When you enter college everything is different. New faces, new classes, new location, new everything. Everyone will give you tips on how to do well with classes, and how to balance your social life. What people don't tell you is what it is going to be like living with a roommate. Some people love it. Personally I do, too. I love my roommate. However, for roommates to get along and work well together, there needs to be rules, compromise and standards. For some, this is an arduous task to follow. For others, its easy and comes naturally. Either way it's usually an unavoidable task so you better get used to it. Now that I am a sophomore, I'm going on my second year of living with a roommate, and I'm still not quite used to it yet, especially because my roommate has changed so there's new rules. However, overall there is always a basic rule book to follow.

One of the things you need to do is respect the other's space. There's a reason there are two desks, two dressers and two beds. Each one of you has their own space in the room for your own stuff. You need to respect the stuff that is not yours. A lot of people do not understand that. I've never had issues like this with my roommates, however, I do know plenty of stories. One of the biggest disrespects I've encountered is taking the other's clothes. Though you may have established some form of sharing system, it always ends up that someone's belongings go missing, or get damaged and it ends in a fight. No matter what you do or what you touch make sure it's okay with your roommate. You never know, they could change their mind! I know for myself that I am not a fan of people touching my stuff, especially when I am not in my room. It gives me anxiety that things are all moved around. I had an incident where someone told me they went in my room and took something, and when I went back in everything was changed and moved around and I actually started crying because something very valuable to me was missing. Though it ended up not being the other's fault, I still was on edge about everything for quite some time.

Another big issue is tidiness. You need to stay (relatively) clean. Though you might not be the neatest, you should start to change that. Just imagine what it's like to be on the other side of that. To walk in a room and see clothes, papers and garbage everywhere is not exactly attractive. And not pleasing at all. This type of behavior does not reflect well on you and will most definitely lead to an argument.

This also leads into sharing the workload. You may be used to your parents cleaning and doing your laundry and taking out your trash but that is not the case with a roommate. You need to do your part in the room and share the responsibility. You are basically a married couple living together and you need to split responsibilities. Maybe one week you clean the bathroom and take out the trash, while your roommate vacuums the floor and dusts the shelves! It's easier when you make a list.

No matter what you do or what you decide, just remember it's all about respect. No matter how you go about your day or what you do on the weekends, whether you are best friends or not. As long are you respect your roommate, you guys will be just fine.