The first thing I did when I got to Freshman orientation this summer was get in line to get my room key. Other girls spent time looking around the school and meeting people, but I knew I needed to check out the rooms immediately. After all, this was where I would be living for the next four years, and I had to make sure I wasn’t making a huge mistake.
Once I got my key, I booked it to my room and opened the door. What I walked into confused the hell out of me. I was expecting a small room with two or three beds and a of couple desks. Instead, I saw a giant living room, fully furnished with chairs, couches, and a dining room table. I walked in skeptically and saw three doors, each leading to a bedroom and a bathroom. I opened the door to my bedroom, and saw a spacious room with giant windows, desks, beds, and wardrobes. I was psyched about my suite, to say the least. It was large, had a living room (so people didn’t have to walk right into my bedroom upon entering), and a bathroom. Not to mention, living in a suite would give me an instant group of five close friends. It was perfect.
At orientation they just throw you in room with whomever. After deciding that a suite was the way to go, I had a bigger challenge facing me. I had to find five girls that I could stand to be around for more than ten minutes. Honestly though, I had to find five girls that could put up with my blunt attitude and not want to kill me in my sleep. I have to say, I got lucky, and most of the other girls assigned to that suite were cool. So I recruited a few of the girls from the orientation suite to live in the suite I would be living in for the year… but there were still a few spots to fill. So, I went around orientation trying to find girls that liked to have fun, cared deeply about their academics, and who were, for lack of a better word, just chill. I knew I could never have put up with a hyper roommate, or a neat freak, it would be a fight to the death. Eventually, I did find some girls that seemed to be compatible with me, and now we are all living together.
Even though I found a fantastic group of girls to share my freshman experience with, everything is not rainbows and butterflies. First comes the honeymoon stage. My suitemates and I did virtually everything together. But then classes started, and people became involved in their own activities. Since this point, the suite became less romantic and more stressful. Someone is always too loud, to messy, or too bitchy. The initial fighting was scary, because we thought it was the end of the world if one girl was mad at another girl. Everyone was on edge, and small cliques began to form within the suite. Eventually, however, everyone individually learned how to deal with each other, and we got over the constant fighting. Now we all get along and have introduced other friends into the suite, which added a much needed breath of fresh air, while allowing us to have a giant group of great friends.
So even though a suite may sound scary (living with six girls?!), it’s probably the best decision I’ve ever made. I have to opportunity to live with five of my best friends in a giant apartment style dorm. And while other girls are complaining about their small room, and smaller group of friends, I am enjoying my new friends and space. By best advice is that if you decide to get a suite, try to be the one to coordinate the process, so you can have a say in who you will be living with. Once you’re in a suite, expect fighting, but know that everything will get better, and you’re going to have a blast!