The transition from high school to college is one that affects each student very differently. For some, it is an exciting time, maybe even a time for a renewal of some sort. For others, it is a melancholy time filled with mixed emotions about growing up. No matter how you may look at it, the best way to deal with such changing situations is to embrace who you meet so that you are never truly alone.
You don’t need to be involved in Greek life or clubs to make friends. Although those methods help affiliate you with the campus a little more, they do not define you as a person. Some of the best people you will meet will live in your very room with you, or maybe even next door.
1. Applying to live with a random roommate makes you step out of your comfort zone. It is important to face your fears of social anxiety and embrace someone other than your lifelong best friend. You never know who you will meet.
2. You will learn to embrace people of all different backgrounds. No one is the same as you, or has been brought up the same way you have. You will learn to respect their views and opinions, as well as learn to respectfully share yours.
3. You will learn that it is not always about yourself. You will learn to be considerate when your roommate is napping or your suitemate is sick, and maybe spend that night in instead of coming home early in the morning, or taking out the trash for them this time around even though it is their turn.
4. You will learn to share. There is no such thing as personal space when sharing a room. It will benefit you to share everything. Always remember to ask before borrowing to avoid conflict, but be willing to share with your roommates if they are, too.
5. They are with you for your first meltdowns away from home. They experience your homesickness first hand and do their best to console you. If you are really lucky, they’ll be experiencing the same feelings you are.
6. You will experience the awkward hall meetings and room checks with them and only them. Perhaps some of the best parts of dorm life are these meetings and room checks, and what better group of people to spend them with than your random roommates?
7. You will bond over the most random and simplest things. You get to share the excitement of having a clean room, or a fully-stocked fridge. Only your suitemates and roommates understand this burst of excitement.
8. You will enjoy their presence, even if it is just from a bed’s distance. It’s nice to know that even if they are ten feet away from you in their bed that they are still there if you need them. And if they aren’t, you are still never truly alone.
9. You will recognize that it may be the last time living with them, but it was always your first time living with someone other than a sibling. They shared your first move away from home with you, something no one can ever replace.
10. They are in every freshman memory in one way or another. Whether you come home from a night out or from failing a test, normally a roommate or suitemate is there to hear all about it. They are truly a lifelong friend.
