The other day, I was at a craft store with one of my friends. We were looking to have a craft night and ended up in the canvas aisle (something that is not surprising). I commented on how I liked these canvas letters, and for a split second, I thought about getting one for me and one for my roommate so that we could hang them in our room. When I mentioned it to my friend she looked at me and laughed, saying "if you get one for you and Rach, you have to get one for your other four roommates."
My four other roommates are the four other people who I can basically count on to always be in my room when I get home. They don't ask to come over, they eat our food, sleep on our couch, study at our desks and are currently some of our best friends. These four people, of course, don't count the other countless people who are also randomly in our room. Every night we average between five and ten people, all in a 13'x15' dorm room.
Of course, there are negatives to having your room be the room where all of your friends are hanging out.The biggest being that sometimes I feel like I have no personal space and the tension is real. Most days I feel as if there are significant benefits that come from having all of your friends in one place at one time.
It's an experience that I would say is unique to college. Often times I find myself saying that the only people who truly know what you're going through when you're at school are the people who are around you. The people who sit in my room every night choose to be there and they know everything. Having your room be the place where your friends hang out every single night means that we have some of the most real and most honest friendships I have ever had in my life.
Having everyone in our room all of the time means that I am never bored. Ever. Sometimes, it's stressful, but 99% of the time it is incredibly wonderful. I have gone on Dutch Bros runs at 2 am. We've pulled all-nighters for no reason except to say that we did it. We've given our guy friends makeovers, made each other playlists, painted canvases and given each other facials. Right now as I write this, someone's shooting a nerf gun. Being the hangout room means that we have sleepovers a lot because it's too early in the morning and someone just doesn't want to walk home.
Being the mom of our friend group, I cherish the chaos that comes with being the owner of the room that everyone hangs out in. It means a lot of late nights, some deep conversations, and some out of proportion arguments, but honestly, I wouldn't trade it for anything.
