Living with roommates is one of the most unpredictable parts of the college experience, filled with ups and downs. Unfortunately, not all roommate situations are as fun and carefree as we’d like to believe they’ll be. I spoke with a few FSU students to hear firsthand how their roommates turned from neighbors to nightmares.
From moldy dishes that festered for months to questionable hygiene habits, these bizarre stories will surely make you appreciate your living situation. If you’ve ever had a roommate experience that went off the rails, you’ll commend these girls for surviving the most bizarre living arrangements imaginable.
- The Moldy Dishes
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A couple of semesters ago, two girls had a roommate who would use their Tupperware for her food. For these girls, that wasn’t a problem. They didn’t mind sharing as long as the dishes were cleaned afterward. However, that wasn’t the case with this roommate. Instead, she would make her food using their dishes and let it sit in the fridge for months.
On one occasion, they opened the container to see inches of mold growing atop the food. When they started to clean the moldy dishes for their roommate — doing a polite task that many in this situation would never consider — the girl yelled at them to keep their hands off her food.
Eventually, she moved out, took a bunch of random items such as a curtain rod and TV remote, and left them to deal with the festering dishes and food she had in the fridge since the beginning of the semester.
- The 30-year-old Boyfriend
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This roommate brought some additions to a four-bedroom apartment. Late in the spring semester of 2024, three girls came home to two unexpected visitors and potential new roommates. Their four-bedroom apartment was already a little cramped, and one of their roommates had decided to make it even more constricted by inviting her 30-year-old boyfriend and his kid to make themselves at home.
As most know, living in a college town is very expensive. These girls already had to pay for their room and split the bill between water and light. Then, this roommate added at least two more showers daily to their water bill, and the guy wasn’t even offering to help pay for it.
The worst part is that when looking him up online, the first thing that popped up were police reports! How freaky is it to have a grown man who has committed felonies and his child living in an apartment with young women for free?
- The hygiene
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A small dorm that has already seen thousands of students can naturally have a musty smell. However, when you add a roommate struggling with personal hygiene, things can quickly become uncomfortable.
This interviewee came to FSU without knowing anyone and decided to take a chance on a random roommate, hoping it would lead to a lasting friendship. However, as time passed, she noticed that the room was often filled with an unpleasant odor, and her roommate never seemed to shower. Despite being spoken to by the resident assistant (RA) a few times about the issue, things didn’t improve.
Occasionally, the roommate would use the interviewee’s tissues to wipe her underarms and freshen up. When the student finally mustered the courage to speak up, her roommate explained that she’d been inspired by her trip to Paris, where she discovered that some Parisians don’t shower as frequently and wanted to embrace that aspect of the culture. While it was an interesting take on cultural immersion, the student couldn’t help but think it would have been better to adopt Parisian fashion instead.
- The Sticky Notes
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These two roommates were best friends, excited to start their college journey together. When issues began to occur during their first semester of living together, they both picked up this quirky habit of sliding sticky notes under each other’s things that addressed whatever they had a problem with. Whether it was about the loud music playing throughout the late hours of the night or piles of laundry left on the floor, it was their way of venting without confrontation.
However, neither changed the issues being addressed, and the sticky notes continued to pile up. They mentioned that sticky notes lined their bedroom door from top to bottom at one point, and each one had a written complaint that one of them had written on it. At first, they thought it was funny, but as the semester went on and the issues kept occurring, they realized their passive-aggressive sticky notes weren’t working but instead were causing more tension between them.
As the semester ended, they decided to find new roommates for future years, and now, they have a strong friendship that has survived living in close quarters.
Living with a college roommate can be a rollercoaster of emotions, but it offers some valuable lessons on navigating challenging situations. Whether it’s simply laughing off the chaos or learning to speak up, these stories are great reminders that surviving the roommate experience can be just as crucial as thriving in it.
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