By: Heather

If you, like me, are an upper-classmen in college, or even if you are starting out on your new life after college, you are looking for a place to live and considering if you should live with someone else. I’m here to give you as much advice as I can and help you stack those pro/con lists until you reach your decision, having gone through both of these situations myself. When I first moved away to college, I had to find an apartment because my school didn’t offer student housing. Odd, I know; but it gave me the opportunity to do something I had always dreamed of: decorate my very own first apartment to my specific liking. This is probably the dream of most girls my age, I definitely have a few girlfriends that have shared this love for decoration and I’m sure you do too, and for those that grew up living with siblings, living alone might be your idea of paradise.

Being such a natural homebody, living alone definitely had its setbacks. I was leaving my incredible group of friends, my loving family, and my fluffiest of dogs behind for the open road of possibilities that is college. I both shuddered and reveled at the thought. However, I kept an open mind and set forth on my new journey. My parents and a friend whom I had known previously before leaving helped me move in during orientation week, which was great. For all those that choose to live alone, shit – for anyone choosing to move in general, I recommend the help of at least 3 people – especially if you don’t live on the ground floor, it will make your life a lot less stressful during this transition.

The time came when I was all moved in and ready to start my new life. I said my goodbyes and closed the door to my new place and turned around – I was ALONE. It had only really hit me in that exact moment. From that point forward the majority of my time was going to be spent in this space, my space. However, it wasn’t without its perks. Everything was clean to my liking, the bathroom was always free, and I never woke up to the sound of someone making greasy hangover food at 3 A.M. Those things didn’t change the fact that I was lonely a lot of the time, not to mention I was totally in charge of myself at all times. I had to remind myself to grocery shop, to go to the gym, to put down that fifth piece of pizza, to do my laundry, etc. That feeling was something I had to adjust to and it took a while for me to get a routine going. This brings me to the conclusion of my argument for living alone — make ABSOLUTELY sure that you are equipped to take care of yourself, because you will not have anyone to make sure you do. Lastly: be prepared to be lonely sometimes, it is unavoidable, but time alone with yourself can also be extremely therapeutic and introspective. I’ve learned quite a lot about ‘Me’ by just spending some time alone.

 

For those considering either living with a roommate right out of the gate, or those that are considering making the transition from living alone to moving in with a roommate I have one sentence for you. Ingrain this sentiment in your heads for the rest of your lives: YOU CANNOT BE SELFISH. This does not necessarily apply to those with siblings because you’ve been learning to share since you were kids but even so, living with a roommate will not prove to be any easier. For those like myself that had siblings 10 years older or were an only child,  you will learn the hard way that living with a roommate, most of the time, means you are offering up your belongings and time to another person. Now it might be different for some of you who are either moving in with the opposite sex or with a total stranger, however I broke the cardinal rule of roommates: NEVER move in with a close friend. Of course, like any rule, there are exceptions. For example I know the day Meils and I move in together we will make it work because our personalities compliment each other. We are not too different, we are not too alike.

My roommate and I were way too alike, we both loved to party and stay out til all hours, and in the entirety of our time as roommates I’m sad to say that we never really got into a schedule or routine, both as roommates and as individuals. We were both slightly obsessive compulsive so we got annoyed at each other for the littlest things, like when she rearranged the kitchen without telling me or when I took the last diet coke (I’m still paying for that). Those little annoyances built up over time which resulted in several nasty fights. All-in-all I would say that about 40% of the time we spent together was spent arguing on something apartment related. Readers if there is one thing I know to be true in this life, it is that you CAN get sick of someone after spending too much time with them, and for all roommates there must be a certain unspoken agreement on when it’s appropriate to go to your separate corners and just take a break from one another.

Now at this point I’m sure that I’ve freaked some of you out, but fear not: what your roommate lacks (sometimes) in what you need from them, they will make up for in friendship. I’m here to tell you first hand that some of my favorite college memories are the nights that my friend and I decided to stay in with a couple bottles of wine and make a drinking game for a ridiculous show like COPS: RELOADED or Jersey Shore. The camaraderie that one experiences living with another person is unparalleled in any other sense. Yeah, you have your friends, but those friends don’t see what you look like when you accidentally sleep in your makeup. Those friends don’t bring you coffee in the morning when they know you have a statistics final that you’ve been stressing about. Those friends don’t listen to you cry about a boy all night even though they have work in the morning, those friends don’t get to see every single part of you, not like a roommate does.