One of the hardest things any college kid encounters is finding housing for next year and wanting to escape the dorms. That dreaded period of apartment and house hunting is not only stressful, but also seems to start so early on campus. It’s extremely overwhelming — especially as a freshman when you hardly know anyone. I have six roommates, yes SIX. Whenever I tell people I have six roommates, I can definitely say I get asked the same thing: how do you share a bathroom with that many girls?
For starters, I got really lucky. We happened to find a house with three bathrooms and luckily, I somehow ended up with my own bathroom. Four of my roommates share the upstairs one, while the other two share the downstairs one. Somehow they’ve managed to not kill one another and have arranged some sort of shower schedule.
With each of us having our own rooms, we seem to have eliminated a lot of problems roommates have. There really is no fighting about your bed not being made, who’s cleaning what, guests or anything like that. Our shared spaces have miraculously stayed clean and for whatever reason, knowing that there’s six other people living under one roof motivates (at least me) to want to maintain a clean home. If we have an issue, it usually involves someone not washing pots after making mac and cheese. That typically leads to a passive-aggressive text in the group chat and the sound of someone rushing down the stairs to clean up after themselves.
The best part of living with so many people is the fact that every day is different. I can guarantee that anytime you walk through the door, you’ll find something new. I’ve walked into some of my roommates ranting about their chemistry professor and also have walked in to everyone sitting on the living room floor. I really wish I could explain that last one, but I still don’t really know.
It’s rare that our house is quiet, especially around dinner time. We have a range of chefs with cuisines stemming from constant baked potatoes to chicken parm. After dinner you have people doing homework, procrastinating until 2am or elbowing others while playing Mario Party. Let’s not forget, weekly nights of watching The Bachelor. Aside from the dirty dishes, I can’t really complain. I definitely got lucky with my living situation this year. I’ll gladly take Mario Party 8 fights in the attic rather than having a full-fledged brawl.