Like any other person who lives at college, you know as much as I do that roommates and apartment-mates have the ability to make or break your living arrangements.
My first two years away at school were interesting: freshmen year I scrambled to be friends with the people I was living with to be sure I had some sort of friend group so I didn't feel as lonely without my group of friends from home who, I cannot forget to mention, seemingly didn't have a problem making new friends. Although my new friends (my suite-mates) at school weren't exactly who I would've expected to be friends with, they made me feel normal and like I had a place and people I belonged with. We bonded over our never ending love for music and flannel shirts and somehow we liked each other enough to decide to live together during our sophomore year of school.
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Now, here's where it gets interesting: living with a large group of people over the course of a few years can either make or break the friendships. Sometimes it's a hard lesson to learn that, even though two or three people may jive together really well as friends, getting all up in their living situation and being friends at the same time can put a strain on a relationship. Not to mention that everyone lives differently; some people are really clean and others aren't, and some people are okay with dishes in the sink and clothes all over the floor, and some aren't, but here's the catch: you should never feel uncomfortable or unwelcome in your own home.
I learned that lesson the hard way during both my second and third year at school. I learned to live with my actual roommate incredibly well (we jive both as roommates and friends; we're best friends thanks to school), but my other suite-mates and I drifted apart. Whether that was due to our growth and change as people or because our tastes were changing, for whatever reason, sometimes things like that just happen.
Last year was a similar situation. I moved in with a new group of girls, and, although we got along great as friends, it didn't translate well to being roommates - by the end of the year things were tense. And that's okay. The biggest thing that I could ever stress is that it's okay not to be best friends with your roommates - you just have to be able to live together.
As for this year, well this year is only three weeks in; but, I'm living with sweet, thoughtful, and positive girls who make me feel great about myself and they genuinely care about me and each other. And to be honest, that's all I could ever ask for.
I guess I would say that roommates are a game of trial and error. The chemistry has to be right, and you can't be afraid to be who you really are, especially in what you call your own home. I don't regret for a second the decisions I've made with the people I've lived with because I've learned countless priceless lessons which have helped me become who I am today.
