As students, we all have had to live with roommates at one point or another. Good or bad, living with another person, other than those in your immediate family, can be quite the adjustment. Here are some real struggles and highlights that all people with roommates can understand.
THE STRUGGLES
1. Different sleeping schedules
This one might be one of the hardest struggles of having a roommate. Sometimes, you may have those moments when you just want to sleep but you can’t because your roommate is still doing homework, watching Netflix, or making so much noise for some reason, which you will never understand. Sometimes, there may be a loud door-slam thrown in there, too. Or maybe it’s one in the afternoon and you need to get ready, but you need to be quiet because your roommate is still asleep. You understand, right?
2. Bathroom Conflicts
Do you ever have that moment when you’re planning to shower or use the bathroom and just as you’re about to get up to go, your roommate asks if they can use it? Finding the perfect schedule for sharing your bathroom is a struggle in itself.
3. Say goodbye to your alone time
Everyone needs a little time to relax in privacy—just you and no one but you. Unfortunately, with a roommate, alone time usually means both of you watching Netflix separately on your beds. Not quite the same.
4. Dividing the cleaning duties
At the beginning of each year, we all usually sit down with our roommates and discuss the cleaning duties. One month later, it’s like that talk never happened. You get passive and angry that they didn’t clean up their mess but you don’t want to clean it up either, because it’s not your mess. Did your roommate leave a mess at the sink? Is your floor covered with their McDonalds leftovers? Yeah.
5. Random guests
Do you ever come home after a long day and get shocked by the 500,000 random people you find in your room? And as soon as you walk in, do they ever look at you and make you feel like you’re a guest in your own room? Yes, we all know that feeling. Sometimes, you have those roommates that make your shared room into a college lounge.
6. Studying Dilemmas
You’re trying to study in your room and somehow your roommate doesn’t get the clue and suddenly decides to play their music or show out loud. Where can a girl get some peace and quiet, honestly?
THE HIGHLIGHTS
1. Bonding over show and movie nights
Sometimes you discover that you and your roommate both love Netflix and the best thing to hear is, “can I watch that with you?” Or sometimes, both of you may love the same show and the best part of the week is coming home to watch the new episode together.
2. “How was your day?”
After a long day, a small gesture that can make everything just a little bit better is coming home to your roommate who asks you how your day went.
3. They Accept You As You Are
Since they live with you, your roommate is one of the only people who sees you in your truest form: free of makeup, in sweats, and with a pizza stain (or a few) on your chin. If they can live with that view and still love you, that’s a true keeper of a roommate.
4. They Take Care
We all have those days when we aren’t feeling too physically or mentally well. Luckily, you may have an amazing roommate who seems to know just how to make you feel better. Maybe you’re having a bad day and they surprise you with a thoughtful note and your favorite candy. Maybe you’re feeling sick in bed and they come back from class with orange juice and soup for you. Or maybe they just know exactly what to say.
5. Endless Sleepover
When you find the right roommate, living together is just like one endless sleepover. Junk food nights, facials, talking about your problems, and then some. Its like your pre-teen dream!
6. We’re Friends!
Sometimes when you’re lucky enough, you find out that your roommate and you have so much in common and you realize that you’re turning out to be really great friends. When you ask people about how they met their friends in college, many of them started off as roommates, too. Small world!
Regardless on whether you and your roommate fight about who didn’t put out a new roll of toilet paper, or argue about who takes longer to get ready in the mornings, we all know that our lives just would not be the same without them.