Rooming with your best friend. Everyone says this is a bad idea. Your teachers, your friends, your parents. “You guys haven’t ever lived together,” they say. “You don’t know what they are like in the comfort of their home,” or “just because you get along as friends doesn’t mean you’ll get along as roommates.” I don’t disagree with anything everyone around me has said. In fact, it’s all true. There’s a lot of key things you have to be aware of before moving in with your best friend. However, is it as impossible as people say? Definitely not. Coming from experience, dorming with your best friend can be a wonderful and exciting experience for both of you, as long as you remember to respect each other’s boundaries.
My best friend and I are very different personality wise. I’m more of a nerd, the quiet writer who would rather stay in and watch some Netflix than party, and my best friend is the polar opposite. She’s spontaneous, energetic, and extremely social, much unlike me. So, when we announced that we would be dorming together, a lot of people had a lot to say about it. However, people tend to forget that there’s risks dorming with anyone, whether you know them or not. It’s less about friendship and a lot more about respect. For people to be good roommates, they have to be respectful of the other’s boundaries, as well as their likes and dislikes. Before my roommate and I moved in together, we sat down and talked about what we wanted and didn’t want the other to do. We share a lot, so a good example was that you couldn’t wear your roommate’s clothes without their permission first. Another great example is that my roommate, on weekdays, prefers to go to bed a few hours earlier than I would. We keep one of the lights on in our dorm so that I can still go about my business quietly, but it’s still dim enough for her to be able to sleep. We take turns on who has to buy things that we both share, like toilet paper. As long as you and your friend establish boundaries and shared responsibility for things, there is no reason why you shouldn’t room with one of your friends.
Dorming with my best friend was and is, in my opinion, a great decision. I didn’t have to worry about being uncomfortable when I first started the school year because I was already comfortable around her. We both like a lot of similar things, so she doesn’t mind when I’m strumming away at the guitar for an hour, because she’s strumming her ukelele along with me. We have had the best late night talks together and helped each other find our way through college the past couple of months. If we ever have a little too much of each other, we just go hang out with other people or by ourselves. We never have to worry about growing apart because after our hectic days of work and classes we go back to our rooms and eat dinner together continuously learn more about each other. Many people told me that dorming with my best friend would tear us apart, but in actuality, it has brought us even closer. So go on, and room with your best friend if you’re thinking about it. Just remember to set some ground rules first.