Going into a new year of college, many factors add to our amount of stress and anticipation of a new semester: new classes, new professors, a new schedule, and so forth. In addition to these things, the idea of receiving a new roommate can also be daunting.

As I went into this 2017-2018 year (my first residential year), perhaps even more terrifying to me than classes and living on my own for the first time was having a roommate, and more specifically, having a roommate that I have never met or really even spoken to prior to moving into my dorm.

Yes, I could have searched for a roommate and chosen to live with someone whom I found to have similar interests, but that’s just not how it worked out in my case: due to housing fill-ups and misunderstandings, I was assigned a roommate at random.

When I went into my housing page to view my roommate assignment, I found that my assigned roommate was two years older than I was-I immediately felt bad that she’s stuck with someone super young!

And so the stress began: would she hate me? Would she request that I switch rooms a week in? Would she think I’m a clueless and childish college newbie?

I believe that we have bigger worries in regards to our roommate not liking us rather than us not liking them.

Though I was initially stressed out about not knowing my roommate before moving in, rooming with someone I didn't know ended up being the best thing despite my fears.

When we both moved in, we found out that we have some similarities, including the fact that we had the same 8:15 class that we got to bear (and complain about) together.

While sharing similarities with new people is exciting, perhaps the best thing about receiving a roommate who is not your best friend from home or is a previous acquaintance is the fact that we both have our own lives, friendships, and schedules, yet we got along perfectly throughout the year without any issues, arguments, or “friendship troubles” that are likely to arise if you are around your best friend from sunrise till’ sunset: when you have a roommate, you go to sleep and wake up next to that person. You share room responsibilities. You have to give and take if your roommate has an early morning class and has to turn on the lights at 7 a.m. and she has to give a little if she wants to take a shower at midnight when you’re trying to sleep.

I don’t know about you, but I tend to be more patient with those I don’t know as well than my best friends-your friends know what makes you tick and it could take just the smallest thing to get you bothered on a day when you’re just not in the mood.

Furthermore, if your roommate is your best friend, your friendship WILL be tested for the sole reason of the fact that you will not only hang out with that person throughout the day, but you will also fall asleep across the room from them: everyone needs a break, but you can’t take a break from being roommates, so what’s the only other option? Taking a break from being friends? Perhaps cutting back on your hang-out sessions during the day may be needed in order to keep you guys from wanting to kill each other by the time you’re both back at the dorm for the night, but this doesn’t sound like a preferable plan at all.

In me and my roommate's case, we certainly became friends, but we had our own friends, activities, and lives outside of each other that we could talk to each other about a little bit at the end of the day.

In addition, my roommate is pretty awesome in general for the sole fact that she dealt with and lived with me for an entire 8ish months…wow!

She actually put up with me and my messy side of the dorm.

She didn’t get mad at me for coming in late and brushing my teeth at 12:30 a.m. when she was fast asleep (sorry if I ever woke you up!).

She tolerated my talkative personality (you can tell me to stop talking at any point and I will perfectly understand).

She didn’t reprimand me eating ice cream every night (not that there’s anything inherently wrong with this, but I certainly understand if you want to judge me for it-I judge myself for it due to the fact that it completely derails the efforts I put into the gym daily).

But most importantly, I got to know and become friends with a new and wonderful person whom I probably would have never gotten the chance to meet if we hadn’t been assigned to room together.

So thanks for putting up with me, your random roommate!

If you ever are assigned to a roommate rather than choosing one for yourself, embrace this opportunity to meet and live with someone new to you.