Anyone who claims that Northwestern lacks drama and excitement may be misinformed. Cheated lovers, feuding families, the good, the bad and the beautiful can be found in many dorm rooms.

One just has to look at the TV screens of NU’s faithful soap opera fans.

“They’re fantasy, they’re outlandish, they’re fun,” said “General Hospital” fan Aleksandra Kostovski, a Speech freshman. “It’s pure entertainment value.”

Kostovski has been a fan of the show since age 5. But since she came to college, being a consistent fan has not been so easy. That is OK, Kostovski said, because the beauty of soaps is being able to pick up the storylines easily.

“It’s not very taxing,” she said.

That is also the attraction for Medill freshman Jada Black. As a “General Hospital” fan for three years, she values the soaps for their outrageousness.

“It’s my down time,” Black said. “It’s easy to get caught up in them.”

She admits she is not a diehard fan — or at least not as hard-core as Weinberg sophomore Jennie Ellis, who will schedule her classes around her daytime programs.

“When I’m planning my schedule, I tend to think about TV,” said Ellis, who is a loyal fan of “Days of Our Lives” and “Passions.”

Soap operas have even taken priority over classes, she said, but ultimately the class will win out.

“I mean, I’m not paying $35,000 a year to watch soap operas,” Ellis said.

Taping the shows solves Ellis’ class attendance problem, and her collection has become a video source for all her friends.

Weinberg freshman Faaiza Vaince has found another solution to the scheduling problem. A resourceful “Passions” fan, she keeps current through soap opera Web sites when those pesky classes get in the way.

“I check weekly recaps and show previews to keep me updated,” she said.

While the avid fans have different ways of scheduling their days around their favorite lovers and cheaters, they all consider the soaps part of their mandatory activities each week.

“It’s about sitting there, relaxing and enjoying it,” Ellis said. “I just get really addicted, with all the storylines and the subplots.”

Watching “Passions” is an outlet for Vaince.

“It’s entertaining to be caught up in fake lives,” she said.

While often ridiculed for their pastime, Black and Ellis both said they have managed to convert some of their friends to soap fans.

Vaince said most of the friends she’s converted to “Passions” fans have been male.

All the fans agreed that soap operas are amusing because they are not real.

“The whole point of soap operas is that you don’t relate to them,” Kostovski said.

And as Ellis points out: “There are worse addictions.”