When I went to college, (back in the Mesolithic period) I decided to roll the dice and not choose a roommate prior to moving in, as many other kids did. I saw it as an opportunity to expand my horizons. I believe I may have gotten a letter from her and I returned one, but other than that we knew very little about each other.

Moving-in day came and went with very little drama. Charlotte Rohr was a beautiful, tall, fresh-faced ROTC major from Aberdeen and I was a short, fat, freckle-faced theater major without a clue. The worlds we came from could not have been more different and yet we got along very well.

I was the girl who dressed and undressed in her closet. Char was the confident, free-spirit who'd dance around our dorm room in her undies. I was the person battling depression midway thru the first semester and sleeping all the time. Char was the person who'd come in our darkened room, throw open the blinds, pull the covers off of me and sit on me until I agreed to get up and go do something with her! We both had our own friends who had virtually nothing to do with each other, yet we connected on things I don't believe our other friends would have understood.

Sadly, Char quit USD after the first semester and I had an interesting mix of roommates that followed. I have no idea what happened to her, or where life took her. I have thought about her so often, tried to find her on Facebook and done White Pages searches all to no avail, so if anybody has information about my long-ago roommate, please let me know.

Thanks to the internet, (which didn't exist when we were college kids) we can now find advice and tips on how to get along with a roommate, just in case you don't luck out like I did.

  • Follow the "Golden Rule" - Treat others as you would like to be treated
  • Be clear from the beginning about what you like and what you don't
  • Be open to change and new things
  • Don't expect to be best friends (but if it happens, great!)
  • Address issues when they're little, don't let them get out of hand
  • Respect your roommate's stuff

For even more thoughts and advice on college life, check out this great page from About.com's education category.

 

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