Living on campus often means sharing a very small space with a total stranger. What do you do when you find yourself confined to a room with someone you don’t know? The answer isn’t “run home as fast as you can.” Here are a few things that will help make your situation a little less stressful.
Create your own space
In any dorm, each person has their own space. It may not be big, but it’s yours! Make your space a reflection of yourself. That way, even though the entire room may not be your own, you can at least have a spot to go to that you’re able to relax and feel comfortable in. Do make sure you keep your space clean, though—and that you always clean up after yourself no matter which part of the room you’re in.
Be friendlyYou don’t have to become best friends with your dorm-mate, but you should always at least be cordial. From the first interaction, you should smile and ask questions to get to know him. You may find that you have more in common than you thought. And even if you don’t, you’ll at least have a better understanding of who he is, which makes living with someone infinitely easier.
Lay out some ground rules
Spend some time together coming up with a list of do’s and do not’s for the dorm. Organize a chore list. Determine what is communal property and what you don’t want to share. You might not have a problem sharing your frozen waffles, but his toaster cakes may be off-limits. It’s a lot easier to make these decisions on the front end than it is to fight about crossed boundaries later.
Familiarize yourself with his schedule
It’s good to know each others’ schedules so you can best accommodate the other’s needs. If you have 8am classes every morning but your dorm-mate works until midnight each night, you’ll have to make some compromises regarding noise levels at different hours of the day. Knowing his schedule can help in an emergency, as well. In the event someone needs to find him, you may be able to help.
Be respectful
Overall, it’s most important for you and your roommate to respect each other. As long as you have a mutual understanding and can respect each other’s privacy, space, time, and individuality, you should—at the very least—be able to make it through the semester without any major scuffles.
These are the best years of your life and it would be silly to spend them dreading going home every night. Be kind, be thoughtful, and make the most of situation and you may find yourself calling your roommate your friend.