Moving away for college initiates some of the biggest changes you will ever experience that are equally exciting and frustrating. As you are forced to begin making important life choices, you simultaneously start to figure out what values and morals you allow to guide your decision making. Additionally, living by yourself for the first time prompts you to determine certain likes and dislikes in terms of your living style. It is imperative that you give yourself ample time via trial and error to straighten out preferences and grasp an understanding of what works well for you versus what does not in order to plan accordingly for the future.
In preparation for college, I felt that there was a major emphasis on figuring out a living situation in a very short amount of time. How could a first-time college student definitively know where they wanted to live without knowing all of the details about all of the housing options? If picking a building did not already seem overwhelming enough, then "choosing" a roommate would fill the role of being the last, but incredibly crucial detail, that could bring about lots of worries.
The question of living with a friend versus living with a stranger is the first place to start. That is a pretty easy decision to make based on if you already know anyone that is attending the same college. However, the next step is not quite as simple. Knowing that you are going to be assigned a roommate blindly is nerve-wracking. Even though there are questionnaires and living surveys that have been filled out in attempt to match you up with a potential roommate that has similar interests, you can still never be totally certain how things are going to end up. Getting accustomed to living in a small dorm room is already going to be a new challenge, add in learning how to share that small space with another human being is going to bring additional levels of challenges.
Sometimes, meeting your roommate for the first time on actual move-in day works out and the two of you become best friends; other times, things never seem to click. And that is okay, too. If you feel that moving out is the best solution for your personal comfort and preference in living space, then go for it. Furthermore, if you feel that you cannot share a small space with another person, then go ahead and switch rooms. There is no rule stating that in order to live the "true college experience" you must have a roommate. In fact, everyone defines their own college experience for themselves; there is no rule book that states how you should make decisions in college (or during any point of your life) as long as you feel comfortable and confident in making a certain choice.
During my freshman year of college, I lived in three different dorm rooms. I moved from a double with a randomly assigned roommate to a different double with a girl that I also did not know. I made the switch a few weeks after classes started because I realized that I did not share the same values with my original roommate. Eventually, at the beginning of the second semester, I was able to switch to a single room so I did not have to share a bedroom with another person. Nothing dramatic occurred that made me feel like I had to move; rather, I had determined my personal preference to have a space to myself, and I am thankful that I had the opportunity to switch to a single room.
I learned a valuable lesson from living in three different dorm rooms in a single academic year. If your current situation isn't making you happy, and you have the ability to change it, then change it! Initially, I was nervous to make the first switch between my double rooms. But then I realized that I did not owe anybody (current roommate, friends, family members) a detailed explanation as to why I was making this switch. Additionally, I was even more worried about switching from my second double to the single; what would people say about me now that I was living in my third room this year? Would people think that I am antisocial merely because I would prefer to live by myself rather than share a space with a stranger?
After changing my environment so I would be more comfortable, I now understand that you cannot allow the potential judgments of other people to interfere with your lifestyle choices. Coming to this conclusion has been both an eye-opening and inspiring experience for it is an applicable mindset to have when evaluating all aspects of life to make decisions. Consequently, until you experience something firsthand, you won't exactly know if that situation is best suited for you or if there is an alternative opportunity to try instead. While living in three different rooms and moving randomly (twice!) once the school year was in full-swing was definitely not the easiest or ideal situation, nor is it typically done, but I gained self-confidence, in terms of making decisions, as well as learning how I integrate my value preferences into my daily life.
