"When there's no one there to hold you tight,
and none to hold your hair back at night..."
Oh, is that not how that song goes?
This week the housing notices for next year's dorms are due, so of course the whole floor is fidgeting with excitement. Do you keep your roommate... or move in with someone else? How will this friend feel if you decide to live with that one? Who do you sign up with if you think you might get a Resident Advisor position? Do you really want to move off campus, or stay as close to the dining halls as possible? It's a whole lot of drama, girls OR boys.
It's reminded me just how important the roommate relationship is. Unless you know someone before hand who is going to your college, you're going to be living with a complete stranger for the first two weeks of your college career. After that, you will probably know your roommate better than a most people in the world, not because you're necessarily that close, but simply because you can't get too far away from each other in a 15x12 room. It's simply not possible. You learn her habits, her detailed characteristics, and maybe even some stuff that you never wanted to know ("you did WHAT with WHO?"). It doesn't matter whether they become your best friend or remain that psyco-maniac-with-the-ant-farm, this person that was thrust into your living quarters will become a huge part of your life no matter what.
Now, I got lucky. I was unpacking when I met Sara for the first time. She was returning from the school's freshmen-camp, and was dressed in her black bandana and war-paint from the last day's competition. It may have been a little intimidating, but we started chatting and figuring out how to get all of our stuff to fit in the room in some sort of livable manner. I was a tad worried, but when we both broke out in a white-girl-victory-dance like a pair of five years old, I knew we'd be fine!
Not to say we haven't had our ups and downs. We've both had our bad/annoying days, but we've gotten over them, gotten close, (not to get to mushy but) would stick together through even the worst of nights (proven over & over) and this semester, well, we're 1/2 of the Fantastic 500. That really speaks for itself.
But some people were not so lucky. One friend, who will go unmentioned for polite purposes, has a roommate who will go almost an entire week without showering (um, EW!) and several without washing her clothes. The whole room has a slight odor to it that will be hard to be rid of. They even tried putting in one of those fruity-plug-in things, but then it was just like walking straight into a wall of watermelon every time one entered the room (no, this is not the delicious image you just came up with, it was suffocating). Another girl down the hall has a roommate that will never leave the room. There's a boy on the other side of the floor who has pretty much moved into Daphne's room because Daphne's roommate is his girlfriend, and he cannot STAND his own roommate.
This year, we freshmen can get off the hook easy because everyone can blame getting a bad roommate on "the system." This coming year, if we end up in a bad situation, it's pretty much our own fault. Life doesn't happen like in Disney movies, so you can't rely on fighting off the bad guy just to discover y'all are actually long-lost twins! You can't wait for your roommate to be perfect. No matter how many "hall events" your RAs put on, the relationship is completely on you and this new partner-in-crime of yours. You can either be thick as thieves or that awkward middle-aged couple that's just staying together for the kids:
*Door slams*
"How was your day?"
"Fine... how was yours?"
"Fine."
"Good."
"Yeah, good."
"..."
You have to jump in and introduce yourself and be that crazy-fun person that you would want to room with...
...and shower.
Also, don't tell them about your weird fetishes until you know they like you enough to not judge you. Honestly.
Curl Gurl, out!
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