Moving from high school to college is a big transition. The new experiences often outnumber the familiar ones, and that can be intimidating. New city. New campus. New classes. New people. New schedule. New lifestyle. However, these “news” are also exhilarating. One of the biggest changes is living with a roommate. Before we even graduated high school, we spent weeks, and even months, hunting for the perfect fit. Stalking Facebooks, Instagrams, Twitters, and any other available social media. We compiled lists, gathered facts and made assumptions to help decide whom to pick. After feeling creepy and crazy, we somehow managed to muster the courage to pop the question, “Do you want to be roommates?” and hoped he or she would say, “Yes.”
Finally, move-in day arrives. We pack up our lives and drive to our new dwellings. Seeing our roommates for the first or second time was nerve wracking but exciting too. So many thoughts ran through our head and we couldn’t wait to begin the year with them. Here we are, over a month later, and it is still a new adventure.
However, the present dynamic with our roommate is different. During the first week or two, we were awkward and overly polite. We were on our best behaviors and tried our hardest to be “normal.” Now that phase is gone. For the most part, we are incredibly comfortable with each other and ourselves. We no longer wear our nice pajamas and cleanest clothes. We have brought out the ugly, old sleep T-shirts and sometimes wear the same shirt three days in a row. Now, we own our normal self, ask gross, too-personal questions and tell each other what we think “straight up.”
We have picked up on each other’s tendencies and habits. Regardless of the differences between our personalities and routines, we have learned how to respect them and live with them... literally. Waking up for 8:30s is sometimes still difficult, but now we know how loud we can be without waking our roommate. Figuring out a shower schedule can be tricky, but now we know if our roommate wants to take them at night or in the morning.
By now, we have learned a lot about each other. But it’s still just the beginning. We will fight sometimes. We will get on each other’s nerves. We will be inconsiderate every now and then. But that’s OK. We will make up and move on because we will have so many unforgettable and amazing moments that we’ll look at each other and think, “Did we just become best friends?”
