Finding the perfect roommate crucial to college experience

You’ve just walked into your new room where you’ll be living for the next nine months, and there in the corner is a new face. As you both begin to exchange courtesies, there’s only one question on your mind — are they a friend or a foe?

Meeting your first college roommate — or roommates — for the first time is a monumentous moment in your college career. Chances are you haven’t met this person before, so making a good first impression and putting forth the effort to establish a connection with him or her is important.

The first year of college is full of firsts: classes, college parties, feeling true homesickness — you’ll experience it all plus more, and rest assured most of you will experience all this alongside your roommate.

With more than 7,000 students spread across campus it doesn’t take much to feel helplessly alone, but your roommate is the one person you can usually count on to fill the void of loneliness.

They’ll be the person during the first few weeks of class you can count on to grab a bite to eat with, the person you rant to at night about how ridiculous lecture was that day, the person you walk around with from house to house gauging the party scene and the person you may ultimately forge a life-long friendship with.

Of course, some people are just not compatible to live together. When I first moved into North Complex two years ago, I was one of the lucky ones. My roommate became one of my best friends. And while I wish I could tell you this is how your roommate experience will pan out, nothing is for certain.

If you were to ask me if I ever envisioned one of my roommates urinating all over my personal belongings, I would have called you crazy, but unfortunately for me, it happened.

Offering you the best advice I can, if after two weeks or so upon moving in you still can’t figure out how you’ll manage to live with your roommate, you need to find someone else to live with. Just like in the dating world, there are plenty of fish in the sea you could be sharing a room with, so make sure it’s the right one.

Requesting a new roommate is not difficult, nor should it be considered shameful. At the end of the day, this is your college experience, and much of how it turns out is up to you.

Previewing to August, when you arrive for move-in day and open the door to your room for the first time, you’re going to come across a new face. It’s up to you — is that person going to be a friend or a foe?