5 things to expect from your first college roommate

Where the roomie friendship magic happens (or not)

1. You might not like them. In day-to-day life, there are some people you just plain don’t like. It’s inevitable. Even if you choose who your roommate is yourself, you still might not like them. That’s totally fine, it’s not the end of the world if you aren’t best friends with the person who lives in the same room as you. At the end of the day, as long as you have a functioning relationship and they don’t mess with your stuff, you’re golden.
2. You’re going to have disagreements. Maybe you like to sleep with the lights on. Maybe you like a cold room and they like it warm. Maybe they bring people home from parties and expect the room when you just want to sleep. There are some things that you and your roommate aren’t going to agree on, but you’re going to have to make it work. Your roommate could come from a drastically different background from you, or make drastically different lifestyle choices, and you’re going to have to grow and learn and adapt.
3. You’ll have to compromise. Going along with the disagreements expectation – expect compromises to come from these disagreements. You win some, you lose some, as the saying goes.  Just be prepared to be flexible and open to compromises; it’ll make you and your roommate’s relationship ten times better. Living with tension is down right uncomfortable, and making compromises for the sake of a pleasant living experience is worth it in the long run.
4. You’ll know things about them that you don’t know about some of your best friends. As weird as that sounds, it’s true. Living in a room with someone for a solid year is going to clue you in on many of their quirks and habits (endearing or not). Your freshman year roommate will always be your freshman year roommate no matter what, and these are the things you’ll carry with you. How much yogurt they eat, how they leave their socks laying around their room, how they snore when they sleep, how long it takes them to shower after they work out, what alcohol chasers they prefer, how frequently they sleep through their alarm clock, and how many hours a day they play video games…. Memories!
5. You’re going to miss them when they’re gone. It’s human nature to adapt and evolve. During your time together, you and your roommate are going to adjust to one another and get used to cohabitating. When you’re back at home at the end of the year, it’s an adjustment (again!) getting used to living alone. No matter how much it pained you to live with them, it’s going to be weird moving on. Then, it’s on to your sophomore year roommate! And so it goes…

Every roommate relationship is different – some work out and some don’t. If you hate your roommate, you’ll have good stories to tell your friends. If you love your roommate, more power to ya! Oh, college.