I am starting my university courses in a few months. I chose to live on campus because of the distance I would have to drive otherwise. Since I am a transfer student, I was offered transfer apartments so I am not bunking with freshmen. They're quite nice, with beach view and all, so I am excited. It'll be my first time sharing an apartment with complete strangers. I have lived most of my life with my immediate family, so I have never had that experience. So, how was your first experience having roommates? Any stories to share?
Have fun, lol. It should be a fun experience. It is always in the best interest of both parties living with each other to sit down at the start and set some standards and expectations. Nothing crazy or anything, but what you guys expect out of each other. Also setting out a list of chores that each person is responsible for. I've lived with A LOT of different people and that has always been a super beneficial thing, especially if the roommate was big on using the computer or watching TV late at night. If you're that guy . . . stop it : P. If your roommate ends up being that guy, set an established time to cut that stuff (which was my case because it was 3 people living in one room most of the time) off. It's also a good idea to invest in headphones! I always assume the person I'm rooming with is the complete opposite of me in everything, so I prepare for that. Hopefully you get a roommate that you can chill out with, listen to the same music, have the same type of schedule and do the same sort of stuff together. Best of luck!
advice about flatmates: KEEP YOUR CHOCOLATE SPREAD AND PEANUT BUTTER IN YOUR ROOM! i left a 750gram jar of nutella and 1kg of skippy peanut butter in the communal kitchen on the first night and my flatmates ate it all and denied it. dear flatmates: im assuming a bird flew through the window, opened the jars with it's beak and devoured all 1750grams in one night and spread the mess on your plates in the sink.
What are the living quarters like? What areas are shared, what aren't? Being in the habit of wearing a mankini will likely ensure your otherwise crowded quarters are strangely empty. At least in my experience. Mitch
That's a good idea Ero. It's good to get it out of the way firsthand, or it would get awkward. I don't know about chore responsibilities because we'll have general room cleaning services that takes care of vacuuming, cleaning the bathrooms, etc. The only thing we're responsible for is our rooms. I guess I'll just wash my own dishes, and take out my trash. It'll be an apartment with three rooms, two double and one single. I'll be sharing a room. There are two shared bathrooms, and the kitchen is also shared. I am thinking in investing in a mini-fridge that I'll keep in my room for leftovers, pb, etc.
First year in residence I had to break up a fight between two roommates. One roommate left vegetables in the fridge so long they rotted into liquid. Two made food which smelled like burnt puke. Only 2 of 5 helped with the cleaning. The parties were lame and no one could drink on my level. 6 guys in one fridge was not fun either. Good luck.
I've lived in halls of residence, and a few shared houses. Some things if the people are your age and I'm assuming you're all students, you're going to have a lot of fun, you might not totally get along with someone but it's a learning experience. In halls of residence I had so much of my food mysteriously disappear I ended up either eating out all the time or buying food on the day I planned to cook it. In my first shared house, it was 4 bedrooms with 4 people, I made a couple of great friends who I am still very close with today, one guy we didn't really get along with, mainly because he "cramped our style" this guy absolutely HATED cats. One of the girls living with us had a cat, he once kicked the cat... One day the cat disappeared and it was VERY suspect. He was quite rude, and very weird... He might decide to invite a couple of friends over, use my chicken for cooking and tell me I'll get you some more tommorw totally disregarding my dinner plans, sit down in the living room with his friends watching the TV that I had bought down from my room into the living room for the house, throw my ps3/360 controllers against a wall in rage when he lost a game with his friends, while not even asking my permission if he could use my console. Sorry rant over, but you will meet weird people, you will hate some things like having your own privacy and "silent time" and your life might get VERY hectic, you make new friends with your house mates and their friends and people are always over and things are always happening. But you'll always look back at them as very fond memories!
That's what I'm afraid of, some douchebag being a total douchebag. I am planning on cooking most of my meals, but the good thing is that the grocery store is only a few blocks from the apartment I'll be staying in, so I can realistically buy every time I am cooking. I have no problem sharing food once in a while, but I don't want to make it a habit.
Things about roommates you will learn to try and avoid. The snoring beast. The watching videos all night jerk,without a concern that noise bothers you. The borrower money and your car if you let them. The know it all,egomaniac. The lover talks all day and night about meaningless stuff to his jealous girlfriend and tells you to shhhhhhhh when she calls The nasty no shower taking feet smelling dog. I have more here is a start
Buy earplugs. You probably won't need them, but it's good to have them as nothing is guaranteed to make a person more grumpy than having your sleep disturbed. For those occasions when your flatmate goes out and you stay in and you anticipate them rolling in at 2am, drunkenly singing and clattering pans while they make a fry-up.
1) Be chilled out. Your room mates will probably do annoying things. You can only control how you react to them. 2) Don't be a dick. You will do annoying things, but try to be considerate as you have no control over how other people will react to them. 3) Don't get fussy over who used which glass and is therefore responsible for cleaning it. Trust me, this can lead to a washing up stand off, which is bad for everybody. 4) It's better to be the guy who cleans up after other people than to be the guy people have to clean up after. At least that way you'll be living in a clean apartment. 5) Bring an assortment of cakes etc on the day everyone moves in. First impressions count. 6) Do not, under any circumstances, allow yourself to be listed as the contact with utility companies. If people forget to pay the bill, you don't want to be the guy left holding the can.
Let me amend that: keep your food stash under lock and key, and possibly have a starved honey badger guard it. I once made a mistake of leaving my dinner pot on the oven to cool off while living in a dorm. Needless to say once it did, I found another guy helping himself to it - ******* didn't even have the good grace to be ashamed once I walked in on him.
Wouldn't the honey badger eat your food? I have heard and experienced plenty of share house horrors. Well actually mine are mostly to do with my food going missing and noisy people coming home later at night. Have a search on the net for some real bad ones that can also be funny since it didn't happen to you.
