Living in a house off campus has been one of the best parts of college thus far. Living with my roommates in our crazy house has been such an incredible experience. Here are 15 things that I have learned this year from living in my first house.
1. Living in a house with roommates is awesome.
Most of us have only ever lived in a house with our parents, but living with friends in your own place is an entirely different experience. And it is awesome.
2. When four people share a house, it is inevitable that the house will be messy.
When I moved into the house, it was spotless. Now, I don’t know what our house looks like without clutter. Its okay though, because with four people, things get messy very fast, and we are OK with that.3. The more rooms a house has, the more rooms there are to get messy.
With a house, you don't just have to keep your room clean. You have to keep the kitchen clean, the dining room clean, the living room clean, and all of the other nooks and crannies. There is so much space to keep clean, and if none of your roommates are super neat people, it's not going to happen.
4. Cleaning an entire house is very daunting.
Cleaning your bedroom is easy, even if you don't want to do it. It takes a little bit of time and then it is done. But cleaning an entire house is a different story, and the commitment it will take to cleaning the entire thing is almost enough to turn anyone off from it.
5. People will become accustomed to your messy house.
After a little bit of time, saying, "Our house isn't always this messy" becomes entirely untrue. It is always this messy, and people will get used to it.
6. A dining room is not used the same way it was when you lived with your parents.
When you live with your parents, the dining room is used for dining. At our house now, the dining room is used for anything but dining. It is a laundry room, its a study room, it is a socializing spot, but I don't think my roommates and I have ever actually all sat down and had dinner in there.
7. The kitchen is literally never clean.
It is almost embarrassing how messy our kitchen is, constantly. But we are used to it, and we work around it. Every time it gets cleaned, it's right back to messy the next day.
8. Not all ovens work the same way.
Our oven is the most temperamental oven ever. I have burnt countless things, and no matter how often I check throughout the process, the food is either cooked too much or not enough. Don't trust the temperature gauge-it can be very, very wrong.
9. When people are welcome to just walk into your house, knocking actually becomes startling.
We are so used to people just walking into our house, that when people actually knock, it's bizarre. There have actually been times where we have been legitimately scared due to a knock at the door because it happens so infrequently.
10. Decorating is expensive and not as easy as it seems.
Before my roommates and I moved in, we had so many great plans about how we were going to decorate. Once we actually moved in however, we realized how much there was to decorate, and how little money we had to do it.
11. Fixing things that break should be a priority, but it never really is.
When things break the natural response is to fix it. Except that isn't what we do. Rather, we wait until we can't stand it anymore. We went months without a kitchen outlet working, a week without our upstairs lights working, and currently our living room doesn't get light because we haven't gotten around to changing the light bulbs.
12. Having people constantly home is awesome.
I love being able to come home and hang out with people. There is generally always someone home to hang out with, and it is great. It is really hard to be lonely when living with other people, and that is something to appreciate.
13. Your own room makes a world of difference.
Considering that there is always someone home, everyone needs their own space. Your own room is like your sanctuary, and it is important to have this space if you want living to go smoothly.
14. Our house is definitely haunted.
Too many weird things have happened in our house for it not be haunted, and it is something that we have come to terms with. We just roll with it, and laugh about the prankster ghost that we have.
15. Living in a house is the best way to live in college.
I love my house, and I would not change a thing about it (except maybe all of the electrical issues). If you have the chance, live in a house in college -- it will help you create some of your favorite memories.
