How to Gel with Your Roommates

Tips to get along with your roommates

If you haven't attended a boarding school or split up a room with your sibling while growing up, university life will come as a shock to you. Living with a roommate is an inevitable part of a student's college or university life but unfortunately, no one talks about this aspect of the educational journey to prepare you in advance for having a coexisting experience with a complete stranger. Glimpses from movies or odd stories from parents nothing can compare to what hits you when you actually land urself in that situation.

You might have to share your personal space, bathroom, television, closet, and much more with a randomly assigned partner or maybe your best friend. Getting along with your roommate is not as easy as a walk in the park. It can either be tricky, messy, and irritating or it can be an incredibly awesome and rewarding experience of a student's life. It can be the starting point of strong friendships or a way to learn the importance of compromise and adjustment in a student's life.

This article will focus on the tips that can help you to develop a friendly bond with your roommate and hence help you to make humorous stories to recall and smile in future.

1. Make efforts to know your roommate: Before your class schedules swallow up all your time, its is advisable that you should spend some time with your roommate trying to learn details about each other like the hometowns of each other, friends, and family. This will assist you to understand your roommate in a better way and will also act as an ice breaker to ensure that the things started on the right foot. Don't become best friends so suddenly, but just remember having mutual respect will improve the atmosphere of the room.
2. Establish and set the limitations or margins: Make sure you and your roommate form clear boundaries about everyday things like study time means quiet time, cleanliness, borrowing, inviting the guests, cleaning, etc . so that it is convenient for both of you to set in the roommate bliss. Remember to not cross your line and hurt the feelings of your roommate.
3. Get to know about different cultures, traditions, and countries: If you and your roommate belong to different countries, now is the time to enjoy all the benefits of the cultural diversity in your room or apartment. Yes, you might have to face language barriers in the beginning but you'll actually learn so many interesting things just by being together. You can also know about food, news, and music preferences of your roommate.
4. Respect each other's personal space: If your roommate is on his phone and using headphones, it is quite likely that he is not in right space of mind to share the details about how his day was with you. Do not get offended if he is not as cheerful as you. It is important for you to realise that every person needs a little private space in his life and do not burst the personal bubble of your roommate an inappropriate time to maintain a healthy relationship.
5. Keep your hygiene and cleanliness levels up: You don't have house help to pick up your stuff after you. Ensure that you are on your best behaviour while staying with your roommate. Your sloppiness will spoil your impression not only for your roommate but for other people like the friends, family members, or landlord as well because they can pay you a visit at any time of the day.
6. Use headphones and do not disturb the others: The concept of headphones seems like was developed by someone who shared his life with roommates only. Blasting sad songs on repeat or meditation music might be your preference but your roommate might not share the same passion with you. Hence use headphones to not disturb his work schedule or sleep.
7. Consult each other before inviting the guests over: Everyone loves to host their friends in their dorm room so that they can spend some moments in excitement. But it is also necessary to ask your roommate for his opinion about the same and if agreed, ask your guests to follow certain rules. Inform your roommate if your friends are planning to stay overnight and also make sure you keep the size of your room or apartment in mind while inviting the visitors.
8. Do not disregard your roommate's schedule: Make sure that you share your schedule with your roommate and vice versa happens as well to make it a lot easier to plan out things like meetings, plans, or assignments. It is a pathetic move to play loud music in the room while your roommate is trying to study for an exam.
9. Take the toilet paper etiquette very seriously: If you've used the last square of the toilet paper, make sure you refill it so that you can avoid causing inconvenience to your roommate.

Living with someone you don't know might be scary in the beginning but with the passage of time, it is these roommates only who will share their heart and cookies with you.