My senior year in high school was a year of ups and downs. I was sure I was going to attend a local college similar to John Carroll that was more local to my home. I thought I’d go to this alternate college and live with my best friend from high school. It was all figured out.
Then, I toured John Carroll one last time and it changed my mind, a change in heart that I have never once regretted. I was elated in my newfound sense of belonging and security in my choice. However, I knew no one from home who was attending JCU. I was completely alone in this new endeavor called college, and I was equally scared and excited about this.
After chatting on Facebook with a number of nice girls, I came up short in finding a perfect match for my first roommate. I reluctantly submitted my name into the random roommate system online and waited. I was uncertain and didn’t know what to expect. What if she owns a pet tarantula? What if she stalks me? I thought nervously. I became so nervous over this ambiguity that I began to dread the day in which I found out my roommate’s name.
When that day finally came, however, I got the name of a girl who’d become my closest friend at school, a friendship that would take almost the whole year to cultivate.
We moved into our subpar freshman dorm, we were nice to each other but didn’t talk much. Once the excitement of dorm life faded, my roommate and I weren’t that close. We always got along, but we never talked really or shared much. She was quiet and I was quiet and we both shied away from each other’s space. I was annoyed by her snooze alarm, she was probably annoyed by my snoring.
(Note to self: ask her if she was ever annoyed by my snoring.)
We weren’t close for much of the year, really. I always felt a sense of camaraderie between the two of us, though, and we eventually began making up little inside jokes and sharing secrets with each other on sleepless nights.
By the end of freshman year, I found myself with a great friend and roommate for sophomore year in her.
Sophomore year, we ate most of our meals together, studied together, went out together and did pretty much everything else together. She nor I expected to become such close friends, but we both were excited about it. The reason why we spent so much time together because we lived so close. I mean, we shared a 110 square foot room. It’s easy to ask your roommate to join you at dinner or to the library because they’re right there. If we hadn’t lived together, we probably wouldn’t have done so many things just the two of us. Sure, we would have been friends, but not the close almost-sisters we are now.
I always imagined living with her all four years of college. I mean, we’d both hit the roommate lottery jackpot in being matched up, so why change it?
However, due to differing schedules, financial difficulties and studying abroad, she is set to live on campus and I’ve signed a lease on an apartment off campus. We’re both living with other people, and it’s honestly hard to believe. In my head, she’s still my roommate. I think I’m still hers, too.
We talk all the time and have already met up this summer. We’ve discussed the weirdness of not living together a few times, and while we’re both sad to not see each other every day, we’re excited about the possibilities of just being friends will give us.
As roommates, we would hang out because no one else was there or simply because we just were there. She was someone to go do things with and keep me company, and we became friends along the way.
As friends, we’ll make plans to watch movies, cook dinners and go see concerts. We’ll meet up for lunch and study together like we always do. I’m excited that she’ll be my best friend and not just my roommate. I’m sad to say goodbye to her as my roommate, but I’m beyond excited to welcome her as one my best friends.
Just because our beds won’t be four feet away from each other doesn’t mean we won’t discuss our problems, act as each other’s therapists or share intriguing news with one another. If anything, we’ll be closer in that sense because we’ll have the option to walk away and take some time alone to think about things. As just friends, we’ll cheer each other on in our paths towards graduating and help one another into adulthood.
If there’s any one person that has helped me grow during my time in college, it would be her. She has grown from someone I simply shared a room with, to my first choice roommate to one of my best friends. Although I’m going to miss living with her every day, I know I’m always going to have a place to stay on her dorm room floor.
