College is weird. For the first month or so you’re forced to mingle, smile, and be as social as you could ever be. You want to make friends so much, those friends everyone told you about. The ones who would be your best friends for life. You’re so excited for it you can’t wait.

After the first month ends and you still haven’t found those friends you start giving you. No point in forcing something.

Life has a funny way of working because as soon as you give up you meet those friends. You don’t know if it will last, if they will be that group that keeps in touch for the rest of your life. You have no real way of knowing because anything could happen. You could have a falling out, or just grow apart, or you could connect so well you want it to last as long as it can.

But then you remember you’re still a freshman. You met those friends by chance, and you have very few things in common. You could come from different worlds. You could have different senses of humors. You could have completely opposite interests, but somehow it works. Somehow you wake up and appreciate them for being different. For giving you a different perspective in your life that you never thought possible. For giving you a moment in life to realize you are not always going to share something in common in everyone you meet in life.

I think that’s one of the finer lessons in college.

When you grow up, find a career you like, and try and rise in the ranks of that career, you are going to meet people you will not like, you will not have anything in common with, or you will love in an instant. But every relationship you have changes you.

Helps you grow. Because in the real world, if you have a problem with someone, or you meet someone you know you are going to have a problem with, you can’t just complain to HR that they’re mean to you, or try and get them fired so you do not have to deal with them. You must learn to work together.

When I see people not liking their roommates and they ask for a room change I think they’re missing out on the lesson. Yes, if you have exercised every possible way to fix the situation and nothing changes then a room change is the way to go, but not always. College is where you learn to accept all different kinds of people. It’s building you up for your future. So, you should take that experience from the roommate you deem “hellish” and learn from it. Learn to live with it. Don’t give up. I have friends I never thought I would have, and I appreciate the friendship immensely, but not in a million years would I think I could click with people I have nothing in common with. All it takes is a little bit of effort, and one good laugh to solidify a friendship that could last a lifetime.