To live alone or live with friends? It’s an ever-present question for many, especially those making their way through the maze we call college. Life in “University Land” can be great. No bedtime, no curfew, no real rules and no parents telling you what to do, but if you chose to live with a roommate or two, or ten, be ready for more drama than you ever imagined. (Drama: An emotional roller coaster; one that every college student encounters and proceeds to talk about with anyone who will listen. Telling such stories usually leads to more drama.)
Girls are notorious for their spats, their “he was my boyfriend first, how could you” tantrums, and their ability to share every article of clothing they own and still remember who has what.
Guys will encounter drama too, and not just with the girls. Deciding who will clean what, cook what, and pay for what are huge issues you will have to face head-on; and undoubtedly, each man will think he can get out of cleaning and eat everything in the house without paying for any of it. This is where the drama begins. (See definition of drama above.)
Some people find they like living in the dorms. (I.e. small, usually smelly, cinderblock rooms where students are forced to live, usually with people who have lots of drama.) Others opt for an apartment or a room in a sorority or fraternity house. The latter two often come with lots of drama.
During my senior year of high school, I decided to attend the same university as two of my friends. Tami and I agreed we would room together while Melissa decided to take her chances and live in a room with three girls she had never met. At the last minute, though, I changed my mind. “How could I room with Tami?” I thought. She’s a sweet girl, but she’s not very focused and she likes to go out and follow the crowd. I, on the other hand, was very determined and had a scholastic scholarship, so my classes and grades had to remain top priority.
So I told Tami I was going to live in one of the honors dorms. (i.e. – rooms for brainiacs, nerds and geeks.) Now, like Melissa, I was taking my chances living with girls I had never met.
The day I met my roomies is one I’ll never forget. I arrived first and began setting up my space. Soon, a pasty girl with blond wavy hair and glasses walked in, followed by a tall, Amazon-like Brunette. Since we were in the honors dorms, we had two bedrooms connected by a small living space and an even tinier cell we called the bathroom. The pasty blond and I were already unpacking in one room, so the Amazon-like Brunette decided to stake claim in the other, smaller room.
I thought “Blondie” and I would get along just fine, and we did, but we didn’t realize until later that our dorm was overbooked and we would have to cram five girls into our tiny space.
Girl number four came in the form of a pudgy know-it-all who set up shop in the room with the Amazon-like Brunette, while the petite runner with dark brown curls bunked with us.
It really is amazing how five girls with completely different backgrounds and personalities can find themselves living together, and how quickly the drama begins.
Contrary to her “I’m a good Catholic girl” statements when we first met, the Amazon-like Brunette quickly found her inner wild child and followed it to every frat party in town. This in turn, brought much drama to our room, most of which stemmed from the Brunette’s “friends” we found the next morning sleeping in boxers on our couch. (“Friends”: strangers you meet at a party and bring home.)
The petite runner, we soon found out, was actually a manic-depressive who ate very little and ran far too much. Her drama was self-contained, but it resided in my room until semester break when she moved to another school.
The pudgy know-it-all moved to a room down the hall just a few weeks after the semester began. I guess the Brunette’s “friends” crashing on our couch and sometimes in her bed did the trick.
Surprisingly, “Blondie” and I had very little drama. We got along and took many of the same classes because we had the same major. She was not like Tami and Melissa who both found life-long friends in their new roomies.
You probably assumed that I thought myself to be the least dramatic in our room, seeing as this is my story, but I was dating someone long-distance. Thus, more drama. It’s tough to hang onto the past and move forward at the same time, but I think I did a pretty good job of it.
When all was said and done, “Blondie”, the pudgy know-it-all and I remained friends; the Brunette left school and ended up only God knows where and the petite runner moved to an artsy school in Chicago. Tami acted exactly as I thought she would, following the crowd and her new friends. She left school and is now trying to finish her degree at another university. Melissa and I stayed good friends and actually lived together our last semester at school. We remain close today. And that guy I was dating became my husband a few years later. (Husband: Man you love and vow to spend your life with. Caution – Be ready for new drama!)
