When transferring to SUNY Albany, I was most scared about finding a roommate. I was going in mid-year and knew that people had already made their friends and had the person that they were happy to live with. I overthought this aspect of transferring so much that I asked everyone and anyone I knew that went to or had a friend at SUNY Albany if they knew anyone at the school who needed a roommate. Then, one day, someone said yes.

It was a friend of a friend. She started talking about how her friend’s friend was also transferring to SUNY Albany and was in the same predicament as me (yes, I know, there are a lot of complicated relations here). I honestly zoned out while the girl talked and just searched for the apparent girl’s Instagram because I was in such shock that someone actually knew someone that could possibly be my roommate.

I still don’t even remember who messaged who first. All I know is we talked for a total of ten minutes and within those ten minutes we agreed to be roommates. We barely knew each other. All we knew was what we could see on each other’s profiles. Most importantly, we never met each other.

A couple months went by and it was move-in day. Move-in day was about two days earlier than it was for students who weren’t transfer students because we had to go through orientation. I remember her texting me that she got there before and how excited she was and how excited I was. I got there, and it was like an immediate friendship was formed. She was so easy going. Her stuff was already packed away, and she offered to help move me in, even though I had my mom and sister there to help.

The night that Drew and I became roommates, we went to dinner and actually got to know each other better. That semester was the best semester I had, and we chose to live with each other again for our entire sophomore year. Today, Drew has become my best friend. A girl I chose to be my roommate over a ten-minute conversation is now the girl that I go to tell all my secrets to. She is the one I go to for advice and who I go on my Chipotle or CC dates with. Many people refuse to room with someone they’ve never met before and I use to be one of those people. But Drew makes me want to push people to stop thinking this way. Take a chance on people you’ve never met before. You never know who can become your best friend.