It was a Monday evening. I was returning from the Merciad office, exhausted and ready for bed. I walked into my apartment without paying much attention to anything, that is until I got to my room.“What the hell?”I saw flies everywhere. Fruit flies were swarming the apartment, and there were too many to count. There was a cup of apple cider vinegar in the kitchen that I had put there a month ago. It was covered in flies, as well as a second bowl of apple cider vinegar my roommates had put out. I went into the bathroom, and there were flies all around the shower, the sink, anywhere there was moisture. I was thoroughly disgusted but had no idea what to do except disinfect everything like a crazy person for the next hour. Even going to bed was stressful because I truly did not want to be in my apartment at all. The next morning, I had asked around to see if others in the building were having the same problem. They told me yes. Then they told me to use apple cider vinegar. By this point, there were three bowls of it in the apartment.I am still racking my brain trying to think of what could be causing this, but upperclassmen living in the building seemed to know about it and even expect it. My sister, who had lived in the Briggs/Lewis apartments for three years, said that she didn’t really have a fly problem, but she did have an ant problem. On the third floor. When the weather gets colder, you might find an abundance of bugs in your building. If you’re cold, they’re cold, right? Have a bowl of apple cider vinegar sitting out, and expect your entire apartment to stink like vinegar. If you have ants, find where they are entering and sprinkle down some baking soda there. Another solution to help with the fruit fly problem is to mix dish soap in with the apple cider vinegar to help the bugs stay stuck when they land. In addition to apple cider vinegar, students who are of age can use wine or any other sweet alcohol in a cup and cover it with a piece of plastic wrap with pinholes in it. This attracts the bugs and gets them intoxicated and stuck under the plastic. If you have spiders in your apartment, you can utilize a mixture of water and peppermint essential oil or extract and spray around doors and windows to prevent spiders from entering your apartment. If there is an ant problem, you can spray them with white vinegar and also use that to repel them. Good luck in your battles against bugs, Lakers!