Unless you were lucky enough to go to the same college as your high school best friend, then you’ve probably spent hours of your life worrying about whether or not you and your roommate would like each other and get along. It’s probably the biggest concern that new students have when they leave their hometowns and move into their new home -- most likely a 12-by-16-foot room shared between two people. I never knew that my freshman year roommate would have made such an impact on my life and become the best friend that I'd always needed.
Despite hearing several stories from older friends and family members about their roommate experiences, getting along with my roommate was the least of my worries. A few days after my school released the roommate assignments, I received a Facebook request and message from my roommate, Hayley. We spent the remainder of our summers getting to know each other, quickly finding out that we both had the same major as well as favorite movies and TV shows. When move-in day came around, we were both very awkward and almost too nice to each other, but this would be how we interacted with each other for almost the entire first semester. Finals week of our first semester triggered the transformation of our relationship into what it is today, and it wasn’t until our second semester that we both came out of our shells.
Hayley was one of the few people on campus that I knew genuinely cared about me, but also enjoyed having me around. We both had a rough second semester, so our room quickly became our safe haven -- the place that holds almost all of my happy memories from freshman year. It was such a great feeling to know that after I got out of class, I could come back to my room and vent to her about whatever was bothering me. I can’t tell you how many times she’d walk into the room in the middle of one of my breakdowns and simply grab a box of tissues and sit down on the floor with me, not forcing me to talk, but being there in case I wanted to. She’s helped me learn a lot about myself and reminded me throughout the semester to always make sure I’m taking care of myself, because that is what is most important.
There’s a lot I need to thank her for because I know for a fact I would not have made it through my freshman year without her. Whether it was eating every single meal in our rooms to watch another episode of "American Horror Story" or staying in on the weekends to do homework and binge movies, she never left my side.
At the end of our spring semester, we refused to talk about our living situations for next year because I would be living on my sorority floor, whereas she would be living with another friend, Kaitlyn -- it was weird and, to be honest, heartbreaking to think that we would no longer be living together. I know that everyone is different and that sometimes people are just downright difficult to live with, but I could never imagine hating my roommate, and I’m so thankful that God blessed me with Hayley (because I can’t imagine anyone else putting up with me the way she did). When I came to college, I had no idea that my roommate would turn out to be my best friend, sister, and most importantly -- the Tina Fey to my Amy Poehler.
