Roommate love
You have to love your family, but who ever said you had to love your roommates?
Krista Eames, a freshman majoring in international studies, said her experiences living with roommates so far have been fun and enjoyable. She said she and her roommate actually have their beds pushed together into one huge bed in the room. But even though living with roommates she likes is nice, sometimes it can be awkward, Eames said.
“My boyfriend fell asleep in the bed with us and in the morning I had to get up and go to class, so my roommate woke up along side of my boyfriend,” she said.
Lee Stevens, a senior majoring in parks and recreation, said he had some interesting experiences that involved his roommate too, but they didn’t happen until his roommate was asleep.
“I had one roommate that used to talk German in his sleep,” Stevens said. “I could never understand him, but it was kind of funny because he wasn’t even from Germany.”
Stevens said that despite some of the crazy things his roommates have done, he still likes living with roommates.
Shannon Anderson, a senior majoring in graphic design, said she also loves living with roommates and thinks of her roommates as an extension of her family.
“I love my roommates. We do so many fun things together. Last year we helped one roommate’s boyfriend propose, and this year we have done fun things like have a cocktail party.”
Anderson said she thinks having roommates is important because when people don’t live with their families anymore, they sometimes need a little extra help to get through things.
“Having roommates is wonderful. We buy ice cream for first kisses, and they are always there if you need to talk about relationship issues or school problems,” Anderson said.
Anderson said almost all of her roommates have gotten along great with one another, but this last semester she had her first encounter with a difficult roommate.
“She was just different from all of the other girls in the apartment. She would go to bed really early. One night, when a group of us were playing games in the front room, she told us that if we didn’t calm down and be quiet she was going to send someone home, like she was our mother.”
In freshman Abby Palmer’s apartment, there is a sign over the sink that reads “dishes are like boyfriends, we don’t do each other’s,” but Palmer said that didn’t prevent one of her roommates from getting upset over the dishes.
“She would get mad even when we were picking up things. She got so mad once that someone had put the silverware away but not the rest of the dishes.” Palmer said.
Emily Velyupek, a freshman majoring in public health and international studies, said dishes have been a big problem in her apartment since she moved in.
“When my roommates ran out of dishes, instead of washing some of them, they would just go out and buy more dishes. The night before our cleaning checks, it took them seven straight hours to finish all of the dishes that they had left in the kitchen.”
Velyupek said although the dishes were a problem, the biggest problem was the parties full of drunken people that her roommates would have in her on-campus apartment.
“The boys that would come over were always very drunk. Once they were so drunk that they couldn’t walk up the stairs to our apartment, and my roommate’s drunk friends tied the doors to our apartment at 3 a.m. and then pulled the fire alarm so we would try to get out but be stuck inside.”
Velyupek said some of the problems with her roommates last semester got so bad that one of the girls in the apartment had to move out. This roommate had a problem with all the drunkenness and dirty dishes, so she tried to solve the problem by holding a meeting with all the roommates, Velyupek said.
“They didn’t like that she was upset with them, so they decided to be upset with her. They made life hell for her. The RA was practically forced to remove her from the apartment,” she said.
Horror stories like these don’t have to happen. Web sites like www.roommateclick.com allow potential roommates to post profiles in hopes that they can find their “perfect roommate.” So if the roommate situation was unbearable this year, there is always hope for next year.
-debrajoy@cc.usu.edu