There are so many common misconceptions that people make when they come to college.
The first and most obvious mistake that almost everyone makes is assuming that you and your roommate are going to get along great and will be the best of friends. Even after being constantly warned by my family that the likelihood of this happening was one in a billion, I did not want to believe the worst.
When I first got to UMass, I was extremely happy with my roommate and we seemed to get along great. We (along with some of my other good friends) would spend almost every free minute together. Slowly as the months went by things started to go downhill. I'm not going to go into details about what happened because it doesn't really matter.
The point of this article is not to bitch about my roommate, it's to help you and anyone else by giving you an idea of what may or may not occur when you get to college.
Stage 1: Your roommate is going to go out of his or her way to make sure they do nothing to upset you during the first few weeks or months of college.
Keep in mind, your roommate does not want any drama either, they also have similar "roommate goals" in mind.
Stage 2: Your roommate is going to start showing his or her true nature.
Just like a bubble becomes bigger and bigger until it finally pops, your roommate's bubble will pop and he or she will be their true self. This is the stage during which problems may start to arise. For example, you may tend to be on the organized side and your roommate may be the type of person who doesn't put their stuff away and ends up leaving a mess on the ground. At this stage the smart (and awkward) thing to do would be to discuss your issues with your roommate instead of letting the tension build up inside of you.
Stage 3: You're either going to end up spending all your time as far away from your room as possible because you don't want to deal with the built-up tension.
Or you're going to end up sitting at your desk with your headphones in your ears trying to avoid the awkwardness, or all your problems will be sorted out and you will actually be friends with your roommate (hopefully it's the last option).
Getting back to my point: Make sure you do not have any expectations.
If you don't expect anything, you will only be pleasantly surprised. I wish I had known this earlier, it would have given me the chance to make things right with my roommate. Don't make the same mistakes that i did, and be your true self from the very beginning, it will make your whole year and your roommate's whole year more enjoyable!
