The prospect of college can be exciting. Living away from home for the first time, meeting new people, being in a new environment. The one terrifying thing is living with a complete stranger. Unfortunately, we all don’t meet our best friends through our freshman year roommates.

However, I have a unique situation. The first go around with a roommate did not end well. Our personalities clashed and we just did not end up as friends. The second time I was more than lucky. For the second half of my freshman year, I was fortunate enough to live with an amazing person.

Hopefully, I would be able to talk with this one. I was nervous moving back in after break because I didn’t want to spend another semester living in someone else’s room and only going back to my room to sleep. She too had a bad roommate abroad so I think we were both on our best behaviors for each other during the first couple of weeks.

We hit it off pretty much right away, I think at least. She had just gotten back from a semester abroad and I was ready to start with a clean slate for a roommate. We would randomly talk throughout the day, and at night we would talk about whatever before heading to bed.

Ceara and I found out we had a lot in common from random stupid things to our love for Bruce Springsteen. She puts up with my friends always being in the room at insane hours of the day. She never complains about it ever.

We’ve seen each other at our best and at our worst through this interesting semester. When we’re just hanging out in our room we’ll spend hours talking or laughing about something stupid. Usually it’s when we should both be sleeping, but one of us blurts something out that will only be funny at 2 a.m. and we die laughing.

We have somehow gotten to know each other so well that she understands the noises I make when I’m sitting at my desk and am frustrated by some homework problem. Our levels of procrastination have only gotten worse as time has gone on. It’s not conductive for the both of us to do work together in the same room.

She has so many different stories about her time abroad, and I love hearing about them. Something interesting always happens in one of her stories from her trips around Europe. It’s a new perspective on the world and makes me want to travel that much more.

The day after my birthday we spent six hour in our room playing with balloons, laughing, and writing messages to each other on them. You can’t do that with just anyone.

My room finally feels welcoming again, and it’s thanks to Ceara. I feel comfortable hanging out in there with my friends. I can listen to music and sing along with her. It feels like how a dorm room should be, and I didn’t know how much I wanted that until I had it. So, thank you Ceara for being the best freshman roommate a girl could ask for.