Cold and Compromise: Living with a Roommate

Roommates are tough business. You’re cooped up in a tiny box with one for a full year and let’s face it, you could be the most unobjectionable, peaceful person and you will still want to punch your roommate in the face after a semester of daily interaction. Their stuff will end up on your side and you’ll complain about their mess, but then you’ll do the same thing a week later, one of you will want to stay up late, one of you will want to have friends over really late; there are countless little differences that will come between you and all of a sudden you’ll wonder how you ever thought living with your best friend was a good idea.

My freshman year, the guy I lived with for my first semester was a little nerdy and had an insatiable taste for Perry the Platypus, messy living habits, and an early bedtime. Now there are worse roommates out there. I hear stories of roommates who would steal and break each others’ stuff (mostly girls) because of small arguments about missing hair brushes and jealousy. Still, I had a friend down the hall whose roommate was also friends with my roommate and I proposed a switch. My bestfriend and I have a lot in common. We both love soccer, hanging out with friends, and Family Guy; yet there is still one thing that he and I disagree on: the temperature of the room.

I cannot stand being even a little cold. Temperatures below 50 degrees might as well be sub-arctic since I get the same amount of sleep as if it was -10 degrees. I think I may have a circulation problem in my legs that allows my feet to freeze before any other part of my body. In any case, my roommate sweats in his sleep even if the room is below freezing. This difference has caused many fights since he likes to keep the window on his side of the room open in order to sleep better.

Finally, the other day, we came to an agreement. I would sleep with my socks on if he closed the window during the day, and so far it has been working. I’m still cold in the room during the day because our heater doesn’t work but that is something I’ll need to take up with my RA. For now bundling up in hoodies and sweats will get the job done. Living with a roommate isn’t easy, but it is better when you come into a problem with a mind to compromise and work things out.

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Date Night!

Living in an apartment for the first time has given my apartment-mates and I a chance to start a new tradition. Last year when we had picked our apartment we started brainstorming ways we could bond throughout the semester. One of the first things we all bonded over was Disney. We all have our favorite movies from childhood as well as our favorite ones that are more recent. Because of this, we came up with the idea of Disney Movie Date Night. Various nights throughout the semester would be devoted to certain Disney movies. Along with this, we would eat food that corresponds to the movie. We planned all summer for these and filled the holes in each other’s movie collections. Once we got to campus and tried to find a night all of us were free, we realized just how hard it would be to gather 5 busy people in one room for a night of eating good food and watching great movies.

Earlier this week, we had an impromptu DMDN! One of my friends said he really wanted to watch Hercules. We happened to all be free that night and decided to just go for it and quickly put together the date night. A few of us went out to the market and got a bunch of food. When they got back, we realized it was not Greek food, which is what we had decided to eat while watching Hercules. They had gotten a craving for frozen food. So instead, we did the college kid thing and ate pizza rolls, ham and cheese pinwheels, and pigs-in-a-blanket while we watched Hercules. And, of course, we sang along to all the amazing songs and quoted a lot of the movie. It was a lot of fun and I was completely stuffed by the end of the movie.

It was such a fun time and, even though the food change was last minute, we still managed to have a great time and it was everything we had hoped! It was a truly magical Disney evening. It was a great way to bond with my apartment-mates and some of my other friends. It was also nice to catch up with them since I hadn’t seen them all summer. I always forget how much I truly miss my friends here when I am home for the summer. Being back on campus and around all my friends all the time again is so amazing! I could write a whole blog on just living in North Village…hey, maybe I will. Anyway, next on the list for Disney Movie Date Night is The Little Mermaid and seafood.

“I’m a damsel, I’m in distress, I can handle this. Have a nice day.” – Megera (Hercules)

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