At the beginning of the semester, my roommate explained to me that he had decided the dorm we were in was too far away from everything he needed to get to. He was doing a room change and moved into the middle of campus. At this point, I don't blame him, because Telford is really far from the rest of campus. Once he moved, I had a lot of things to figure out, because I wasn't going to be getting a new roommate.
1. Toilet paper costs a lot.
The thing about our situation was that I was going to provide some essential tech cords for him, as long as he was able to provide toilet paper. Once he left (and took the cords with him), I was out of toilet paper after a little while. So, I had to begin buying my own, and BOY does it cost a bit.
2. You can stretch your legs a bit.
Once I learned I wasn't gonna have anyone else with me, I decided I needed to de-cramp myself and rearranged my living space some. Afterward, I felt a lot better. Boy, did I really need it! I was finally able to put some things on the other desk and de-clutter mine. It was such a relief having that much more space.
3. Not much felt too different.
Once I got everything settled in, I realized that my routines hadn't changed at all. I still did everything I usually did, all because he wasn't around all that often. He was always out doing things, like larping, musicals, etc. and when he was out for too long, it seems that he stayed with someone else on campus. The only thing that changed was me being more free to when I could shower. That was a relief.
4. I really needed a social life.
I came to the sad realization that half of my social life was between my girlfriend (who had to leave college) and my roommate. So I finally had to really make friends and make plans. Honestly, it was probably a good thing that I had to do this because it's made my semester a lot better.
5. Even though he didn't care about the volume, other people do.
So as it turns out, other people were getting bothered of me watching TV or listening to music. I hadn't realized it was loud, and nobody else had said anything prior to, so I assumed it was all good. Life lesson, kids: Less stuff in a room increases the amount a space sound can bounce.
6. I'm pretty messy.
It's an entirely subconscious thing that I tried to keep things clean, and when there was a mess, I tried to keep it to my side of the room. Once he left, I stopped trying with that, and it really made a difference. Now, I try to make sure that my room and dishes are clean every week, just so I don't go insane.
7. Just because I can now, doesn't mean I should.
I had a lot of silly habits I built up at home because nobody cared, but it mattered to him. So for his sake, I stopped. But once he left, I started it back up again. That landed me in some awkward spots when I realized my door didn't entirely hatch. With the window open, the door would fly open from time to time, and I got busted doing some ridiculous stuff. Lip syncing to music, jiving in my chair while doing homework, trying to vocalize guitar and saxophone solos, etc.
