It started out as merely four blank walls, two sides of one shared room. It was a blank canvas. It wouldn't last that way for very long because soon that blank canvas would become our canvas for a year.

August 2017

Insert two best friends into the aforementioned blank canvas of an 11x11 shoebox Carolina deemed a dorm room. In one day what had once been home to so many others before us, now became our own. Oh how we relished in that.

Looking back, now that we've moved out and those four walls that were once covered in championship posters, pictures galore, and other hometown memorabilia are once again bare, I am reminded of all of the moments that were shared with friends in that room. Tears were shed, laughs were heard all the way down the wall, dance parties were had on random Saturday mornings, but most importantly memories were made and shared.

It started as a mess of boxes and bins strewn about the limited living area; a combination of two lives into the smallest of rooms. Luckily for us neither of us spent an excessive amount of time in the room for the limited space to bother us. But in the time we did spend in there we created some unforgettable memories.

Some of the most prominent memories that come immediately to mind are the late night talks. They never happened prior to one in the morning. It mattered not if we were both already ready for bed, curled under the warmth of the covers, exhausted from a long day of work and school. We found ourselves staying up into the wee hours of the morning discussing anything from our fears concerning the future to which "One Tree Hill" character we thought was the most attractive. I won't delve into the inner details of the conversations we shared in that room, but I'm sure if you asked the walls they'd have a hardy laugh with you over the inner workings of the girl brain that comes out after midnight.

Something else to mention is the number of friendships that were forged in this room. I specifically remember a night during second semester when a group of four or five of us sat in our room with snacks (more than likely something Mexican food or Cheez-Its). One of our suite-mates was a foreign exchange student from London and we were taking this opportunity to get to know her, finally. Our laughs filtered throughout our entire suite as we got to know each other through random stories from our pasts. It wasn't a pivotal night by any measure, some may even call it insignificant on many fronts, but that night in room 442 a group of friends spent hours getting to know each other and reveling in each other's company. This is just one of countless nights like this.

While not every moment in this room was peachy perfect, trust me those walls could share numerous tales of tears shed and arguments heard in that room, but even at the worst of times it was always home.

Em, there's so many moments we shared in this room, and I'm so beyond thankful. This room helped grow a friendship that was already strong to begin with. We had our ups and downs throughout the year, but at the end of the day I'm grateful that our freshman year rooming situations didn't pan out the way we thought they would. God knew what he was doing when he placed a crazy, curly haired, loud human with an equally crazy, annoyingly loud human.

To whomever finds themselves lucky enough to inhabit Carmichael 442 next just know that the legacy we left behind in it is a pretty special one. I hope that the two people who share that space next find a friendship as incredible as Emily and I did. I also hope that you enjoy nights of random adventures with friends to late nights of studying to scary movie marathons. Most importantly though, I hope you make your own memories. You could listen for hours and hours about all of our stories, and I could probably spend years telling you about every night in that room, but the point is to learn from us and make your own memories. Whether you know your roommate or not, get to know them. Learn to love them as a person and a friend. Give those four walls something amazing to tell the next set of people that move into our room.

June 2018

It started as a home to two above average height, crazy best friends but in a matter of days it became so much more. It became home to friends and strangers alike, it was a place of solace in the midst of all of the craziness that we had going on around us. What was once such a welcoming home to us, we now pass on to someone else. All we can hope is that it becomes just as much of a home to the next pair of roommates that are lucky enough to call Carmichael 442 home.