It is freshman move-in day and you are meeting your roommate for the first time. Typically, once roommate arrangements come out mid-summer, nervous freshmen frantically log on to Facebook, immediately friend their roommate, and proceed to Facebook stalk them for the next hour or so. But what if your future roommate doesn’t have a Facebook? Bad sign? I think we all are in agreement that this is quite possibly #1 on the list of social suicide. What follows are a few pointers to lead you to the conclusion that your roommate may not be your, let’s say, “best buddy”.
- No Facebook.
- Arriving at 6 A.M. to beat the crowds
- Already studying his/her Calculus II book when you walk in the door (keeping in mind we still have a week before classes start). It’s always good to be on top of things - but seriously?
- Has the room set up in a way that gives you enough space to fit 2 of your 25 suitcases and storage units that you brought
- Rarely showers or does laundry - causing the room to emanate with body odor. This could very well be the worst possible situation.
- Makes weird noises while sleeping.
In my opinion, there are two extremes of the roommate spectrum and everyone hopes to find someone who falls somewhere in the middle. The above situation was leaning to the first extreme but they are as follows:
The Clingy Roommate (aka the Bookworm) - This roommate would be the type to follow you every time you left your dorm. It would be hard to have alone time because everywhere you went they would be miraculously at your side.
The Raging Alcoholic - This roommate would be the type that you may or may not have been intimidated by in high school. Night 1 your roommate rolls into the room at 4 A.M. after one hell of a night of partying, vomits all over the room, and completely blacks out. Now, we’re in college so let’s be realistic. This could quite possibly happen from time to time - but every night of the week, that can’t be healthy.
Obviously these extremes are not the norm - but in the rare times you get into this situation - what do you do? It’s best to not live in a war zone. This means you are going to have to make the effort to at least get along with your roommate.
Guidelines
Ways to work it out:
- First - if you don’t want to flat out say they annoy you - try dropping hints for them to get the picture.
- Talk to your RA (Resident Assistant). That’s what they’re there for!
- Still not getting the picture? Then tell them directly what’s going on. Word to the wise: stay calm because after this conversation you still have to live with your roommate for the rest of the year.
- Compromise. It really does wonders. You give your comments and let your roommate respond with his or hers.
None of these attempts worked? You may need to take one step further and make some changes to your living habits unfortunately.
- Attempt to divide the room evenly. You stay on your side of the room and your roommate will stay on his or hers.
- Try to spend as little time in the room as possible. Study in the library or hang out in a friend’s room.
- Worst case scenario - talk to your housing service to get a room change.
Ultimately, the best thing to do is to make your roommate situation the least stressful as possible (or at least livable). I’ve heard some crazy roommate stories, but in the end maybe the crazy roommate makes you the more patient, stronger person (or at the very least, gives you reason to have a huge “celebrate my survival of the year” party at the end of the semester!).
Have any crazy roommate stories? Let’s hear ‘em in the comments below…
(Photo courtesy of passiveaggressivenotes.com)
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