A Bad Case of “Horrible Roommates”

By Walbert Castillo on December 12, 2014

Today’s the day–move-in day–and you’re absolutely thrilled to meet your new roommate. Of course you went random this year because you wanted to meet new people and make new friends so you thought requesting a random wouldn’t be so bad.

You meet your roommate for the first time, and hey at first glance, things seem pretty swell. However, time passes, and it seems like those first impressions don’t seem to last for some college students. Comprised below are several accounts of what I’d like to call a bad case of “horrible roommates.”

The roommate who steals 

Image via: http://davidmellon.com

When Jasmine Dinh, a junior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, transferred from her community college, she had no idea what she was getting herself into when she requested a random roommate.

After arriving at her new apartment at 10 a.m., Dinh said around 1 p.m. her roommate came into her room and yelled at her mom, “You need to get out! This is my room. All this stuff needs to go.”

As Dinh tried to situate things with her roommate, her roommate’s dad told her, “You can either switch out rooms willingly or we’re going to get you kicked out of here.”

Several weeks after getting to know her roommate, Jasmine said her roommate is genuinely a nice person, however, she does not know her boundaries and can be inconsiderate at times.

“I’ve caught her using my personal stuff more often like taking my hairbrush without asking and leaving her hair all over it and not putting it back after using it,” Dinh said. “She also does this thing where she cackles so loudly at her phone that she wakes up me and my two other roommates at the worst times such as 8 a.m., 1 a.m. and 3 a.m.”

The roommate who committed a second degree felony crime

Neil Orlick, a sophomore at Loyola University New Orleans, said he recalls his freshman year in college without having any troubles, especially with his roommate, Julian Correa.

Orlick said Correa was the type of person who was a “proactive student, involved in many business clubs and organizations, didn’t drink too much and stayed out of trouble.” Orlick was stunned when his friend stumbled upon an article about Correa and told him about it on Nov. 3.

According to The Times Picayune, Correa was charged with simple battery and second-degree kidnapping. After surveillance video was released, he confessed to kidnapping a 20-year-old Tulane student at knifepoint and groped her before she was able to escape, New Orleans Police said. Police distributed fliers on campus depicting a still photograph of the surveillance video.

The footage captured a walking man wearing a white shirt and dark pants at approximately 3:50 a.m. on Oct. 11.

A woman, who knew Correa for about three years, identified Correa as the suspect and told authorities immediately. When Correa was taken in by authorities, he first denied the claim he was part of the crime, however, when police showed him a still photograph taken from the surveillance video, he confessed it was him.

Correa now lives at 8226 Nelson St., New Orleans, LA, where detectives issued a search warrant.

“When I found out, I was baffled, shocked, bewildered and everything in between because I lived with him for a year. We were pretty close, not, ‘oh let’s go out and drink every weekend close’ but we were very civil and got along well,” Orlick said.

Correa’s bond was set at $100,000; if he decides to post the cash bond, he will have to wear an electric monitoring bracelet, which does not permit him to enter the boundaries of campus areas.

The roommate who wakes you up in the middle of the night 

After Edward Gonzalez, alumnus at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, obtained his roommate assignment, he emailed his soon-to-be roommate asking him about a variety of things such as major, interests and how the room was going to be arranged. He said the both of them agreed on a lot of things and it made settling in a lot easier.

However, during the first night of rooming together, Gonzalez said he woke up in the middle of the night to his roommate screaming the word “mother.”

“I’m freaking out because I have no idea what’s going on,” Gonzalez said. “At first, I thought there was a fire.”

After 10 seconds of his roommate screaming, Gonzalez said he tried asking him what was wrong but he did not respond so he fell back asleep. The next morning, his roommate told him he experiences night terrors from time to time.

“I feel like these kinda things should have been mentioned prior to moving in,” Gonzalez said.

Over the course of the next two weeks, Gonzalez said he experienced sleepless nights because he would wake him up on a frequent basis.

Gonzalez then requested to swap roommates.

Image via: http://www.plushbeds.com

The roommate who doesn’t clean up after themselves 

May Poon, a freshman at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said she didn’t mind going random because there wasn’t anyone in particular she wanted to live with prior to college. However, she said she encountered several problems with her roommate.

“As a person, my roommate’s easy to get along with and I don’t mind being friends with her but as someone that I have to share a living space with, I wouldn’t live with her ever again,” Poon said.

Poon said she has bumped into several instances where her roommate never cleaned up her mess. Poon said her roommate would often throw her clothes on the bed and on the floor after changing outfits and leave them out there for weeks.

“Thanksgiving break ended roughly a week ago, and she only recently put her clothes away from break.”

Not only does Poon find her roommate’s garments on her side of the room but also packages and boxes that have been there since the first week of school along with used cups, tissues and soda cans that have been left on her desk for several weeks.

“Since school started, I believe she has thrown the trash out a total of three times,” Poon said. “She will continue to pile the trash one after the other; the reason why our trash doesn’t overflow is because she leans her trashcan against the wall.”

Needless to say, she won’t be living with her anymore, said Poon.

Image via: http://www.collegemagazine.com

Follow Uloop

Apply to Write for Uloop News

Join the Uloop News Team

Discuss This Article

Back to Top

Log In

Contact Us

Upload An Image

Please select an image to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format
OR
Provide URL where image can be downloaded
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format

By clicking this button,
you agree to the terms of use

By clicking "Create Alert" I agree to the Uloop Terms of Use.

Image not available.

Add a Photo

Please select a photo to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format