[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kah5d44Y-Gs[/youtube]

News Video/Paige Burns

Samantha Guertin claims her room has no theme, but the jewel-toned tapestry that drapes the ceiling like a tent, the pictures and figurines of elephants and pet snake named Scooter make it feel almost like a jungle.

“I have so much stuff in here from Africa,” said Guertin, a junior mathematics major. “I really love elephants, there’s a few of them here.”

Guertin has a creative side usually unexpected from a math major, although a drawing on her wall of various geometric shapes in bright colors that she made herself. Her room is filled with crafted pieces – like a Stella Artois bottle cut in half and turned into a candle holder, and two vases she and her boyfriend made at a glass blowing class held right outside of Boston.

The multicolored tapestry framed with white Christmas lights is a testimony to the forts she builds when she goes to a friend’s place – even as a junior in college.

“I’m a child at heart. So I just started focusing what I thought would look like a fort, and I think it came out pretty good,” she said.

Everything from the dim glow of the candles to the subdued touch of the Christmas lights creates a quiet, relaxed feeling.

“It’s my sanctuary, totally. It’s so easy to relax in here,” she said.

-Laura Finaldi, News Staff