Throughout college a student might experience the terror of
living with a ruthless roommate or the wonders of living with a good one. But
what are the differences between bad roommates and good roommates? A good roommate will have respect for you.
They will know it is both hers and your room and will be able mesh the two different
lifestyles together. Good roommates also learn to familiarize themselves to a
different lifestyle at school. This means keeping their space clean. Furthermore,
being able to compromise and respect what the other person in the room actions.
Another aspect people care about is their food. A good roommate will not eat or
drink anything of the others without permission. To go along with that don’t over
ask. You both are “broke college kids”. Bonding
is the best part of being a good roommate. You just hanging out and watching a
movie with my roommate. Or have dinner with your roommate once a week. Even something small like walking to class
together or going to the gym together can enhance your friendship. On the
other hand, if you have absolutely nothing in common, still try to make it
work. Talk to your roommate. If worse comes to worse talk to your RA for help.
A good tip to remember is you do not have to be best friends with your roommate
to be a good roommate.
What have you experienced or hope to experience at SIUE
dorms. What are good traits to look for in picking a roommate? Has living with
best friends been a privilege or disastrous.
I am not going to lie, at first I didn't like my roomate. I got into fights with him but after a while getting used to things we both got accustomed to both lifestyles. Once we started talking and hanging a bit, go to the gym and work out a bit things got better. People just need patience and make time to make sure things can go smoothly. I kind of thought of changing roomates but felt that was a little extreme since I didn't have any real problems. I think me and my roomate can be friends years to come. In order to find a good roomate one has to find someone that is fun and doesn't take everything too serious.
ReplyDeleteI don't live in the dorms on campus but, if I did I would deffinately want to dorm with someone that I knew or at least somewhat knew. I know that you don't get to much of a choice and some people do get stuck with people with completely different personalities. If that happens I would agree with Eric that you should deff. work on patience and try to be overly kind even when you don't want to because you don't want something worse to happen later. I have heard of horrible stories about people throwing other peoples clothes, distroying items, painting or spitting on peoples things and I just think that is wrong now matter how much you don't get along. You just have to seperate yourself from that person or esle you will become miserable.
ReplyDeleteBefore I fulled enrolled in SIUE I knew I was going to just stay at home and drive to school. I moved in with my mom who lives in Collinsville so it's a pretty short drive. Definitely a great thing considering adding room and board doubles the price nearly at SIUE. Then knowing this, I make me schedule to only have Tuesday Thursday classes to save money on gas. Because I'm there only two days a week, I don't need a meal plan - I think that's almost another $2,000? It just really worked out in my case to stay at home. This was cemented for me during the freshman orientation thing, where you spend a night in the dorm. I knew my room mate from High School, but he came back from being out while I was trying to sleep, and he snored lol I've been hearing some of our freshman class saying that they are starting not to like it anymore - but that it was a nice thing to experience though.
ReplyDeleteWhen I enrolled in SIUE me and my roommate had already planned to dorm together because we were best friends at the time. We got in a huge fight about a month before we were suppose to move in our dorms because she chose a dude over being friends with me so I told her to take her name off my room. The school would not let her get her name off so I was stuck with her and it has been terrible. Her boyfriend also use to be my best friend and they disrespect me and he acts like he owns our room. I told him if he comes back here anymore I would get the cops involved and so I never see either of them. Thanks SIUE for giving me a P.O.S. girl to live with.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Lance, I live only 15 minutes away from campus so it would've been silly of me to have all that extra expense when it's not needed. However, I do feel like I am missing out on what it feels like to actually be at college. I haven't met that many people because I come to class and leave immediately after, I have no reason to stay on campus but that also means no time to actually meet someone. On the other end, I don't feel I could stay in the dorms. I couldn't imagine staying in a room smaller than a hotel and sharing it with someone I don't know. I am too cautious to enter a situation in which I would not have control over the situation. I do think it would be a good experience.
ReplyDeleteThe roommates I have now were cool at first and in many ways are still good people but they are so trifling that it overshadows their personalities. It seems that every time I see them now all I think about is the mess they made and haven’t cleaned up. I was appalled that grown men didn’t know how to clean up after themselves and now I barely talk to them. I just go home sleep then leave. I hope next semester I wont have to deal with dirty roommates.
ReplyDeleteWell, for me since I was born and raised in Edwardsville I never had to live in the dorms. It certainly had its benefits of living at home: free food, my laundry is done for me, and its only a 5 minute drive from SIUE. Nevertheless, it still seems like I missed out on some of the "freshman experience". Whenever you live in the dorms it seems like it is easier for you to meet and become friends with the other freshmen. Not to mention the dorms have their own events, simple things like all the freshmen at the dorms going to play volleyball. But, I have never had to have the terror of having a crappy dormmate. My girlfriend on the other hand has had a crappy roommate who will a. eat her food b. lock her out of her dorm c. turn on the air conditioning in the middle of the night during the winter d. play music while shes trying to sleep... the list goes on. But, in the end for me I wish I had stayed in the dorms my freshmen year because good or bad I think its something that is simply part of the college experience.
ReplyDeleteI have had my fair share of "bad" roommates. Respect is the biggest factor for me. Coming in late every night when I'm sleeping or slamming the door when it is early in the morning. The whole phrase treat others how you want to be treated must have never passed her mind. I got a new roommate at semester and things weren't much better when she talked on the phone until 2 am every night. I confronted her only to hear she "has to" or she can't fall asleep. It's called compromise, why couldn't she go talk somewhere else? Who knows...she said she will try to be quieter...but I was ready to go. I moved upstairs and couldn't be happier I did! My roommate and I are so much alike and get along great! We are best friends now. It just goes to show that there is a roommate out there for you even if you have to go through a few!
ReplyDeleteOverall, my roommate experience has been good. My roommate and I got close from the very beginning, and I really lucked out. The only thing that bothers me is cleaning up after her and my room constantly being a mess. Shes super busy, but its still no excuse to leave the room gross. I try to clean up after myself and put laundry away. She does not. On the other hand, she has always been there for me and is a really good friend. Its interesting how different people's lifestyles can be.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, my best friend moved down to my hall and is now my suitemate (since the beginning of second semester). She had a bad roommate first semester; constantly talking on the phone early in the morning in the room, turning the tv up when she was trying to sleep, and would tell her she could use or do certain things but then would deny it. When she would put a candy bar in her roommate's freezer, she would get told to ask first, even though at the beginning of the year she told her she was welcome to use it whenever. It is funny how picky some girls are. Don't welcome someone to your things and then get mad when they take you up on your offer!
Obviously, mutual respect is necessary for a good experience in the dorms. I would highly suggest getting to know the person before you live with them so that you know there pet peeves, interests, hobbies, etc. Knowing this information is essential to dorm life because things will run a lot smoother.
My roommate experience has been a roller coaster ride to say the least. I cant even count how many times I have had issues with my roommate. I really think that you should really get to know the person you're going to live with before moving in. I made the mistake of living with somebody I thought was cool but it turned out that we are complete opposites and don't agree on anything. I think that you should try to make it work though, talk about the problems and be respectful. I am cordial with my roommate but I cant tell you how excited I am to know I only have 2 weeks left in a room with her.!
ReplyDelete