Roommates are like lottery tickets: Sometimes you get a winner, and sometimes you are out a couple hundred bucks, depending on your gambling abilities. Not everyone’s a winner, but some are bigger losers than others.
Living with roommates is probably one of the most difficult, awkward and potentially embarrassing experiences of young adult hood. If you are an incoming freshman, you are tossed into a grab-bag pool of “Big Brother” in hopes of surviving the year with minimal incidents with a complete stranger.
If living with a stranger is as weird as bunking with your grandmother, there are tips to navigate sharing a room with someone. Jonathan Polan, a senior music education major, has had plenty of experience with roommates.
“Everyone likes their own personal space so for four people in one living area, there can be tension,” Polan said.
Disagreements are going to arise no matter what you do to avoid them. And no, your roommate wearing your socks won’t be the height of your bickering either.
“ Especially if someone is super organized and the other roommate is not organized,” Polan said. “Sometimes it’s had to be like, ‘hey can you pick that up?’ That causes more tension.”
Getting into an argument, with a friend or stranger can create undo stress. Issues like rent, electricity, and other bills can easily become a catalyst for arguments.
Ted Tangalakis, a junior product design and development major, learned from a bad experience he had with past roommates.
“The problems I had with my last roommates is they were very disrespectful,” Tangalakis said. “They didn’t treat me with respect and acted like they could walk all over me.”
Living on campus does give you great resources with your roommates and the community on campus. Housing can be contacted at 734-487-1300 with any of your concerns. You don’t want to have to draw a chalk line down the middle of the room to declare your part of the dormitory world.
Avoid these situations by coming up with solutions through discussion. Maybe your roommate feels the same way about laundry habits, or rank cooking. There is always a middle ground that can be found.
For those who live off campus, they room with friends or place ads looking to bait the perfect roommate.
Living with a friend seems like the better of the ideas. It’s not hard to think about whom you would rather spend time with – a stranger, or someone you know quite well.
Being friends and living with friends are two completely different things though.
“It didn’t go well living with friends,” Tangalakis said. “At the time, I really wasn’t thinking about it. I just was roaming with someone I knew. We didn’t hang out all the time, but I considered him to be a really good friend. We just had a misunderstanding.”
The friendship might work, but put that friendship into a walled-off space, add school and financial stress, and you have a recipe for World War III.
If you are looking for strangers, Google and Facebook are good places to start when a prospective roommate has been found. Google can help with any messy happenings they have encountered, while friending your roommate before making your decision can reveal how much he or she parties, stays out, works or any other activity they partake in.
Living off campus with a stranger has its ups and downs. If you sign a lease together then you are both legally bound to pay rent, so if he or she, or you, stop paying, or move out before the lease is up, the court can get involved and force payment. This isn’t particularly fun, but is beneficial.
Polan said whenever he hears someone referring to their roommate experiences, it’s usually split as to
whether or not it was a good experience.
“Sometimes you hear people say ‘I hate my roommate’ or people are like I love my roommate, so it’s like 50/50,” Polan said.
If you want to make the best of your roommate situation, communication is key, Polan said.
“I think communication is really big,” he said. “If you have that, it’s going to be a lot easier. If I’m doing something wrong and I don’t know if I’m doing it, you have to talk to me and tell me. I’m not psychic.”
Whether you are at the mercy of the university on who will be sleeping feet from you this coming year, or trying to live off campus with a friend or stranger, always keep the discussion open. You want to know when someone eats your sandwich or wears your underwear.
