Sh*t I wish I knew: Random roommates... never know what you're gonna get

5. Random roommates are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get.

I've heard good stories of people having awesome roommates that they became best friends with. This is not one of those stories.

I decided to do random after semi-learning from the experience of my cousin. She roomed with a friend, but by the end of freshman year they weren't really friends anymore. Living with someone in such a small space can be hard, no matter how nice each person is and how well they initially get along.  UVa has a very basic roommate matching survey, asking about when you go to sleep, how you think you'll use your room (social, study, etc.), it's not very comprehensive at all. So I finally get my roommate assignment, and I'm initially super excited. This excitement dampens a bit once I found out she didn't have facebook (now I know not everyone has FB and it really isn't the end all be all of social experiences but still, it's so widely used) so that's when my alarm bells first started tinkling.

We communicated via email throughout the rest of the summer, and I was still excited. This excitement quickly went away as we all moved in and got settled. My roomie and I were as different as night and day, even our sides of the room reflected that difference. She was into anime, video games, and fencing, I hung out with friends and dabbled in different clubs. We just didn't have much in common, she was shyer and I wasn't. She only left the room to go to class or fencing practice, I tried to leave it as much as possible (having no a/c made it hot as balls). It eventually just got to the point where we kinda just stopped talking because I felt like it was mostly me who was trying to carry on a conversation. So ya, kinda weird and awkward at the time. Cringe-worthy then but looking back now it's kinda funny (and makes for a good story).

My side of the dorm. Oh first year. 

So just be careful when deciding who to room with. My little brother actually met his roommate on a Facebook page meant specifically for roommate finding (obviously I would've never ended up with the same person had I used something like this) and I'm actually finding my apartment-mates for next year using a similar facebook system (although since I will have my own room and bathroom it really doesn't matter as much who I live with). The shared dormroom experience is a right of passage, but one I'm glad I will never have to experience again!