My Freshman Year Roommate

Posted by
Naomi Rockler-Gladen
Mar 19, 2007

Hey, freshmen, are you having problems with your roommate? Graduating high school seniors: does the idea of sharing a small dorm room with a complete stranger make you nervous? Here's a few articles about college dormitory life that hopefully will help you out:

The freshman year roommate experience is a difficult experience for most college students. Let me tell you about my freshman roommate, who I'll call C.

C. and I were as mismatched as you can get. We were kind of like cardboard cutout teen movie stereotypes. I was a shy brainiac who desperately needed to come out of my shell. C. was a party animal who drank every weekend and slept past noon whenever possible. We were horrified by each other. She made fun of the nerdy map I hung on the wall for decoration, and I thought her pinup guy poster was juvenile. I thought C. was a snob and she thought I was a weirdo. One day during midterms, my buddy Aaron and I put a boombox in the lounge and let off steam by dancing to Paula Abdul. (Yes, folks, back in the 1980s, Paula really did used to sing.) I looked up and saw C. standing there with her snobby friend down the hall, observing with horror my public display of personality.

Things improved between me and C. because we both changed. I developed a close group of friends second semester and found myself out as often as she was. C. buckled down in her classes, and I think she wound up on the Dean's List.

In retrospect, it's a shame we didn't communicate better, because I could have helped her study and she could have helped me come out of my shell. I wish I could have met C. under different circumstances, because she was a neat person. She had this awesome North Jersey accent and an attitude to match, and had a wardrobe full of enormous sweatpants and sweatshirts in every color. She wanted to be an elementary school teacher.

So C., if you're reading this, best of luck to you, girl! And I still have a map in my office, so pfffflt!

Anyway, I hope that your freshman year roommate experiences are better. Remember to communicate with each other. Chances are, the random person you've been placed with in your room isn't someone you'd normally hang out with, so be patient with each other's differences.