Student association buildings are always beautiful. They are usually very old, in very prominent places in the city, and are imbued with much character. Well, character is a word for it, mess could be another. Because while the buildings are always beautiful, they are also always slightly falling apart, and usually smell like sweat and stale beer.
The state of disrepair in any student association would make any sensible historian or architect softly weep. Here are these ancient structures, that by all accounts should be proud bearers of their heritage, looking as if no one has ever bothered to properly maintain them. And why would they? By the nature of student associations, everyone is just passing through. So there beer spills on the floor and dubious stains on the wall and cigarette ashes on the steps outside. No one inside is bothered by it, and no one outside even knows.
But another thing that these buildings embody is the joy of their inhabitants. People meeting up with friends, sharing stories and creating them. These places are the foundations for many student years, and therefore the foundation of many lives that follow. People drink and cry and shout and laugh and laugh and laugh. They fall in love there and they find themselves. They love it there, they really do.
While you could be sad about the negligence, you could also consider the fact that student association buildings are some of the few parts of our history that still serve their function. They are not museums of themselves, they are not sanitized to tell their stories, they just are. These rooms have been molded over the years to raise people into adults, to provide them with a community, and maybe that is simply a messy process. There is something to be said for being very well loved, but not well taken care of. For still standing after all this time, and opening your doors to a new generation, who will soon become the old, and leave their ashes on the steps outside.