My roommate and I have been best friends since sophomore year of high school. We decided junior year that if we both ended up at UNC, we'd be roommates. We started saying "just roomie things" before we had even submitted our applications in October. Luckily, we both got accepted in January, and our journey had begun. A lot of people told us we would regret living together, or that it would ruin our friendship. One of our good friends even bet we would hate each other before second semester started. I’d say we’ve pretty much proved them wrong. My roommate and I have grown so much closer over the last few months, and I wouldn't trade that for the world. I guess I'm a little biased because this is my first experience with a roommate, but I would definitely chose this over a random living assignment. There are so many reasons why living with your best friend is awesome, but here are a few of my favorite.
1. You’re living on your own… together
Moving to a new place can be exciting, but it’s also very nerve-racking. Doing it with your best friend can calm your nerves and it gives you one less thing to worry about.
2. Carpooling
This might be more helpful to your parents than to the two of you, but if you live near each other, riding home or coming back to school together makes the long car ride just that much better.
3. There is no getting comfortable with each other.
From the very first day, you’re both already completely comfortable around each other, so walking around without pants, wearing the same shirt multiple days in a row, or settling on dry shampoo for the third time that week all go without judgment.
4. Coordinating room decorations
When you live 20 minutes away from each other, you can easily take a trip to Target and Ikea together to pick out sheets and plan a color scheme. Having a cute room isn’t the most important thing, but it helps you feel settled in on move-in day.
5. Hometown gossip is equally exciting for both of you.
Whenever you see a jaw-dropping tweet from someone you went to high school with or read a heated conversation on the community Facebook page, you can expect her to jump out of her bed and crawl into yours to see for herself.
6. You’re both unashamed about the amount of social media creeping you do.
This is probably true for anyone, but when you were best friends in high school, you have no doubt she’ll understand who you’re creeping on and why. Sometimes creeping is a partner activity because you’ll find out someone is private on Instagram but you know your roommate follows them, or maybe someone blocked your roommate on Twitter but they didn’t block you.
7. There’s also no shame crying in front of each other.
This goes for anything from a bad test grade to boy troubles to the cutest puppy you’ve ever seen. She's always there for the best hugs and a boost of confidence. And if you’re tearing up because of a puppy video, she demands to see it and cry along with you.
8. Trying new things is easier when you do it together.
Whether you’re introducing yourself to the people on your hall that first weekend or trying to figure out the bus system, having your best friend by your side turns a situation that would normally make you nervous into a fun experience (or an embarrassing one that will eventually be a funny story).
I know this isn’t true for every pair of best friends, but since you’re best friends, you’ll probably already know if you can handle each other 24/7. While it’s an exciting thing to think about, it’s still important to discuss your sleep schedules, habits, and expectations before finalizing it on your housing application. Living together is much different than a sleepover, but it’s definitely more fun.
