Getting Used To Having A Roommate

You may have never shared a room with someone before, and if you have it may have been a relative. You may already know this, but we’re going to say it anyway- dorm living is completely different. When you’re living in a dorm with a roommate, it requires both of you to act in different ways. Not complete personality change, but both of you do need to be considerate of each other.

Hopefully you have the chance to talk with your roommate before you move in. You probably won’t be able to meet them depending on where each of you live, but we do hope you get to talk to them a little bit and find out what they like, dislike and most importantly to coordinate on who is bringing what.

Talking with your roommate and finding out those basic things is going to be easy- it’s what comes after that may take some getting used to and you will find that these are things that also require talking with your roommate about but you may not have thought of.

Guests:
Talk with your roommate about what to do when you each have guests over. And don’t just spring a guest on your roommate, either! Your roommate may have just had a really stressful and long day of classes and want to take a nap or read/watch TV quietly. If they’ve had a bad day, they don’t want to be surprised by someone they don’t know. Be courteous and give each other a heads up when there will be company. And also introduce your company to your roommate- it will make things less awkward. Who knows- maybe all of you will become close friends.

Morning Routines:
Maybe you listen to music in the morning while you get ready or all of your classes are at night so that you can sleep in. Talk about routines and schedules with your roommate so that each of you know if you need to get ready in the bathroom or listen to music with earbuds in. Be considerate of each other in the morning- one of you may have to be up at 7 A.M. and one of you may not have gotten to bed until 3 A.M.

TV:
This may sound like a weird thing to talk with your roommate about, but if you’re sharing a TV one of you can’t use it all the time. Be considerate of what you’re watching, too. If your roommate doesn’t like horror movies, either watch one while they’re not there or watch it through your tablet or laptop. 

And this goes for everything- just because your roommate is doing something, it doesn’t mean that you have to do it just because you live together. If you need to study and they’re watching TV or going out at night, don’t feel like you have to join in if you don’t really want to.