Most US colleges typically and annoyingly only offer double rooms for students, which means most likely you’ll have to share the room with someone. That’s the fun and not fun part of college.

Rooming together is not always the best scenario. Many people say “Don’t room with your best friend if you don’t want to ruin the relationship” because you two will have to see each other everyday, and inevitably, each other’s bad, or simply incompatible, habits. A quick example is that you go to bed super late after a long day and are super tired, and your roommate wakes up super early the next morning and wake you up at 7 am. Not that fun. Many people are light sleepers and they can be easily waken up; many people have a hard time going back to sleep; many people are NOT chill at all. This is not always to case; I know many best friends rooming together and they are perfect match.

For any case, the key of living harmonically together is of course communication. You two should sit down and spend time coming up with an agreement of living habit, such as the time the head lights go off, the time guests can come and go, the time to clean the room, etc. Learn about each other’s habit so you two can adjust.

Now, conflict is indispensable. If you two have problems, avoid being passive-aggressive. That’s the worst. Tell your roommate what your problem is and what your feelings are. Understand that listening and sharing are necessary to learn each other’s perspective. Many of my friends like to sit down and have “deep talk;” many like to just shout and fight very fiercely and then after that both forget the problems. The key is: say it out.

There is no guarantee that you will have four awesome years with your roommate. Many people switch roommate every year, and many people move out after just a few months living with someone else. It is okay. It’s not easy to live with some random person even though his/her profile seems to match yours. Know that you will learn after each conflict, but also know that it is not abnormal. This is when you can seek out for mental support from your family, friends, professors, counselors, etc.

In short, don’t panic if you have conflicts. It’s not the end of the world. You will learn eventually, and as time passes by, you’ll figure out those who have the same lifestyle as you do, and that should be your place.