During most college students’ four years of studies, they are required to live in dorms. As expected, dorms are usually shared between two or more people, which automatically makes them your roommates. Throughout these four years every student gets to meet many different types of people, coming from various countries and backgrounds, and most times students are required to share their living spaces with those same people. As time progresses, we, students, are predisposed to live with a variety of roommates, most of whom can be classified into different groups. Most roommates fall into one of the following categories: slobs, party animals, hermits, ghosts, and some others. Regardless of how good or bad our roommates can be, they all teach us valuable lessons and gift us with new perspectives.
The first type of roommate that you are very likely to meet is a slob. This type of roommate has no regard for personal hygiene, let alone tidying up and keeping the common areas clean. They are unbothered by the state of their room and barely notice the chaos they leave behind themselves. In my personal experience, with these types of roommates no amount of conversation and reasoning works, simply because they have never been in the habit of cleaning up. Most times what a normal person sees as a mess seems to be fine for a slob. On the contrary, are clean freaks, these are the roommates that can be a little excessive when it comes to cleaning. Clean freaks are no better than slobs because of their high standards when it comes to sanitation. If the room doesn’t meet their expectations, they will often throw around innuendos or just do it themselves. Unlike slobs, who are unbothered by their surroundings, clean freaks can easily be triggered if something looks out of place.
The next type of roommate is a party animal. These roommates are rarely seen to miss out on any of the campus events and parties and are always primed about events occurring around the city. These roommates do however have a negative side, as they would often come back at late hours of the night and most times not in a very conscious state of mind. Party animals also like to throw hangouts in the room you share as a part of their pre-drinking ritual, oftentimes disregarding the fact that you could be studying. Although they are always informed about the different parties occurring around them, they are rarely aware of their assignments or upcoming exam dates. The polar opposite of party animals are nerds or student leaders, these are the roommates that are always seen at the library or in the dorm worrying about their next assignments and exams. Nerds are great for academic advice and help since they are well-enlightened about most subjects you are taking. These types of roommates are almost always presidents of one or more clubs and are very involved in the academic life of the college, however, they don’t always participate in the party culture of the college unless it’s an event that their clubs are hosting. The downside of having this type of roommate is that your dorm unavoidably turns into the quiet zone inside of a library, as any unnecessary noises cause a major distraction from their studies.
Not every college student is aware of the next type of roommate unless they live with them. As their name insinuates, hermits are roommates who are rarely seen leaving the dorm unless it’s necessary, therefore making it impossible for others to get to know them. These are the types of people that we would often classify as introverts; as college students, they rarely participate in clubs and only have social interactions whenever it’s mandatory. It can be a great inconvenience to have a hermit as a roommate since you rarely get alone time or personal space. It is unknown how hermits spend their time when alone. A ghost is another type of roommate for which very little is known. This is a roommate who you rarely see and know sheer information about. The whereabouts of this roommate is unknown, and interactions are kept to a bare minimum. The positive side of having a roommate like a ghost is that you can have the room to yourself most of the time.
A 'mooch', 'borrower', and 'kleptomaniac' are types of roommates that fall under the same category and serve the same purpose: they take your personal belongings with or without your permission. A mooch is constantly lacking something and in need to borrow what’s yours; at first, they ask for your permission, but later on, get comfortable enough to use them whenever they want to. As boundaries slowly start to deteriorate, such a roommate feels free to borrow whatever they need as if it was simply theirs. With a kleptomaniac, it's a little different, because they don't just borrow, they just take your personal belongings. It could be something as simple as your food but soon progresses to your books, clothes, and toiletries. The reasoning behind their actions is unclear to many and can be fixed only by setting up ground rules and establishing clear boundaries.
Last but not least are the rare yet incredible ‘perfect match’ roommates. These roommates are hard to come across and it usually takes a few tries before you get to live with them; some students may never even get to that point. This is a roommate with whom things go smoothly and there appears to be some type of a connection. Soon after you get to know each other you realize that the both of you share common interests and are quite compatible. It doesn’t take long before you and your roommate become very comfortable around each other and form a long-lasting friendship. Things seem to happen naturally and there is a mutual understanding between the two of you. From personal experience having a ‘perfect match’ as a roommate is a great experience to have, because I am basically living with my best friend. Our personalities complement each other, we share common worries and problems, and help each other out. Finding the ‘perfect match’ may be hard, but not impossible, and sometimes altering your lifestyle can accommodate you in your search.
College is a great place to meet and live with a diversity of people. It also teaches you how to be patient and kind when you don’t always agree with their way of life. The people you will share a room with can often be classified into different categories, and although some of them are unagreeable, they all teach valuable lessons that we can apply to our lives after graduating.