The Risk of Roommates

After weeks and weeks of summer fun, I hope everyone has settled in and started adjusting to the busy class schedule, especially with the completion of the second week of school. However, I suspect many of you are also getting used to living with someone for the first time and if you live on campus, you are getting used to living with someone in VERY tight quarters, a feat most adults do not try again after leaving college, so cheers to you, Dormrats.

Living with another person is hard. It’s not like living with a sibling where you have to like/tolerate them. It is like living with a total strange. Even your closest friends can turn into very different people when sharing rent and space become part of the equation.

Some of you living in the dorms have realized the many twists and turns behind what I like to call “roommate roulette,” in which you put your life for the next nine months into the hands of a computer generated questionnaire that aims to match you up with an ideal roommate. For those of you who have not realized this already, PEOPLE FIB. They check the “early to bed” box, although they are night owls and many check the “organized and neat” box even though many of us are terribly cluttered. If that was the case, you have my sympathies. Unless the situation is totally unbearable, you need to grit your teeth and stick with it. Even if the roommate situation isn’t ideal, chances are, you’ll meet someone somewhere this year that you really DO want to live with and you can forgo roommate roulette for the upcoming school year.

For those of you living off campus with roommates, sharing responsibility for rent, utilities and general cleanliness is a big step up from living on campus. Many students discover that the buddies they loved to hang out with are less than ideal roommates, but once again, contracts were signed and people are going to be spending time together, whether they want to or not!

Yes, having roommates can be tricky: you step on each other’s toes, you get into disagreements and when living with girls, you really should ask permission before borrowing that sweater! But living with someone else is necessary to forming a sense of community. I have great roommates. I’m just realizing after living alone for two years that not having a roommate can be very isolating, which can translate to being alone as well. With roommates, there is always someone there, someone who will ask you how your day was, someone who can reach the tall shelves, someone to share a meal with or even the Saturday morning cartoons. If they’re a really “interesting roommate,” you’ll have great stories to tell at parties. Welcome to the next nine months of community. I hope you enjoy yourself and have a true college experience.