystem of unknown origins.
The journey began just as a normal fridge, stocked with a few essentials: a half-empty bottle of juice, a tub of questionable yogurt and a neglected takeout box. But over time, something changed. The yogurt, once a pristine example of dairy’s finest work, began developing an alarming new texture. The juice, despite being labeled as “fresh,” started fermenting into what looked like an unauthorized chemical experiment. And that takeout box — well, whatever’s inside has evolved beyond human classification. When the four of us met for the first time and stocked the fridge up neatly, we didn’t know the horrors we would have to see as time passed. One of my roommates bravely takes up the fridge cleaning duty sometimes, but it doesn’t take long for the ecosystem to flourish again.
When biologists say that life thrives in adaptable environments, they are right. Our fridge is the proof. There was a time when there were colonies of mold in one part of the fridge, which has now thankfully been cleaned. Sometimes when I open the fridge, I half expect David Attenborough to begin narrating: “And here, in the wilderness of a college dormitory, an entire microbial society flourishes in secrecy.”
At this point, my roommates and I have an unspoken agreement — we will not disturb the delicate ecosystem and in return, it will keep our food cold. We coexist in a delicate balance, much like the great rainforests or coral reefs, except this is significantly more hazardous to human health. We’ve gotten better at keeping our fridge clean these days, but untouched takeout boxes, yogurt boxes and old, opened sodas still appear sometimes. While our entire dorm is something out of a fever dream — which is a story for another time — our fridge takes the crown jewel. We rarely speak of it, yet I know we all silently acknowledge the ever-growing need to clean it every single day.
The good news is that we’ve learned our lesson; although it can be a fun in-house science experiment, cleaning your fridge out is important. Regular cleanings, labeling leftovers and a strict no-science-experiments policy are now in place. While our fridge may never be stainless, at least we’ve tamed the chaos, and we’re committed to keeping it that way.
