This was it. It was move-in day. My freshman year, at Illinois State, was about to begin. I was living with my best friend, Ellie. Now, I know what you are thinking. Doesn’t everyone tell you NOT to live with your best friend? The answer is yes. But, of course, Ellie and I chose to ignore it.

Before I get into surviving living in a tiny box with my best friend, I am going to tell you a little bit of our backstory. Ellie and I have been best friends for four years. We were INSEPARABLE in high school. I am surprised we did not win the award, “Attached at the Hip”, for senior superlatives. She basically lived at my house. We were never apart. You probably get it by now.

Now, here we are, in our tiny box, living together. She was in her space and I was in mine. We really thought this was going to be an easy year together. Turns out, we had a few bumps. But that is normal, right? Right! There were nights that she would not turn off her lights for me to sleep or was playing her shows really loud without headphones. There were times where I had my friends over when she needed quiet time and times where my side of the room was disgustingly messy. Even though we had those bumps, we still tried our best to overcome them.

Do not worry though, there were more than enough great times we spent while living together. She is the only person that can make me laugh until my stomach hurts, like I had the wind knocked out of me. She was my go to lunch buddy, so I never had to sit alone. Most times, we would end the day talking late at night and listening to music. Those nights are the ones to remember. She was the perfect roommate for me despite our hiccups. Even though we lived in a tiny box and got on each other’s nerves, I knew at the end of the day, I could always count on her.

In my opinion, everyone was wrong telling me not to room with my best friend. They really thought it would ruin our friendship, but I will tell you that I think it made it stronger. I think if you are really each other’s best friend, there will be no problem making it to the end of the year still best friend’s. My secret to proving everyone wrong was being open and honest with Ellie. Communication is key. If you and your best friend can be open and communicate when something is not going right, I promise, you will be just fine.

Overall, yes, we sometimes had nights where we screamed at each other and someone ended up in tears but, we also had nights where we blasted old hit songs and danced all around our tiny box. Freshman year is a wild ride and I would not have roomed with anyone else. It is a good thing we are living across the street from each other next year.

So, I proved everyone wrong. Will you and your best friend do the same?