My roommate sings to herself. Sometimes I’lI have work to do, so I request that she wear headphones, which she does without complaint. Simple enough… Five minutes later, the singing begins. And this isn’t quiet little humming. It’s out-of-key high notes and bad squeaky kind of singing. Here’s the problem: at home, my sister hummed ALL THE TIME. It got to be a little frustrating, so I was looking forward to a lack of poorly hummed (or sung) songs once I arrived at school. No such luck. I’m usually not a high-maintenance individual, but I do think that everyone, myself included, has a couple of pet peeves.
At home, we’re able to escape them by simply leaving the room and going to another part of the house to find sweet silence. At school however, the solution isn’t so simple. Let’s face it, everyone is, at some point, ready to just rail on his or her roommate for some tiny and really inconsequential thing. Small spaces just aren’t conducive to pent up emotions. So unless your roommate is a complete angel or you straight up just don’t care if he/she likes you or not (or you have a single!), there are a few things you should keep in mind before you go completely insane:
The Unspoken Boundary: As most of you have probably noticed, dorms are split pretty much right down the middle. That being said –– STICK TO YOUR SIDE. For those who just feel the need to ensure that it looks like a volcano of clothing is constantly exploding in their room, that’s fine, just keep it contained to your own space.
Speaking of Contained: Please people, some fair warning would be appreciated. Nobody needs to walk into his or her dorm room and get a flash of something they were not nearly prepared to see. This is why we have cell phones or, if you’re old school, a sock on the doorknob. Send a text, grab a sock, whatever, just be a good roomie, and don’t shock your poor roommate when he or she walks in the door.
About that Toothbrush: Unless you and your roommate are, by some magical administrative miracle, on the same class schedule, odds are that one of you is waking up earlier than the other. That being said, be aware of how loud you are in the morning. You may not realize it, but kicking a drawer closed or walking right by your semi-conscious roommate with your electric toothbrush on full blast is NOT going to win you any points in his or her favor.
Best Friends are Overrated: For the most part, we all love to have our ‘besties,’ the people we go to in order to vent about that one boy or the professor who makes you so mad. Word to the wise: you probably don’t want this person to be your roommate. For the gifted few, this situation could be perfect. For everyone else, it’s a nightmare. Odds are that you will be with each other so much, both inside and out of the room, you won’t be able to have any time to yourself. No personal time equates to pent up frustration, which translates to conflict between you and your BFF/roommate. When it comes time to venting about this tension, you’d most likely want to go to your best friend… but wait! It’s your roommate. Overall, don’t worry about being friends. If you both get along then that’s all you need.
A small room doesn’t have to mean mass invasions of personal space and irritating noises constantly ringing in your ears. Carefully executed requests and open communication can resolve almost any problem, and there are always solutions to roommate situations that are truly unbearable. Patience and TLC, as cliché as it sounds, are typically all it takes to move past the problem so that your room is, once again, a place of (mostly) peaceful relaxation.