1. You get to meet a lot of new people

Most of these people will be really, really awesome. I’ve had the fortune of having wonderful roommates (so far), apart from one. Roommates you have in college are going to be some of the most diverse, opinionated, hardworking people you’ll likely ever meet. They become a second family, some of the first ones you tell when something good (or terrible) happens to you. They’ll laugh with you, cry with you, and go on midnight ice cream runs with you. If you’re shy, like me, they’ll help bring you out of your shell. Or, they’ll leave messes in the kitchen, leave laundry to sour in the washing machine, and leave rotting food in the (shared) refrigerator.

2. You learn great math skills when you need to divide up the fridge into 4 equal parts

Trust me, I have personal experience with this one. It’s really easy living at home because all the food is up for grabs. Not so much when you share a fridge with three other people who all buy their own groceries. Food is expensive, and while most of us don’t mind sharing (when asked), I may yell at you if you take the last of my eggs or chocolate almond milk without me knowing (again, personal experience). When sharing a space with more than one person, it becomes a challenge to see how you can divvy up shelves and door space to make sure everyone can fit their food in the fridge. You also might get a passive aggressive note from me or someone else if you put your food on my shelf, but that’s a story for another day.

3. Passive-aggressive (as well as not so aggressive) notes become a thing

I never understood the point of writing a passive aggressive note until I had roommates. Luckily for me, I have a dry erase board hung in the common area, and that’s where we all take out our aggressions at each other. But at the end of the day, we all get along really well. The board is also used for writing notes to each other. If I know one of my roommates has a test tomorrow, Ill wish them good luck so they see it in the morning before they leave for school.

4. They become built in tutors

With all of us in college, we can all help each other in the subjects that we struggle in. one of my roommates is majoring in Graphic Design, one is majoring in Engineering, and one in Nursing. While I’m still trying to decide exactly what path I want to take, I have three friends in very different fields that I can ask for help when I need it. And, well, I can help edit and revise papers that they write for their courses. I wouldn’t have access to this type of tutoring if I lived at home. In sixth grade, my mom and dad told me that my math skills had surpassed theirs. I know some people might have parents with advanced degrees in calculus, but that’s not the norm.

5. You (almost) always have someone to hang out with

Part of being a roommate is the social obligation to hang out with each other. My roommates and I are actually really close and we do stuff all the time (when we aren’t working or going to class that is). When we all have the night off, we like to hang out and watch a movie in the living room or play card games. We even hung out on New Year’s Eve and rang in the new year together on the roof of the parking garage watching fireworks around the city and playing with sparklers. Yeah, sometimes we get mad at each other, but we always manage to look past it and have a good time together.

6. You get to hear all about their life and drama

Part of being friends with your roommates is getting to listen to all the work drama that goes on where they work. I feel like I know some of their coworker’s entire life stories. Its influenced my decision about where to (and not to) apply to work. You also get to know about their families and where they come from on a more personal level. I’ve always found it really interesting to think about how different people end up at the same place in life, even though they come from totally different places and backgrounds. One of my roommates is from Cuba. Myself and another roommate are from Jacksonville, and our other roommate is from Jupiter. We all went to different schools, in different cities, even different countries, and yet we all ended up here, in apartment 2239 together.

7. You’re constantly experiencing something new

With all of us coming from different places and having different experiences, we’re all experiencing something new every day. It might be a new style of cooking, a beloved family card game, a favorite family dish from home, or a favorite movie. One of my roommates is vegetarian, and she’s been showing me some awesome recipes that I probably never would have come up with on my own. One thing we all bond over is food. Sometimes we all throw our food together to create something awesome together. I really broke one of my roommates out of her shell by offering her some chicken fajitas. She told me the thing she misses the most from home is the food, because she herself can barely boil water.