For the past 18 years of some of our lives, we’ve been lucky enough to have our own room. Moving to college, you don’t get the luxury of having your own room with all of the space you used to have. A complete stranger is coming in and taking control of half of your living space. While it sounds insane, here are some things you should expect when you go from having your own room to having a roommate.
Your room size cuts in half.
This is pretty obvious and might not sound like a big deal, but many dorms are about the size of your bedroom at home. Now you’re fitting another human with all of their stuff in it. There is a distinct line half way down your dorm, where your side of the room is and where your roommate's side is. It’s a new experience, but it's pretty easy to get over.
You learn how to be quiet.
If you have an 8 a.m. and your roommate doesn’t have class until 10, you absolutely have to be quiet. No one wants to be woken up earlier than they have to be, especially college students. That can be difficult in morning when you want to look put together that day. But you’ll learn quickly how to do it all without waking up your roommate. Unfortunately you can’t be jamming out to Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood" in the morning anymore but that doesn’t mean you can’t jam with your roomie once she’s up and moving!
The roommate agreement can be your life saver.
Sometimes things get a little heated between you and roommate and you can’t just go to your room to calm down because it’s their room, too. The roommate agreement will lay out the general stuff like things you’re willing to share, who will do certain chores and so on. By having the roommate agreement, you two can get along better and avoid as much conflict as possible.
You know everything about them.
There are going to be moments where you or your roommate need someone to vent to. You will be the person that hears the most of their rants, complaints, situations, funny moments and everything in between. You’ll share secrets and will know their schedule just as well as they knows yours.
You guys "mom" each other to death.
“Did you take out your contacts?” “How did you do on your speech?” You thought that moving away would mean that no one would be there to tell you what to do or to remind you to do stuff. You were wrong. Is it your turn to take out the garbage? You know they're going to remind you of it. It can be a little annoying at times, but you know someone's always going to be looking out for you.
They become your very best friend.
You guys grow so accustomed to each other that slowly your little dorm becomes a party every night. It feels like a giant sleepover all the time and you two end up doing a lot of things together. You have your own inside jokes, annoy each other with your sarcasm and most importantly you guys are there for each other. No matter what happens, you automatically get a new friend.
Getting a roommate can be one of the most stressful parts of your college experience. However, if you go in with an open mind getting a roommate can be one of the best parts of your years of college, too.
