If you thought getting to your class on the top Bascom hill was the hardest part of freshman year, you obviously haven’t had to sign a lease yet. It doesn’t sound like a difficult thing to do, right? Sign your name on the X and you’re good to go!
There are so many factors that go into signing a lease that makes it frustrating and exciting all at the same time.
First, we have to decide who we’re going to room with. This is probably one of the most intimidating parts of the lease process, because you have to hope that whoever you want to live with wants to live with you back. The problem with picking our roommates as a freshman is that we’ve only been here for two months. We haven’t had a chance to keep up with our classes and social lives, let alone pick out future roomies. How are we supposed to decide who we want to live with next year (which is 9 months away) if we can’t even decide where we want to eat?
But once we have our roommates picked out, decisions have to be made. This is where compromise comes into play. As a group we have to decide where we want to live, how much we want to spend, how many bedrooms we want, etc. The hardest part about it is that not everyone agrees on one thing. But if you want to get off on a good start with your new roommates, you have to be open to everyone’s opinions and take into account their considerations no matter how selfish you want to be.
Once we have all of the details smoothed out, now we have to do the actual signing. This involves a lot of added stress. It involves reviewing the contract, submitting the deposit, but then finally having a place to call home! Now that the lease is signed, we can focus on the important things like figuring out decorations and color schemes.