1. You are given a permanent companion for the first few days between move-in and the start of classes.
From the moment your parents wave goodbye to you and drive away, you are officially an adult, free to make your own choices and mistakes. It might also hit you that you are completely alone. NO PARENTS. In most cases, you might have an inkling of who your roommate is, but you two aren't what you would consider to be friends. Well, for those first few days, it doesn't matter. Your roommate is the one who finds your classes with you, figures out the bus system with you and treks to the dining hall with you until you have someone else on whom you can rely. Your roommate is the one who helps you find your way around campus so that, when classes start, you don't look like a complete freshman.
2. Nicknames. Nicknames for everyone.
My roommate and I had a fantastic time meeting the cast of characters with whom we would spend our first year. Whether we met at a party or in the lounge, everybody had a nickname, and my roommate and I spoke to each other in practically another language that only she and I could understand. If we met you, you were assigned a secret code name, and that's who you were.
3. The ultimate bond of loyalty is created.
My freshman year, one girl befriended my roommate and me and things just didn't work out. When she started to target me and not my roommate (I see your unfollow), I knew I could count on my roommate to still cut her out. If you mess with my roommate, you mess with me, and that does not fly.
4. Her family becomes your family, too.
When the freshman year care packages started to arrive, my roommate was constantly bringing in food and gifts from her parents. Mine must have gotten lost in the mail every time. After her mom heard, she would start sending candy for me, too. Even now, every birthday or Christmas, I get a box of Sour Patch Kids, with love from my roommate's mother. I'm officially adopted into the family, and I'm eternally grateful.
5. You have someone on whom you can rely to always keep you in check.
It's easy to get lost in the crowd during freshman year when everything is new, and you just want to experiment to find out who you really are. As willing as my roommate was to try new things with me, she would be quick to tell me when something wasn't a good idea and remind me that it wasn't who I really was. You don't know someone until you live with them, and she knew exactly who I truly was.
6. You have a potential class partner while everyone has to fill the same general education requirements.
Freshman year, my roommate and I decided to take Intro to Environmental Science as our science requirement. Every Friday morning, she would drag my butt out of bed and grab breakfast while I passed out on a bench at the bus stop. We would help each other with homework and send notes that the other one missed. I hated that class, but I am so glad that I took one with my roommate.
7. She will sit there and listen to every monotonous detail of your day and pretend to care.
College can get overwhelming and stressful, and everybody needs an outlet. A roommate is the one who is unfortunately there when you get home at the end of the day and gets to hear it all. If you're as lucky as I was, she'll sit and listen with feigned interest because she knows that, once you're done, it's her turn next.
8. Joining a club or going to a party won't seem so intimidating anymore.
I can't count how many times I went to a psych club meeting so that my roommate didn't have to go alone. Simultaneously, neither of us attended an Italian Club meeting without the other. I'll never forget our first party, either. Having someone sticking by you can give you courage to jump into new environments that you'd normally shy away from. After a while, you learn how fun these gatherings can be and you're convincing each other to go to a meeting or party just to socialize, even when a paper is due at 9 a.m.
9. Nothing beats a good session of reminiscing with your freshman year roommate.
My freshman year roommate is still one of my best friends. When we get together, it's like our first year all over again. The nicknames still exist, the drama still occurs, and so do the inside jokes. We laugh until we cry and people always tell us how weird we are. It doesn't matter, though, because we're the funniest people that we know.
Looking back on freshman year, I could have had such a different experience if I hadn't had that girl as my roommate, and I wish every day that I could relive freshman year one more time with her by my side.
