<p>so I just learned that I snored…I had no idea! would that be on the NO list for topics?</p>
<p>The one roommate that responded to my email didn’t say much. He told where he is from and gave me his cell phone number. Also told me to hit him up on facebook, but I don’t have a facebook, myspace, or any of that crap. I’m still waiting to hear from the other 2.</p>
<p>On a side note, what do you do if you really do sleep with a night light. Its not for me, but I think my brother does. ;-D</p>
<p>On a side note, what do you do if you really do sleep with a night light. Its not for me, but I think my brother does. ;-D
<em>1. Learn to sleep without it before college starts</em>. 2. Get something that functions as a night light, but isn’t screaming “I’m a night light” (kinda like a lava lamp, i guess) 3. Leave the window curtains open so natural light comes in</p>
<p>Things to avoid:</p>
<p>“I’m really into beer pong. I have 7 tournaments scheduled for this first week! See, here are the tubs for the puke. They’re pretty big so we won’t have to empty them for about four or five tournaments.”</p>
<p>Erm, anywho. I won’t know who my roomate/s are until the beginning of August. I think the best way to go about it is to chat a little and get to know each other and then later get to the room preferences. I’d sort of like to have most of it settled before the problems pop up.</p>
<p>Hopefully our housing forms will do their jobs- we’re asked how clean we are, when we go to bed/wake up, our pet peeves, if we’re okay with guests… All that stuff should basically work out unless someone wasn’t truthful on the form.</p>
<p>My sense from having worked in a college is that students today are looking for more perfection in their rooming situation than we did back in my era, 30+ years ago. In the old days, it seemed like there was a prevailing,“You get what you get” attitude, and most roommates who were paired as freshmen stuck it out together until the end of the year, even if they weren’t deliriously happy. And, sometimes, the sticking it out proved to draw dissimilar roomies together, even if not right away.</p>
<p>Admittedly, I think that students today may have a tougher time getting along with roommates for many reasons. One of the big ones is that college communities in my era tended to be more homogeneous than they are now. Sharing a room can often be easier if one’s roommate comes from a similar socioeconomic background with similar values, experiences, etc.</p>
<p>So, even though I feel that college students today don’t always give their rooming situation the time and consideration it requires before begging to jump ship, I also appreciate the fact that getting along with a roommate now can present more obstacles than it may have in my day.</p>
<p>I had a roommate at a program I went to and we were completely different people- she was more preppy, into music and acting, and the closest I got to any of her interests was being stage manager. 
Although we probably wouldn’t have been good friends under normal circumstances, living together for five weeks can definitely improve roommate relations. We were good roommates- both pretty considerate of the other, we planned when we would get up, and I was a bit more disorganized but I kept it to my desk and drawers so it wasn’t a big deal at all. No major fights, and although we weren’t best buddies, it was still fun. I’d be happy if I ended up with something similar in college- it’s definitely easy to expect perfection (having a perfect roommate is just part of the hype of having the perfect college experience), but I’m going to do my best to have realistic expectations.</p>
<p>another big thing to remember is that being good roommates DOES NOT EQUAL being good friends. More often than not, they coincide, but I know/have experienced people who are really good roommates but pretty much don’t hang out/interact with each other other than in the room. I also have some very good friends with whom I know that if we shared a room, we would have murdered each other by the end of the year.</p>
<p>Agreed. Sometimes the best roommates are considerate people who go their own ways outside of the room. It can indeed be a burden to live with a close friend, if one member of the duo wants to make plans with other friends that don’t include the roommate. It really depends on the individuals involved. Some are fine with that while others can apply pressure–however subtle–to always be included.</p>
<p>I wouldnt consider changing roommates unless they were stealing or going through my things or fornicating in my bed or something gross like that. I think thats what the roommate experience is all about: learning to deal with people up close…unless they do illegal or gross things hahah</p>
<p>It can indeed be a burden to live with a close friend, if one member of the duo wants to make plans with other friends that don’t include the roommate. </p>
<p>^^^ That happened to me A LOT after I roomed with a good friend my second semester… and with a mutual friend of ours. They’d literally come over to our dorm, make it obvious they were going somewhere, and not invite me. This went on for MONTHS until my roommate and I started hanging out again after spring break-- to the exclusion of the other friend. Yeah, not pretty. It wasn’t the best semester I’ve had… and I’ve since transferred. She and most people don’t know this definitely made a contribution to my decision to transfer but it really does affect you in a lot of ways.</p>
<p>Anyway, I sent my roommate an email like a week ago and have since gotten no reply. I’m terrified that I scared her off because I talked A LOT in my first email-- I’m insanely chatty in emails and in real life, and it was seriously super duper long. And now I’m afraid she didn’t want to reply or something 
My friend was like, “Maybe she is on vacation,” but idk. I’m kind of freaked out and wondering when the next time I should try and email her should be to check up on what’s going on.</p>
<p>And I asked her to please not to talk on the phone while I was sleeping-- in all caps. The roommate who was my friend would do this ALL the time and I gave an explanation as to why I requested she not do that and that was literally all the preferences I offered. (I’m a really laid back roommate-- idc when boys sleep over as long as you’re not sleeping together while I’m in the room and you give me a heads up the day before, I don’t care if people come in, sleep early, whatever, I can sleep through anything, etc.) I feel now I maybe shouldn’t have done that in such a manner.</p>
<p>But that was pretty much it and my friends back home are like, “Well, don’t try and act differently than who you are,” so yeah And I kept apologizing for it being so long since I know it’s kind of obnoxious but I personally love getting long emails since I well, I like to read fun things like that and it shows that a person really had to sit down and write it to not write some quick ditty. idk.</p>
<p>I think I am freaking out too much, though.</p>
<p>(See what I mean by chatty? XD)</p>
<p>My advice do it all in person. Friend the person on Facebook, be like whats up hows your summer going and save the rest for when you see him/her. The person may be cool, may be a dork or whatever and you can only really find out after hanging with them for a little. It is never a good idea to do stuff like the above poster in an email, if that was to me I would be like O **** my roommate is neurotic (no offense.)</p>
<p>Haha, I’m another one for oddly long wall posts/emails, etc. I love reading long emails, but I’m going to do my very very very best to cut down on them.</p>
<p>On the bright side, no matter how much I love them, sometimes when I get one it takes me an uber long time to write back. I’m super super busy and I check my email like once every week and then it might take me another week to come up with a worthy response. I do feel a little pressure to reply to long emails with another long email, but it’s a good kind of pressure.</p>
<p>Joycelene–my roommate also took a long time to respond. She was actually unable to access the school email. Then she didn’t have time because of her job and trying to get ready for the big move. A lot of people are going on vacation around this time, so give her some more time. If she doesn’t respond, then you’ll just have to deal with that in person. I think that your statement in caps was a little scary. I’d wait until after the first email to discuss things like that. You’d hate to scare her off. Maybe if you say that that was what caused you and your ex-roommate to not get along, she’d not be as freaked out. Did you include your phone number? If not, wait a few more days and send one that simply says “Oh hey, I forgot to give you my phone number. Here it is xxx-xxx-xxxx. Hope to hear back from you soon!” Anyways, good luck!</p>
<p>I have a question: I want to let my roommate know that I don’t want her to do/have anything illegal in our room that could get us in trouble. My mom says that she would be offended if I said that because I’m pretty much calling her a bad person. Isn’t that just something that you need to say regardless of if the person does that stuff? Should I just say “you know I was really scared that I’d end up with some druggie roommate that drinks 24/7 and sleeps around. I’m glad that you don’t seem that way.”? What should I say? Should I even bring it up?</p>
<p>I was never too worried about who I’d get as a roomie…I figure I can make it work out. Most of the girls I’ve met so far at the college I’m going to I feel I can get along with.</p>
<p>My roomie and I can’t share shoes…she’s asian and I’m not, haha. But I’m excited. She’s into asian dramas, so we’re going to have a day of the week to have a night in and watch asian dramas. We’re even going to try and film our own drama while in college, just for fun. She’s also very nice and jolly.</p>
<p>OkGirl, I’d just bring it up if there’s a problem? Do you know that your future roomie will be into illegal activities? I say confront her only when there’s trouble.</p>
<p>I think one problem is that some people set themselves up for disappointment by expecting them to be best friends with their roommate.</p>
<p>I think you need to be casual about it and respect her choices. Just say “hey, i don’t mind if you choose to drink or smoke or whatever, all i ask is that you not do it in our dorm room.”</p>
<p>You want to be as casual as possible with first room mate meetings like this, but also express your wishes with a certain firmness. In the above statement, you’re coming across as laid back and nonchalant while still expressing a definite wish.</p>
<p>OKgirl-I would wait and do that in person, then just ask her to establish some ground rules with you and bring it up.</p>
<p>^I do plan on doing it in person. I’m picking her up from the airport and it’s a pretty long drive to school. I figure that we can get to know each other and if she says that she’s into partying, then I’ll bring it up. I have a feeling that she isn’t really into that type of stuff, but who knows. I’m trying to not get into the rules too soon. I’m pretty laid back about that stuff, but I don’t want to have to deal with the “oh you never told me that you didn’t want me to…”.</p>
<p>here’s what i wrote basically:</p>
<p>I got the letter in the mail saying that we’ll be roommates this fall, and wanted to send a quick message. I’m from xxxxxxxxxx, which is about 20-30 minutes away from Wooster. I’m planning to major in Music Education, but I’m definitely not a band geek! I can be pretty quiet at first, but once I get to know people and get comfortable being around them I’m fun. I’m not too girly but definitely have my days. I listen to a bunch of different kinds of music, and I’m not hard to get along with. I have family that live in xxxxxxxxx, which isn’t too far from where you live. I’d love to hear from you sometime. Here’s my cell number if you want to call or text me: xxx-xxx-xxxx . Talk to you soon!</p>
<p>so, going to keep my fingers crossed that she’s nice.</p>
<p>That sounds like the perfect roommate intro letter to me. It’s revealing but not too much so and definitely friendly and welcoming. If I got a note like that from a new roomie-to-be, I’d heave a big sigh of relief and tell my friends, “She sounds really nice … and normal.”</p>
<p>ohmygosh i want to find out my roommateeeeee.
:(</p>