Student With Mono Camps Out to Secure Campus Housing at the University of Tennessee

This sounds like a nightmare. When I went to college, we secured our campus housing in an online queue. But according to TikTok, students at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville are doing it the old-fashioned way: waiting in line in person.

The only issue is that the line starts forming way before housing is made available to students. Therefore, they all have sleeping bags, blankets, and even tents in tow.

TikTok creator Max T (@shamelesscloutchaser), whose profile only features videos of him interviewing students, chatted up a few ladies on the line at the University of Tennessee. Here's what they said about their experience.

OK, there's a lot to unpack in Max T's video. First off, students are literally camping out for campus housing. The copy on the beginning of the video reads: “Interviewing students camping out to get an apartment next year.”

Clearly, the stakes are very high if a sick student who should most likely be on bedrest is willing to put themself in this situation.

In Max T's video, he asks a few female students a simple question: "What are you mad about?" And each woman answered relatively calmly despite the fact that they would be sleeping on the pavement.

"I’m here, I have to sit here with mono and sleep here with mono and be called 'mono girl,'" said one student, who was wrapped up in a blanket. (She also told Max that mono wasn't contagious unless she spit on someone).

Meanwhile, her friend complained that men who lived in this highly-coveted building, known as The Standard, were throwing pennies and spitting on those waiting down below.

Further down in the line, another woman reported that it was raining ice as she and her friend diligently waited. “You know we’re out here just trying to make it to where you are and it’s just not cool," she said, adding, "They got it so good up there."

Her friend also answered: “I think I’m mad about the first person who came here 48 hours before leases started because now it’s made everybody have to stay here for two days."

Honestly truth to that — who started this chaos?

The comment section was equally exhilarating. "It's ridiculous that people have to camp out to try and get a lease," wrote one user.

Others were more fixated on "mono girl."

"I like mono girl, she seems sweet," opined one user. Others argued that she was wrong about mono being contagious only through spit.

There was also some discourse regarding the Standard residents who were spitting and throwing objects at those waiting in line.

Apparently, those who had knowledge of the building claimed it wasn't all that great. One user wrote, "You couldn't pay me to live in that building again."

Basically, this comment summed all of the above up.

And also this one!

Per the creator in a followup comment, the second pair of girls interviewed did not get an apartment. But we can assume the student with mono and her friend did. Hopefully, it was worth it.

You can watch Max interview other students at the University of Tennessee who camped out for housing here and here.