For many of us, we think that once we move off campus the roommates we choose to live with will be the ones we live with until we all graduate . . . at least that’s what I thought. The roommates I have now are amazing and we’ve been roommates since sophomore year in Kirkland Hall. For our junior year we decided to live off campus, but next year is different; we’re all going separate directions. One of my roommates is currently commuting back and forth to Viterbo University so to make it easier she plans on living in La Crosse; one is waiting to find out where she is placed for the nursing program before she figures out where she’s living; and the last one is staying in Winona but is living with her boyfriend. Me? Well, I had the daunting task of trying to find somewhere to sublease.
Subleasing is scary, especially if you’re like me and find it hard to put yourself out there and live with complete strangers. When you’re in a crunch trying to find somewhere to live, you don’t have time to sit around and worry about whether or not you should hang out with your future roomies before signing the lease. And yeah, it’s going to be awkward the first time you meet them all, but chances are they’re nervous about having you as a roommate too. Sometimes you get lucky and find the perfect roommates, ones who are really fun and down to do anything, but sometimes you end up with roommates who keep to themselves and end up creating problems.
Something else that comes with new roommates is trying to figure out how things work, meaning, who buys the toilet paper? Are we sharing food or are we buying our own? Do we have roommate nights/house dinners? And most importantly, who gets what room? Because I signed later than the other two roommates that signed, I am stuck with the smallest room. I don’t mind all that much, but sometimes with new roommates you just have to take what you get. With time everything will become clearer.
This upcoming school year I am living with three people I never even knew existed until a month or so ago. We all met officially when we signed the lease and from what I can tell, next year is going to be fun. Sometimes along with the scary parts of subleasing come the fun parts. I mean, living with total strangers could mean making some of your greatest memories and meeting friends that could be life-long!
I wish more than anything that my current roommates and I were all living together again because this past year has been so fun, but I know that we would have all split up eventually. Sometimes, even though it may by hard, you just have to step outside of your shell and find somewhere to live. Subleasing might seem like a scary thing at first, but in reality it could end up being one of your best college experiences.