Saturday, December 11, 2010

Always go with your gut

That’s the advice you’re always given, right? Do you always take it? I try to, but when my parents argue the other side, I take heed to them more than my gut. When I first decided to come to Framingham State, I wanted to apply to live in a single dorm room, rather than be randomly assigned a roommate in a randomly assigned building. Being an only child, I have never had to share a room with anyone and wanted to keep that tradition alive. My parents, on the other hand, were concerned I’d never make friends and wouldn’t come out of my shell. So, I did as they instructed and put the single room out of my mind. I was assigned a room and roommate and, I’ll admit, I had a great experience my freshman year. While all the friends I began to make hated their random roommates, I loved mine. We got along wonderfully and there were never any issues between us. It was all downhill after that.

Sophomore year, I decided to room with a friend I had made the year before. This turned out to be the biggest mistake I could have ever made. Simply put, she was what you might call the “nightmare roommate.” She showered once a week at best and seemed to be a vampire because she never put the shade up on the window. How I survived that year, I will never know. As soon as that year was over, I knew I had to room with someone else. And I did. She was a great person, but just an OK roommate. I hated leaving my room on the weekends for fear of coming back to find my belongings messed with, which did happen – including finding crumbs in my bed, not on, but in my bed.

Then senior year came along and I went with my gut, like I wish I had from the beginning. While I did make friends during the three years I lived with roommates, I would have met those I’m closest to now regardless of where I was living. The people I consider my best friends have been in my classes or on the newspaper with me, so my parents were wrong. I came out of my shell and made friends all on my own, like I knew I would from the beginning. I wish I had gone with my gut from the start because living on my own in a single is what’s best for me. Moral of the story: go with your gut, not anyone else’s – it might be the best thing you’ve ever done for yourself.

1 comment:

  1. I have to agree about the single room choice. I've had my share of bad roommates and that is what ultimately lead me to choose a single for my fourth and final year, and I have to say it's probably the best decision I've made in college so far. If you've never lived with someone before, college can be a rude awakening. I think people automatically associate single's with antisocial behavior and depression. Really, we all just prefer our own space and more freedom.

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