"Don't live with your best friends, it's the worst idea EVER."

This is something I have heard an infinite number of times, from all types of people, ever since I decided to move in with my best friends for the 2017-2018 school year. People could not believe that after living in a dorm with a random roommate, I wanted to live with the people who I spent a majority of my time with, and who I considered my best friends.

To me, it only made sense to live with the people who I had gotten along with. I remember telling people who questioned my decision, "Well, who else would I live with?" I couldn't believe how crazy this idea seemed to other people. I couldn't grasp the concept that this living situation was "insane" or "an awful idea".

One month into living with my best friends, I was even more confused as to why living with them was supposedly, "the worst decision I would make in college." Anybody who spent more than 5 minutes in my house, would see that our roommate dynamic matches perfectly with the type of people we are, and that there couldn't be a more healthy and supportive environment between 4 very different college girls.

I was told, and continue to be told, that once I moved in with my best friends, I would no longer want to hang out with them, I would grow to get annoyed with their little habits, we would fight all of the time, and our friendship would not survive the year.

To all of my college freshman preparing to move out of their dorms next school year, and to the people considering new people to live with, let me dispel all of the rumors about roommates as best friends:

A best friend is defined as: a person's closest friend. It is someone you can always count on, and someone you can always be honest with. Being open when living with someone is the best way to avoid conflicts, and solve them if they come up. While our house will never be perfect, because we are so close, we have no problem having those "tough conversations" about cleaning/habits/life choices that everybody said would destroy us.

I can confidently say that now that I live with my best friends, I want to hang out with them even more. The four of us have drastically different work and class schedules, so whenever we are finally all home at the same time, it's like we haven't seen each other in ages. We have roommate movie nights, late night food runs, and still go to campus/social events together, just like we have always done.

Ironically, even though we were supposed to "fight all of the time," I cannot recall a single time my roommates and I have ever gotten into a heated argument. I'm not saying we never disagree, because all people do, but we recognize that we are all very different, and if a disagreement comes up, we know how to handle it in a calm and mature way.

Needless to say, as soon as leases became available for next school year, my roommates and I resigned our leases as quickly as possible. I genuinely couldn't imagine living with anybody else while I was in college, and would recommend living with your best friends to everybody who is looking for new people to live with next school year.

College is often described as the "best years of your life," and I couldn't imagine spending it without the best people in my life. To Abby, Madi, and Alexis, thank you for putting up with my crazy antics on a daily basis. Thank you for making me laugh, for pushing me to do better in school, for going on adventures with me any time of day, and for loving me unconditionally.