Now that I am no longer living in Apartment 422 with the gang, I can feel at ease sharing what I learned without fear of ridicule or ice buckets in my shower. If you have ever watched "New Girl," "Pitch Perfect" or "F.R.I.E.N.D.S" and thought "There is no way living with roommates is that weird", then you would be surprised. I wish someone would have told me that I would be giving up all privacy rights and every ounce of sanity I had. But I'm here to tell you that I had the time of my live in Apt.422 and it's time I share some tips for anyone looking to share a place with a group of weirdos next semester.
First, no shower is ever private.
If you're sharing a room with someone else (especially a girl), then be prepared for her waltz in to grab a hairbrush, brush her teeth, or just chat while you are in the shower. It happens. There is no reason to even lock the door because you now have to be courteous of both parties in the room. Some may say,"Well, isn't courtesy privacy?" The answer is: no. Courtesy is open access to a bathroom, anytime. Roommate rules.
Whose bed is it, anyway?
Sure, when we moved in we had our "sides" of the rooms picked out and our bed was personalized with monogrammed pillows claiming our territory. But after a few weeks, my roommate's bed was my bed and vice versa. Camping out in the living room with mattresses on the floor was a regular event and after a while, wherever you fell asleep was your new bed. Sometimes forts were made to change things up a bit. Bottom line is: sharing is caring and caring is camping out with your roommates and binge watching Freaks and Geeks on Netflix.
You will find new pet peeves you never knew you had.
It'll start with small things such as, your roommate leaving the door to your room open every time
she leaves. Or maybe not cleaning up as often as you'd like or bringing new pets into the house, unannounced. But those things will add up and you will find yourself wanting to rip your hair out because this will be the millionth time you've asked your roommate to stop cooking eggs in the microwave because it stinks! You will learn what you like and don't like in a house and hopefully you will carry those things with you for when you start a family.
Pranks are an everyday, yet surprising thing.
I cannot count the amount of times I got an ice bucket shower, or I walked into tape across my doorway. Those little pranks might have annoyed me at the time, but they kept me on my toes. There was a specific time when we all slept in the living room and my roommate woke up with exact replicas of my other roommate's tattoos all over her body with Sharpie. The following nights, the Sharpie Bandit swept through the apartment like the plague. Not knowing who the culprit was, we spent a month accusing each other until it died down. To this day we have no idea who did it.
If your roommates are anything like mine, your life will become a musical, loosely based on television series.
Yes, that is highly specific, but it can happen.
Your interior design will be something like an 90's sit com, considering most of your furniture was donated (or found beside the dumpster)
Most college kids can't afford new furniture and if your situation was like mine, you had to take the odds and ends nobody around you wanted. We had our couch donated, our side tables were large spools we found by a dumpster, and our dressers were from Goodwill. No shame. Sure, it looked a little funny, but throw a painted mural on the wall and we called it "modern art".
Lastly, you will learn that the years of roommate living, while filled with ups and downs, will be the best years of your life.
All of my funny stories and hysterical memories come from my years with my roommates. Yes, there were times I wanted to kick them all out, then I remembered I needed them to split rent. Yes, there were times they wanted to kick me out, but then they remembered we needed to split rent! It might have taken six months of living without them to appreciate my roommates, but I finally have.
So thank you Apt 422 for the best of times and the worst of times. May your Ramen be spicy and and may Arby's always take your expired coupons.
