The Freshman Roommate

By Sam Finley on July 2, 2016

Summer C has just finished its first week and many freshmen are getting used to their new spaces and classes. The weirdest thing to get used to, I think, is having a roommate. As an only child, I never had to share a room with anyone in the space I lived in. Now, in a college dorm, there’s not even anything between you and the roommate. Their bed’s right across the room in plain view, along with all their stuff like their desk and dirty laundry and Tostitos crumbs. This can be really awkward for some people, unless they requested a roommate and got who they wanted and expected, then y’all are fine. I’m talking about the kids who ended up with randos and don’t know what to do about it.

http://www.quickmeme.com/Douchebag-College-Roommate

Living with someone you know nothing about, even for just six weeks in Summer C, can be really annoying, or just awkward as heck. I know my freshman year (I started in Fall, but the roommate experience will not be that different in summer, just shorter), I didn’t really talk to my roommate. The most we said was “hey” when one of us walked in and “see ya’” or “bye” when one of us left – and we even stopped doing that after a while. When we did talk, it was short and awkward. Hearing them on Skype and on phone calls was also weird, since I learned all their personal business – and they probably heard mine when I called my parents. Luckily, my roommate liked to go home some weekends, leaving me alone in the room a lot more than most people would be (unless you ended up in a single). As the school year went on, in Spring, we were back to pretty much ignoring each other, only it now became nearly impossible to think of speaking to one another – or at least it felt that way on my end. Going so long without talking to someone made it seem like we’d never speak at all. So I decided I never wanted this perpetual awkward silence again.

For my sophomore year, I decided I’d actually talk to my roommate. All I did was talk to them about simple things, immediate things – almost anything. Having a conversation or two with them in the first week or so can prevent that ever-lasting awkward silence in the room. It’ll make them feel more familiar to you after a while and you won’t truly resent them for merely existing in this shared space. Seriously, all you have to do is talk to them about what kind of hand soap they want for the sink or what they’re having for lunch or what they’re thinking of doing Friday night; it doesn’t need to be an actual conversation and you don’t need to take your roommate out for a bite to eat, unless y’all get that close. Becoming acquaintances with your roommate really helps with living with them in general. No one wants to live with someone they don’t really know or like.

http://blog.uloop.com/?attachment_id=206110

If there’s no getting along for you two, try and get reassigned or talk to your RA. I have never had a bad roommate experience yet, but I’m sure it happens to some freshmen right in their first semester. Maybe she’s the messy one who never contributes to keeping the room tidy, or he’s the loudest snorer you’ve ever had the displeasure of hearing and never wakes up to his alarm, or she never uses headphones when she watches Once Upon A Time on Netflix while you’re trying to study. There are worse things, but I can’t help you with extremes. That’s for you and your RA to talk over. For the most part, though, just have a few conversations with your roommate and they’ll quickly become familiar and you’ll feel much better about being around them. Hopefully they’re not a jerk. Good luck with that first semester, kids.

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