When you think of your future college experience while studying abroad, one of the things that either excite or worry you is your college roommate. You may think of a dream roommate. Someone who shares the same interests as you, listens to your favorite music genre, and someone clean with their space. Sadly, that is far from reality.
College roommates can either make or break you. They can either help you out with the transition to campus life or add unnecessary hassle to your living. To have lesser and more accurate assumptions, here are some things to expect in your future roomie:
Your room is a shared space
Living in a room with one or more other persons is way more different than having the luxury of staying in your room alone at home. Unfortunately, you do not have the right to kick your roommates out if you want to indulge in some alone time.
Sometimes, you and your roommate will have different class schedules. They may need to attend class early and you still have ample time to sleep. Noise from preparation to school may disturb your good sleep and can cause you some stress. What you can do is try to sleep early and install a sleep app that will avoid these noises. A sleep mask is also a nice option.
However, if your roommate abuses the space, stays up until early morning, always invites friends over, or makes a loud noise every night, then you may need to talk to him or her about it. Set a schedule or an unwritten agreement that suits you both.
Your room could get messy
Probably the most looked-for trait of a college student is a clean freak roommate. And sadly, clean roommates are a rare phenomenon.
To avoid your room getting messy, you can have a discussion with your roommate at the start of the school year or until your room looks as if it’s turned upside-down. The best way to do this is to split up cleaning responsibilities. In your vacant time, you can sweep the floor while your roomie can mop or vacuum it after.
You can have some conflicts with your roommate
Sometimes, tension can arise between college roommates at some point in the year. Maybe it’s because they are too loud, messy, or have a “what’s mine is yours” mentality.
If you want to avoid conflict with your college roommate , find the opportunity to talk to him about it. Make amends rather than living with it or acting in a passive-aggressive manner. One tip is to start the conversation with them on what you like about living with them or what works well in your living setup, then discuss the big issue.
But if you feel like enough is enough and the conflict is affecting your studies, social life, and well-being, you should consider moving to a new place. Request with your campus that you be moved. However, you will be introduced to a new roommate and you just hope for the best that it is better than the last one.
Sure, living with a roommate is one of the major parts of the whole college experience aside from the academics, campus, and social life. It may not be perfect but who knows, you might be one of the lucky ones to have a good roomie.
Planning to live on or off-campus? MSM Unify provides some articles that will help you decide which one you should take. Check them out.
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