The Gamble of Roommates

By Maria Fernanda Pereira Ywazaki on August 9, 2014

This article is brought to you by Uloop’s roommate search service. Need a roommate? Use Uloop’s roommate search to find both male and female college students that are looking to find roommates like yourself.

Image via All My Roads

The fall semester is approaching and a new wave of freshmen and transfer students are going to be walking around campus and moving into their new apartments. There will also be those who decided to move from their previous apartments because of … reasons. This means: New neighbors and new roommates!

When moving to a new place while in college several things have to be considered: location, rent, amenities, furnished or unfurnished, among other things. Something that people sometimes take for granted, though, is roommates.

The apartment complex might be great, the rent feasible, and the location comfortable; nevertheless, you may still have a miserable experience if there are many disputes with your roommates.

Who will you live with? Total strangers, a friend, an acquaintance, male or female Having a pleasant living arrangement with the apartment complex and roommates is a slight gamble. Choosing to live with friends doesn’t mean automatic smooth sailing in the roommate arrangement.

Before some friends and I moved to Tallahassee, we had been discussing who we would live with and who was transferring when so we could arrange something. In some of the conversations we realized that this situation could either make or break our friendships. We all would end up bonding and getting closer, or hating each other to pieces.

The problem is that not everyone is made to live together; some people are more compatible than others in tastes and customs, and some things bother people more than others.

Then there is the fact that some people are of stronger character than others, and some are laid back while others are temperamental. Having two temperamental people living under the same roof would probably not be the best of ideas, especially if it is hard for either, or both, to yield. Next thing you know, you–or two others–are having a screaming match about dirty socks in the living room, and someone finds his/herself looking for a place to stay for a few nights.

On the other hand, living with strangers is also a gamble. Will you get noisy roommates? Messy? Clean-obsessed? Antisocial? Rowdy? Drunk? Junky? Kleptomaniac?

Your next roommate may be a nice person, or absolutely rude, maybe eat your food every once in a while–or constantly. Wake you up in the middle of the night with “nightly activities”; or “borrow” some unspeakables to use and return them to you.

They may leave food rotting in the sink, fridge, or pantry; leave messes in the kitchen; forget the laundry in the washing machine; get mood swings and turn you into the target of that bad mood.

It almost sounds like a horror story, only, all previously mentioned situations were real; they are all a collection of stories I’ve gathered from friends in their experiences with their roommates.

Unfortunately, you can’t predict how things will turn out, hence the reason it is a gamble. However, it is in your power on how you handle things.

If something frustrates you, try not to leave it for the last minute to address the problem; if there is no change, don’t get too worked up about things because the only one suffering is you.

Sometimes compromise can go a long way to maintain peace. Remember that you also have faults that may be bothering someone else. Getting together with your roommates and talking things out as soon as possible could help things move smoothly.

If everything just sounds like too much trouble and you have the money to live on your own, then go ahead and try it. Although, the negative side of living on your own is that apparently it can get pretty lonely. Maybe a pet could help with that, but it depends on each person …

Read through Uloop’s numerous college roommate profiles to meet other students that are looking to share apartments, condos, town homes and even rental homes.

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