We have all heard the horror stories of what having a random roommate is like. For many, that may be one of their biggest fears about coming to college. Well, don’t stress. I’m here to tell you that they aren’t all bad. Random roommate success stories do exist.
The time finally came around during my senior year of high school when I decided LSU was the place I was meant to be. With that came registering with the school, then registering for orientation and then for a place to live. I applied for the dorm I wanted to live in and my roommate selection was put into the hands of the school. I was assigned a roommate a few weeks later and began to message with her and plan the room we’d be living in together for the next year. This is probably where I’m expected to say that we instantly hit it off and I knew this would be a lasting friendship. Well, surprise, that wasn’t quite the case. Just two weeks before school started, she texted me saying she was no longer going to be able to attend LSU. So, here I am, about to move into college, with no roommate. The two weeks passed and I arrived on move in day to find that I had not been assigned a new roommate and was told I would most likely not get one since the dorm wasn’t full. So, I moved in my stuff and a few days later my parents left. As I saw their car pull away it all sunk in that I was in a new place, on my own, starting a new chapter of my life, which was very bitter sweet, as I’m sure many college students would agree.
So how did I have a roommate success story without a roommate? Well, I’m getting there. After a week at school, just two days before classes started, I was about to get in the shower and there was a knock on my door. I went and opened the door to find a girl, her sister and her mom, who says…
I went from being roommate less to sharing a 22 x 11 room with a stranger in just a few hours. So as far as random roommates go, this is as random as they get. That night we went to dinner with some other people I had met in the hall and then came home and were sitting on the couch watching tv. We were talking and getting to know each other and basically said “okay, well I guess we are friends now”. Little did we know what that would lead to. We had similar tastes in music, similar interests, similar values, and quickly became friends with the two girls across the hall from us. A few short weeks of friendship felt like it had been years. (In a good way!)
I got very lucky that I was paired with someone who I got along with so well so quickly and was similar to in many ways, so it is easy for me to say to make the best of your situation but that truly makes the difference. My roommate and I were thrown into a room together, having never spoken before, but we made the best of it. Whether you know them, like them, love them or hate them, get to know them and embrace your differences just as you would your similarities. Think of living together as less of a chore and more of an adventure. Freshman year of college is one of the biggest years of your life because it is the first time you are on your own. It is the time when you get to decide who you really want to be. You always hear that the friends you make in college will be your friends for life and it is 100% true.
Don’t be afraid to branch out and don’t be afraid to have a random roommate because it may be the best thing that happens to you. Three years later and that girl that knocked on my door just days before school started is still sticking it out as my roommate. Without getting to sappy, I’ll say that my random roommate has become one of my best friends. We’ve been through more late nights studying then I can count, seen every Keeping up with the Kardashians episode that has aired over the past three years, eaten a countless number of meals together, have been to the ER for a “broken ankle” from running on the beach and have had both of our families move. We started out as freshman having no idea what we were doing and are now juniors, who probably still don’t know what we are doing, but are closer than I could have ever imagined.
If you’re worried about a random roommate, don’t be. I can’t guarantee that it will be the best experience of your life and a roommate success story, but I can guarantee that whatever happens is meant to be. It may lead you to your roommate success story, because who said it has to happen freshman year? You will meet your person.
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