Everyone always talks about the life of collegiate athletes and the difficulties that they endure while pursuing their beloved sport and the heavy course load that college so generously provides. The people that often fly under the radar are those that room with said athletes. Sure I'm not actually the one going to practices twice a day or struggling to balance school and a sport, but the roommates of student athletes definitely desire some credit. Here are just a few of the lovely things I have come to accept since I started living with a student athlete.

1.) I'm basically on the team.

Being that my roommate is also one of my best friends, we basically go everywhere together which means I spend more time with other people on the team than with anyone else.

2.) We wake up together at 5:30 every morning for practice

I can assure that this is not by choice, but it is pretty difficult to ignore the ringing of her phone before the sun even has time to come up. Of course after having repeated this pattern for the past 7 weeks, I am now able to fall back asleep while she's on her way to practice. (This is definitely one of the bonuses of just being the roommate and not the athlete.)

3.) Being woken up each morning to the smell of two cups of Donut Shop coffee brewing in our Keurig

Everyone loves the smell of coffee, right? I do too.. just not at 5:30 when I should be sleeping.

4.) Cleaning the room when I know she's had a rough day between practice and school

I know she's stressing about her upcoming tests and has a lot on her plate with the season now in full swing so the least I can do is sweep the floor and straighten up our room. Everyone loves coming home to a clean room and a bed that's all made up.

5.) I basically have the bathroom all to myself because she showers at the pool

This was just a bonus that I didn't even think about. I never have to worry about her trying to shower at the same time I want to because she does it at the pool after practice.

6.) I don't know much about diving, but I'm slowly learning everything

I've tried playing a good amount of sports, but never have I done diving so everything is new to me. Back in August, I would listen to the divers that I was always with (see number 1) talk about their lists for 3 meter and 1 meter and talk about reverses and pike and inwards and all of these other words that just seemed so foreign to me. Typically when they said things like this I would just nod and act like I had even the faintest idea of what was being said. Now I am proud to say that I understand most of what they say (though the scoring still confuses me) and I don't seem like such a lost puppy when they start rattling off their lists.

7.) Sitting through meets in the hot and humid natatorium

I haven't been waking up at 5:30 every morning for nothing. What kind of roommate would I be if I didn't go to every meet possible and cheer on my friend. With all of the hard work she's been putting in, she deserves to have her fan base there watching.

8.) Running out of storage on my phone because I record all of her dives

Your roommate might be a diver if she and her friends ask you to record their dives for them so they can watch after the meet. With each person having twelve dives a meet, they start to add up.

9.) I'll always know what the weather is like outside

Perhaps the greatest benefit of having a student athlete as my roommate is she goes to practice then comes back to the room right around the time I am waking up. Usually said in a grumpy, I-want-to-go-back-to-sleep voice, she always lets me know what the temperature is like outside so I know if it's raining or need a jacket or anything. She's like a personal Accuweather. How wonderful is that?