If you’re anything like me, your roommates had to put up with a lot of strange behavior. This is especially true freshman year, when you’re clueless and trying your best to navigate a new chapter in your life. So a good support system really is essential to your survival.
I was nervous to go in blind, but I didn’t know a single soul at my school, so I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. By some stroke of luck, I was blessed with two of the most supportive and tolerant women I’ve ever come across.
Our motto for our room was always: “it’s never a bore in 364,” and it was so true. Maybe it’s just because I’m high-maintenance (?), but those two angels wore so many hats and took on many different roles to take care of me…
1. Bodyguard
Whenever I needed protection, I could count on my roomies! Whether it was walking me back from the library late at night, keeping away enemies or shielding me from the other imminent dangers of campus, they always kept me safe.
2. Publicist
I distinctly remember fretting over social media and waiting for one of them to get home so I could make sure I had approval before pressing “post.” Basically, they helped me build my public image.
3. Babysitter
Well, this one’s embarrassing. Sometimes I’m not sure if I’m 6 years old or 20 years old, but they always supervised my erratic behavior and put a stop to it when necessary.
4. Meteorologist
Although I planned to be a weather reporter for a good portion of my youth, I always seem to be wrong when it comes to actual weather predictions. Sometimes it just takes too much effort to pull up a weather app, so I often shouted across the room when I needed a forecast.
5. Photographer
Somehow the awkward photos of me in a onesie or a strange Mrs. Claus outfit that I hoped would disappear, would always show up in a group text or online the next day…
6. Therapist
College seems to bring out more emotional breakdowns than other stages of life thus far, so knowing that I had two great listeners right across the room who would always give great advice, made it so much easier.
7. Alarm Clock
Napping at weird times and sleeping through early classes are definitely not ideal habits for a successful semester, so it was nice to have people that would make sure I was up and functioning when I needed to be.
8. Parent
You know when you don’t want to disappoint Mom and Dad? And how you’ll do anything to avoid that look that they shoot you when you behave in a questionable manner, or make a bad decision? I felt the same way about my roommates, and I’m pretty sure they even grounded me a few times.
9. Private Detective
There are always unsolved mysteries that pop up in my life and somehow the roomies knew how to get to the bottom of many of them. They’d do some stalking online, in class or at the dining hall and find out the scoop on whatever I needed to know.
10. Doctor
I thought it would be awful to get sick when I wasn’t in the comfort of my own home. But in all honesty, it was probably more comfortable, because I had a constant stream of care! They also monitored my caffeine addiction and helped put a stop to my 5-Hour Energy phase.
11. Translator
People are confusing. College is confusing. Life is confusing. Having people there to help interpret the craziness was so helpful!
12. Stylist
This might be the one I’m most grateful for; I could always count on those two to help me pick an outfit for whatever occasion I happened to be freaking out about on any given day. It was also super nice to live with people willing to let me borrow their clothes whenever I wanted to! The best part, though, was that they (almost) always stopped me from leaving the room in an outfit that “just wasn’t working for me,” as one of them would so kindly word it.
13. Target
I love pranks, so of course many of them took place in our room. Whether it was hiding plastic snakes in their beds, covering them in silly string as they entered, or convincing one of them that she was facing a disciplinary hearing for some inappropriate behavior, they were my favorite victims.
14. Gatekeeper
A lot of things went down in our room that I hope will stay between the three of us until we are much, much older and our grandkids are asking for a funny/crazy story. I know that I can trust them to keep these secrets guarded until that time is upon us!
15. Lifeguard
As a college student, there’s inevitably a point in the year where you start to feel like you’re drowning. I’ll never forget the times when they dove in and saved my life.
16. No. 1 Fan
When times were good and when times were bad, those roommates of mine were there to support me. They cheered me on through my success and excitement, and they helped motivate me to make it through the harder times. I still have a collection of the Post-Its with encouraging words that I’d often find on my desk.
This year I live in a single, which is really nice, but I miss my roommates so much! I definitely took them for granted last year, and didn’t realize how lucky I truly was until we were forced to say our goodbyes. They were the first friends I made in college, and we’ll always have the bond of surviving our freshman year together.
I am eternally grateful for the year that I got to spend living with my ex-roomies in 364, and I’ll always hold those memories close to my heart. The summer before college began, we were three strangers, who tried to maintain awkward conversations via Facebook messages, but soon after move-in day, they became my family. They may not be the people I come home to now, but their presence will always feel like home.
Thank you, Gina and Genevieve, for every role that you took on and for loving me so well.
