In my two years at UMass Amherst, I was fortunate enough to live with two girls who I absolutely adore and who have become some of my closest friends on campus. One I chose, and the other I was randomly assigned to. UMass excels in pairing roommates based upon your Housing Profile on Spire, where you list, in order of importance, how messy you are, how possessive you are of your belongings, etc. Regardless how much you like your roommate, however, having a roommate in general can have its ups and downs.

When you live with someone, you learn to adjust to sharing your space with a whole new person along with all their stuff. You have to learn to share, be mindful if they’re asleep and you’re not, and how to keep your stuff on your side. This can be hard if you’re not used to sharing your space with anyone, and even harder if you are forced to share your stuff with a stranger. However, you learn quickly how easy it is to do so. For example, my roommate tends to go to bed earlier than I do, so I make sure to be super quiet when she’s sleeping. Likewise, she gets up a lot earlier than I do, and she is equally as mindful. It’s small, yet simple compromises that are necessary when you move in with someone. Living with someone also allows you to learn a bit more about yourself. For example, I never realized how organized I can be until I had to be, as I didn’t want messy tendencies piling up to my roommate's half of the room. My organized(ish) room at school compares nothing to my untidy bedroom at home, which has helped me have a bit more order in my life.

While adjusting to a new living situation can be frustrating at first, especially if you're used to having your own room at home, it’s nice to have someone always there with you, particularly when you’re new to campus. It’s important to have, at minimum, a civil relationship with your roommate so that you’re not living in a hostile environment. Coming home, I know I can tell my roommate all about my day. If I have a problem, she’s there to listen and vice versa, and it’s nice to have that sort of comfort. Leaving my friends from high school was hard for me, but having a roommate gave me an instant friend. On a big campus, and especially as a new student, it’s nice having at least one person to feel close to. And by living with him/her, you’ll probably feel automatically close.

Having a roommate can be stressful at times, and definitely intimidating at first, but once you adjust to the new living situation, it can be really fun!