A lot of us didn’t have the pleasure of attending the same college as our childhood or high school best friend, much less rooming together in a dorm. For those of you that did, I hope you’re still friends. For those of you that didn’t, welcome to random roommate assignments! Rooming with a random person can have a happy ending, a bad ending or no ending at all because you hated each other so much that you requested a room/dorm transfer. One thing is for sure though; it’s going to be awkward at first.
I’m here to give you some suggestions on how to get past that initial awkward stage.
Plan a girls’ night. Watch movies, order a pizza, bake some cookies, do each others nails and stay up talking all night. I chose to go through random rooming my freshman year and my roommate and I ended up pulling an all nighter the first night together. We just talked about anything and everything: boys, our family, what we thought we wanted to major in, what we’re most nervous about being first-time college students and what we were looking forward to the most. After that night, we were pretty comfortable with each other. On our first day living together, I accidentally dropped my towel when coming back from the shower and she saw my full naked body within an hour of knowing me. So I don’t think you’ll have to work through much more awkwardness than that. I am now a senior and still living with my roommate from freshman year. We’re living proof that it can work out.
Go out together. I think we can all agree that we become a tad more sociable and outgoing when we’re partying and having a good time. This can actually be a good thing for you and your roommate. Go out dancing or visit a few frat houses. You have both a buddy for sketchy circumstances and an opportunity to let loose and have fun together.
Go out to eat. Breakfast, lunch or dinner can all give you the opportunity to talk about a variety of things. You can share your plans for the day over breakfast or talk about how your day went over dinner. Maybe you find out that you both have a favorite ice cream flavor in common or share a dislike in seafood. Sitting and eating almost forces you guys to get to know each other since you can’t really get distracted by anything else, except for maybe your food.
Invite her to join you the next time you take a trip home. This will give her the opportunity to see the environment you grew up in and the family and things that have influenced your upbringing. I mean, you can tell a lot about a person by the style and cleanliness of their bedroom and how they treat their mother. Plus, you both can get a feel for the type of music the other person likes during the ride there!
Study and do homework together. If you’re in a class together then you automatically have a homework and study partner. You can keep each other focused and get to know more about one another during study breaks.