So, I think we can all agree that the most exciting part about entering college is finding out who your roommate will be and what dorm you'll be living in. Unfortunately, not every beginning has a happy ending. During your orientation most likely your tour guides will say "...if you have a problem with your roommate, talk to your RA about it and you can work it out" but what happens when the problem you have with your roommate isn't big enough to take to your RA? You may run into a situation where you and your roommate love each other, get along perfectly, but you just don't quite like that they snore or talk in their sleep, or love to eat seafood in bed and you hate the smell of fish. Maybe you're great friends but at times they talk just a little too much. So, like I said, not every situation can be solved by your RA.
My suggestion to combating roommate issues...communication! If they do something that gets on your nerves a little now...trust me, when you're stressed to the max trying to write a paper due in 2 hours and the smell of seafood makes you snap, you'll wished you found a remedy earlier. So, talk to your roommate when you first move in together. Say to them "Hey we should set some boundaries to start off, lets write them down". This is honestly the best idea. But, also leave room for some alterations. In the beginning if you notice they do something that you don't exactly like either talk to them about it or find a way to escape it. If you know that every day they call their parents at 6 and you cant bear to hear another mushy "i miss you" conversation, go for a walk, go to the gym or even the library.
Don't expect to be best friends right away. If it happens, it happens, if not no big deal. Try to schedule one night a month to stay in the room just the two of you and do something fun...play a board game like Candyland or even Twister or make a collage to hang in the room for you both to enjoy.
Make the best of your experience with your roommate. You could become the two most inseparable people on campus! But, if problems do arise talk them out first...and if they really do get bad, going to your RA is definitely an option.
I'd just like to throw out that even talking to your RA isn't always helpful. They're just going to make you work it out amongst the two of you before trying to get anything done on a higher level...and even then it's unlikely that anything will get accomplished. Residence life does everything possible to not have to swap you out for whatever ungodly reason. Honestly, it can take months to switch roommates, so buckle up.
ReplyDelete