There is always that one college student it happens to. It’s every student's fear. The decision to move into the dorms or an apartment and not get any bad roommates. Now some of them get lucky and become lifelong friends with the people they once called strangers, but what happens to those who just can’t stand their roommates? They’re the ones that end up with a long list of crazy stories at the end of the school year.
Marilyn Monterrojas, a junior psychology major explains that when she moved into an apartment with strangers, she had no idea what she was getting herself into. She tells of a male roommate whose party influences were too strong for her liking, “When we moved in all he ever wanted to do was party and at first it was cool and all because we’re in college but after a while it got kind of old.” Hoping he would get out of this phase Marilyn kept quiet but things got worse, “He moved on to drugs and then it got to the point where he was popping about 12 pills a night in the house. He would bring his co-workers and they would bring their own drugs and have a party. It was scary.” When asked if she preferred living with her parents or living with strangers she said, “Home because I didn’t see any drugs there. I didn’t like living with strangers and I told him after that I was moving back home for the summer and I’m never coming back.”
Usually the one thing students stress about when it comes to getting roommates is the expectation of whether or not you will get along with one another. The thought of their hygiene doesn’t seem important until after you’ve been living with them for some time. Olga Madrigal, a sophomore and Spanish major, learned this lesson the hard way. When moving into the dorms at Cal State LA she said she had the messiest roommate of all, “I lived with seven girls and my roommate was cool but she was the messiest person out of all of them. In our room you could tell my side apart from hers. Mine was clean and tidy and hers had underwear, bras, water bottles and condoms all over the place.” She explains how she was the only person on her side of the dorm to clean the bathroom as well, saying that make up on the sink and toothpaste on the mirror was the least of her problems. Her biggest issue was the shower, “Oh the shower was the worst. It was black on the bottom from mold. My roommate and the girl in the room next to us had thick hair; so their hair was always falling out and every time I went into the shower there was hair everywhere. I had to clean the shower once a week because if not the whole bathroom would smell so bad.” Also like Marilyn, Olga had problems with their partying, “One time they were partying so hard they left throw up on the toilet seat. They cleaned up the throw up off the floor but under the toilet seat there was still throw up stuck around it. It was so gross to have to clean that up.”
It’s clear that as girls there are so many things that can go wrong if you live with the wrong person, but what about the guys? Do they just see past their conflicts and put up with it? Not in the case of Pablo Figueroa a senior and engineering major. He remembers when his dorm used to be known for throwing all the wild parties. One of those parties ended up in a break in, “One night my roommates were throwing a party and somebody broke into my room and stole my MacBook Pro and $600 I had hidden in my closet. When I confronted my roommates about it they didn’t take responsibility for it. They weren’t apologetic or anything and I was furious.” This incident was just the beginning of Pablo’s problems with his roommates. A while after, another one of his roommates had his laptop stolen, “I guess someone had broken into his room as well and stole his laptop and blamed me for it. Like I was trying to get back at them or something. All my roommates blamed me and they called the cops on me.” Pablo further explains that the roommate he shared the room with went as far as getting his own parents to threaten him, “I was getting harassed by my roommate’s parents. I show up to my room and they were there. They claimed I had been stealing from their son. They looked through all my stuff to try and prove it. It was crazy! His dad was in my face yelling at me. It turns out that our other roommate was the one who had stolen the laptop.” Although Pablo never did find out who stole his laptop and money, he says no roommates could be worse than them, “Before the year ended I moved out. I have lived with other roommates and to this day they are still the worst ones I have ever met.“
Now it’s time for my story. Although I shouldn’t say I left the best for last, my ex-roommate wasn’t a crazy party girl, she wasn’t messy, and she definitely never accused me of theft; but she did have her own category for bad roommates. The first day I met my roommate, let’s call her Stacey, she was very quiet. It wasn’t until later that week that I realized she was different. I remember walking in one day and she was banging her head on the bed forcefully and she didn't stop for about 15 minutes. I was freaked out but when she stopped, she told me that she does that often, which only creeped me out even more. If only the weirdness stopped there. Another night she was in the kitchen cooking when one of my roommates broke in because she lost her room key, Stacey whips out a knife and starts charging at her like she was a burglar. I walked in on them and tried calming her down, after realizing who she was she just laughed it off like it was nothing. After that she went out and bought a bat in case anyone tried to break into our room. She told me I could use it if I ever needed it. After those instances it was clear that the greater I kept my distance, the better it would be for me. The year came to an end and let's just say it was a bittersweet move out day. I still see her on campus often but rest assured I run the other way every time I catch a glimpse of her.
They say you never truly know someone until you live with them. You can try and fake being the cleanest and happiest roommate ever but at some point your bad habits come out. It’s best to keep in mind that living with a stranger can be either a positive or negative experience. There are many stories of people who have gotten along with their roommates, so every person is different. There’s no way to ever tell if there is such a thing as the perfect roommate and these stories haven’t helped that argument much either. It’s still an experience I’m sure most people will tell you to try out. But if these stories taught you anything, it’s probably better to live with friends, just to be safe.
