Once accepted to a university, you get the option of either choosing your roommate (if you know someone who is there already, or a friend who is going to the same school) or the housing staff will assign one to you. Like mentioned before, I didn’t know anyone going to small, “north of ordinary” school, so I ended up with an assigned roommate my freshman year. And let me tell you, I lucked out, because she ended up being my best friend. But not all assigned roommates end up like this.

You have three options when you get placed with an assigned roommate. You’re either going to A) Be really good friends, B) Hate each other, or C) Pretend the other person is nonexistent. It’s hard for resident life staff to perfectly place you with a roommate, so don’t be too hard on them if you get placed with someone you don’t like. All you have to do is explain the situation to them (resident life staff) and they’ll try to find you another roommate.

Check out this link! It’s pictures of what my old dorm room looked like.

http://www.photosnack.com/my-slideshows/details/pup52jju

Mary was a freshman and her roommate Nora, was a sophomore. At first, the two were too shy to really talk and get to know each other. They’d eat with their respective group of friends and hardly hang out with each other. They most they would talk would be at night when they would briefly talk about their day before they said good night.

This went on for the first month or so, until they realized they had a common interest in a TV show. The two roommates started to bond quickly, realizing that they had even more in common than they thought. Before you knew it, the two roommates became best of friends. They had lunch and dinner together with all their friends, had study sessions, went in town, watched movies, and have memories that they will never forget.

Even three years later, Mary and Nora still keep in frequent contact and hang out when possible.

Larry has had an interesting time at university. He’s had six roommates and he’s only finishing his second year! Larry had been paired with “unique” individuals, whom he didn’t quite get along with well. His first roommate was his (former) best friend, Nick. They got along great, but Nick was really, really messy. Second on the list was Henry (aka Pails), who was just a slob. Third on the list was Bryant: he liked to walk around naked. The fourth was really a charm. His name was Jeff, he looked to be in his mid-thirties and balding, and he would wake Larry up by saying “wakey-wakey, eggs and bakey.” The fifth and sixth roommates were really the only decent ones he’s had, which he was very grateful for.

My college has three dorms: two dry (alcohol not allowed) freshmen dorms (for juniors and sophomores as well) and a wet (alcohol allowed) senior dorm. The freshmen dorms separate the girls and guys by floors, but in the senior dorm, both sexes live on the same floor.

I’ve lived in one of the freshmen dorms, and it was the funnest year I’ve had. We all got to know one another really well because the resident assistants (RAs) had floor programs to create community on the floor.

Here’s a few examples of what we did for floor programs:
-Movie Nights.
-Tie-Dye T-Shirts.
-Board Games.
-Pumpkin Carving.
-Decorated Christmas Cookies.

Currently, I live in the senior dorm. It’s not only for seniors, it can be students who are sophomores and juniors as well. (It’s always been called the senior dorm. I’m not sure why, though!). My dorm has its ups and downs. The majority of my friends live over here and it has more people, so I’ve gotten to make new friends. The downside is also people. People can be loud, annoying, ignorant and childish, especially on Thirsty Thursday.

For those who are not aware of Thirsty Thursday, this is the evening where roughly half the students decide it’s the best day to get completely, belligerently drunk and act like an imbecile

Jacob, Alex, Mike, Bryson and a few others decided it would be a good idea to shot-gun (meaning to cut a hole in a beer can, open the tab and drink the entire thing from the cut hole as fast as you can) beer. Before you knew it, they were drunk.

Then they boys and a few others went for a walk outside, and for some unknown reason, dug up a small tree and brought it inside the dorm for “decoration.” Aside from getting dirt everywhere, and breaking things in their room, they woke up the RA on their floor. All of the friends ended up getting written-up.

Each dorm has two RAs per floor. They’re basically like a dorm cop and can write you up (kind of like getting a ticket). Once you get three write-ups, you get kicked out of the dorms. They will help you with any situation you have. If your neighbors are blasting their rap music at 1 a.m., you’ve already told them to turn it down and they didn’t listen, just go see the RAs on your floor and they will take care of it.

This is an important note because there are countless others who live on your floor and share the same shower as you. Forgetting to wear them and realizing at the last moment happens to all of us at first. It takes some time to get used to it. Fighting for a shower is also fun, too, because there’s always one shower you like more than others. Maybe it’s got a better shower head or has more water pressure. Whatever the reason is, you’re going to stick with it, and always wanting that shower is a challenge.

Another essential you should bring with you in to the shower would be a shower caddy to hold all your shampoos, body wash, razor, etc. It just makes life easier!

Sarah went to take a shower one day, and someone was in the other one. The other person’s shower has a really loud shower head because of the intense water pressure and you can’t really hear anything around you. Sarah is assuming the person didn’t realize that Sarah was there in the other shower, because the shower Sarah was in doesn’t make that much noise.

Sarah was washing herself when she heard the person start to sing…in Chinese. It’s funny to hear people sing in the shower, but to hear someone sing in Chinese was unbelievable! Sarah couldn’t help but chuckle to herself.

Whether it will be about you walking back to your room after a shower in just a towel and you realize your door is locked and you have to go see your opposite sex RA in a towel. That’s a classic!

To Drink? Or Not to Drink?

Peer pressure, because it’s “cool,” and “it’s fun” are reasons people do drugs, drink alcohol and have sex. I’m not a preacher, but universities do have certain regulations that students have to follow. As mentioned earlier, I’m from Canada, and the legal drinking age at home is 19, and 18 in Quebec. I’m legal to drink at home, but since I currently live in the United States, the legal drinking age is 21. Does that stop students? No.

Universities have zero-tolerance for underage drinking on campus. And trust me, they take it seriously. If you’re not 21, the RA shouldn’t see you staggering around drunk in the hallway on “Thirsty Thursday” and reeking of Bud Lite.