As I have now completed my first two years of college, I began to reflect on those years and some of the biggest blessings that came from them. On the radio this morning, they were talking about how many incoming college kids will decide to take a gap year. This decision is probably because they want to truly experience their first semester of college with no restrictions.

I then began thinking about my first year of college. I chose to room with a girl who I had never met before from Illinois.  Abbie and I met on a Facebook group and after messaging back and forth, we decided that we would embark on the college journey together. We met in person at orientation in summer of 2018, and we moved into the dorms in August 2018. We had very compatible personalities, (even though our RA claimed we were passive aggressive with one another when we were mad). 

Abbie was my first college best friend although I had only met her a few months earlier online. While we ended up joining two different sororities, I think it made our relationship grow stronger since we weren’t together 24/7 with chapter and alpha meetings. We had concerts in our room trying to grab the attention of the boys in the room next door. We ordered pizza late at night after formals and went to the dining hall everyday together.  Every afternoon after class, I would open her door and sit in the doorway telling her about my day. I was a little nervous at first to be living with someone I did not know, but I am so glad I stepped out of my bubble and met one of my best friends through that experience. I am beyond grateful to have found a roommate and a forever friend within Abbie.

During my second semester of my freshman year I was searching for someone to room with in my sorority house for my sophomore year. This was hard because I was only a few months into membership and obviously wasn’t friends with all 85 girls in my alpha class. While I was scrambling to find someone in my alpha class to room with, I texted a girl named Star. When we decided to room together I thought to myself “how cool is it that I get to live with someone named Star”. PS: she is probably one of the coolest people I have ever met.

Star is my uber smart and hardworking roommate who is double majoring in neuroscience and psychology and is on the pre-med track. We were both from the same area and over the summer we met up for awkward shopping trips to Home Goods. Star and I were not really friends before we began to share a tiny two-person bedroom where we could hold hands while sleeping. As we started to live in a shoebox sized room, we learned what sharing meant. We shared clothes, food, stories, and the occasional workout. Star is the best friend I was gifted with that I never knew I needed. She pushed me to do schoolwork, even when I wanted to lay in bed and watch The Bachelor. We would lay in our beds staring at our glow in the dark star covered ceiling talking for hours. We took on new responsibilities while living together too, somehow both getting elected to exec positions. We helped each other grow and become better and more successful while we lived together.

Although our time in our little bedroom was cut short, I am so grateful for Star and our time in room 20. I can confidently say that our tiny little room in the sorority house created one of the most important and long-lasting friendships I will treasure forever.

So, to the girl who selected a random roommate, be glad. Keep your eyes open because although things may be awkward at first, when two strangers become friends it is such an amazing experience. I walked into my first two years of college without a clue of how rooming with strangers would go. But I am walking out of these years with lasting friendships and endless memories. So, if you are about to enter college or are moving to a new place looking for a roommate, you may as well choose a random one. Because although there are roommate horror stories, I’ve tried it twice now and it was the best decision I made. Roommates help you learn things about yourself you would have never learned on your own. I am so grateful for these two amazing women in my life and I cannot wait to see where we go from here.