Long, detailed, vivid dream with many themes. Please help!

[hunterkm]

I was going off to school (college?) and got a letter that I was to report to my assigned dorm room. It was apparently my first year wherever I was, but I later found out that I was older than other students, so maybe I was going to graduate school (which I am applying to, but I won't live in a dorm). I got there and had trouble finding my room, but ultimately realized without too much worry that it was a huge cafeteria type room that I would share with only two other girls. (They said they didn't have space elsewhere for us.) Everything was going fine with actual school and that part of the dream was not even memorable really. Then it came time to through some party for the school. I had apparently choreographed a dance for some of the freshmen that they would be performing, (Actually happened this year in real life in our shirttails competition, my kids won.) I went to change and get ready and realized that many people were eating in my room. (The first time there were even tables, much less people eating, in there throughout the dream.) I was really upset that they were in "my space". At one table was the guy I am casually seeing in real life with his roommates, who I am also friends with. I was pretty happy to see them. I tried to talk to them about my frustration at my inability to change clothes in my own room with everyone eating there, and one of the friends (my favorite one, who I get along with well) told me that he didn't believe it was my room. I got very angry and started yelling at him (not my typical angry response). Then I sat down and told him I was very sorry for my actions but it was true. He seemed to believe me then, but someone else did not. I am not sure who it was, but we got in a fight over whether it was my room or not. Again, I yelled a lot (not normal, I typically ignore someone if they try to take it to that level). Come to think of it, everyone eating in my room may have been male. Anyway, as the fight was getting very heated, someone picked me up by bear-hugging me from behind. I am very tall and typically don't like to be picked up, but I felt instantly comforted although I was about 2 feet off the ground somehow (unrealistic, I'm about 5'10"). I left with the feeling that most people believed me about it being my room. Additionally, we had had had a third roommate at the beginning, but she had left (maybe to get married?). The relationship with the roommates seemed insignificant, but I realized that her stuff was not longer there. The unknown person was still carrying me. At this point I should mention that the room was in a building full of stairways and half floors. Almost like a cruise ship or weird hotel where you could only get to some areas from a certain set of stairs (the floors were not continuously connected). So this was confusing and frustrating. But anyway, the mystery guy sat me down outside of my room on a main set of stairs that was very busy. I realized he was someone younger than me who I probably taught (dance or tutoring), but didn't actually know him despite him knowing me. He sat me down and told me he would help me any way he could but that we needed to go party. I agreed and started walking with him. Then I realized that he was leading me toward his room. I told him I didn't want to hook up with him, he told me I was stupid, and I went back toward my room. I was surprised, but not upset about this. Back near my room, I saw my Dad and stepmom waiting for me. They had come to bring me something and decided to wait and watch the performances that I was involved with. (Neither of these things has ever happened in my life, I do not have a good relationship with them although I see and talk to them occasionally. They never go out of their way for me.) I decide that I need something else, but I don't know what it is. I feel that it is so important that i get it, but not that I figure out what it is. Maybe my dream self already knew what it was, but I don't. I literally run to the most confusing part of the building looking for it. I tell someone I need to use an elevator to get to the room I need, but he tells me I must use the stairs. But there are no stairs. There is another elevator with a "stairs" button inside. I press the stairs button and the bottom of the elevator begins to rise, but the top doesn't. When I am about to be crushed, I push as hard as I can and get the floor to trigger back down. I am a little angry and confused, but not scared really. It is like I knew that I would be able to get the floor back down if I tried hard enough. I get out and try going through another way(stairs/hall), but the passage narrows so much that I am almost stuck. It is like Alice in Wonderland-esque, with signs that say "squeeze" and "turn", but I get to a point where I cannot fit anyway. I go back to the lobby and look through a hole I know I cannot get through into the room I need something (I don’t know what it is) from. Someone tells me I can't get through, and I say that I know, but I really want to. All of a sudden I am through to the room I need, but it has changed. It is no longer a room. It is my mother's apartment complex, but it is in Africa and there are lions there. (Mom and Dad went on safari for honeymoon in real life, have looked at so many pictures/heard so many stories from my mother about it.) I realize that I cannot avoid them and don't know what to do. I am worried because I can't remember whether I should make noise and try to scare them or try to hide. I try to go a back way that I never go, but I realize that they can tell where I am. I say in my dream that I want to go back and I woke up. Then I went back to sleep, and my dream started in the same African apartment complex. But there had been a monsoon and it was flooded. (It wasn't earlier.) There were also two scientists there, and one asked if I need help getting where I was going. I told him that I didn't know where that was, but I would love to follow him to the other side of the apartments (so I didn't have to deal with the animals alone). He said ok and we began to go through a flooded lake area, where he told me to look out for snakes. It seemed a little cold, and I hadn't though of snakes. I followed him closely until I almost fell while getting out of the very deep water and put my hand out. I felt it snag on something but didn't think anything of it. I wasn't scared. He heard me say ouch and made me show my hand to the other scientist who said I had been bitten by a snake and had to go to town immediately. I got most of the way to town with the first guy carrying me (I hate this in real life, but he wouldn’t put me down). I was not at all scared, just annoyed that he wouldn't put me down and tell me everything that was happening. Then we arrived at a washed out mountain road into town as it was getting dark. He sat down with me on top of him and began to ride the washed out road basically like a water slide/river. At this point all I could think about was how frustrated I was that he wouldn’t let me go. It was obvious that he liked me and I didn’t think he was worth my time. He almost seemed similar to the other boy who had picked me up in the school part of the dream, but more considerate and maybe older. As we rode the basically river down, he looked at my hand which was really swollen and kissed it and was being very protective. He then tried to kiss me but I laughed and told him absolutely not. I was very mean and he pouted I think. Then he became very protective again. I think he seemed more manly so I decided to kiss him, but then we got to the end of the river/slide and he picked me up again and walked me inside a hut. There a woman was getting something out of these snakes that looked like coral snakes but with pink on them and some polka dots (cuter version, I guess). Apparently this would cure me, but it was taking a while to get any. I still wasn't worried, but the guy seemed a little antsy. I kept complaining that I wanted down, but he wouldn’t put me down. A baby snake launched itself off a table and bumped me and I freaked out (although I knew it was harmless). I told him to put me down so he wouldn’t drop me and he finally did. Then a huge snake (same kind) jumped at me and hit my leg. It scared me and I asked him to pick me back up and he did. Then he looked at my hand which had become much worse and he seemed worried but in control. Then my phone rang and woke me up. What does this dream mean? Any help you could provide would be great. I have read about what some of the themes tend to mean, but am having trouble connecting them. Some additional info about me: I am from Louisiana and have a large fear of water snakes and coral snakes. I am a female college senior. I dance a lot and love my college experience (do well in school and socially). My friends often make fun of me for being so "harsh" to men, even ones that I am casually involved with. I don’t have any desire to get attached to the guys at all (they all know this from the beginning!). I am very close with my mother, but not my stepmom and dad at all. As I said, they have only come to visit me once in my life and it was for a graduation. Edited: About the guy I am seeing that I saw at the table, it is very casual. I am not whether I would like to take it farther or break it off. I don't communicate with him about his desires as to these options either. However, I know the friend of his that I fought with even without him, because we have classes together. I find the friend funny and reliable, but am not attracted to him at all. Additionally, the scientist who told me that I was bitten asked me if I fought the snake. I didn't really understand his question, but said no (since I thought I just hit my hand on a curb.) We were also going a way that I don't normally go in the apartment complex when we had to wade through the standing water with the snake. Also, I was almost embarrassed to go see this other scientist, because I felt pretty certain it was not a snake bite. If you need any further info I am not thinking of, I would be happy to provide it! Thanks!