I am sure that as college students, many of us have dealt with the “random roommate.” We are bound to encounter the random roommate at some point, at school or maybe while traveling. However, what some of you may have not experienced is a random (and I mean RANDOM as in zero connection) male roommate. Not only did I have no idea who this guy was, but it was just the two of us living in an apartment together for the entire summer, with the exception of our “ghost” roommate who appeared for a total of 2.5 weeks over the course of the summer. At first, I was skeptical, as any girl should be in this situation. But, I have to admit, it was not all bad…
To give some context, I was doing an internship over the summer which meant I needed to stay in Los Angeles instead of going home. The problem was, I had nowhere to live and all my friends were only coming for the second half of the summer (that C sesh life) which meant I had no one to live with either. So, I did what any college student would do and I hit up my GroupMe and Facebook pages in search of a summer sublet. I quickly found one near work and campus within a reasonable price. However, being the first to snatch a room from this apartment, I had little knowledge of who my roommate would be other than the “2.5 weeks in total” girl who spent more time climbing mountains in Peru than on our couch. It was only three days before moving in that I discovered who the person, or who HE, would be.
When I found out that my summer roommate would be a guy, I was skeptical but also curious. I grew up with two brothers and many of my closest friends here are guys. But, to live with a random one was something I would have never imagined experiencing. To say the least, I was open to it. He moved in a day after me and it was not until that point that I even knew what he looked like. He towered above me at 6’5 and had a massive smile on his face. My eyes were immediately drawn to his blue backpack. He was an athlete. We did the standard greetings and exchanges. He was on the track team, but just graduated so he was leaving Los Angeles at the end of the summer. Neither of us were home a lot so it took some time to get to know each other. I honestly do not even think we sat on the couch at the same time until 3 weeks into living together. However, a breakthrough in our relationship finally happened the second he decided to watch the final season of Orange is the New Black with me. Fun fact, binging a show together is the easiest way to grow close to a person. After that, it was all uphill.
He told me about what it’s like being an athlete on campus, from the time commitments to the many perks. Having a group of guy athletes in my apartment became a regular occurrence which was pretty cool TBH. We talked about video games and he brought out the person in me that I always was with my brothers. He also gave me honest advice about guys from a male perspective which was interesting to say the least. It was also nice to have someone to reach high shelves, open hard-to-open lids and carry my bags up the many stairs because I was scared of my apartment’s elevator. On top of it all, it was nice having a guy to watch my back. So many times it has been a guy who has hurt me, pushed me in a corner, or made me feel smaller than I am. But, in this case, it was a guy who had my back and it was a guy who listened to me not because he had any specific romantic obligation to me, but because he genuinely wanted to. Living with a guy made me open up more to the good guys in my life, the kind of guys who support me. It is easy to become jaded and to put your guard up when it comes to men. What is hard is knowing when to open up to them. I cannot say for certain that I’ll be friends with my summer roommate forever. In fact, I know I will probably never see him again since he left Los Angeles. But, I know that knowing him and living across a very narrow hall from him for one summer has definitely changed me for the better.