About: Having a roommate.

Me and my roommate

If you have read my blog before going to Texas, you will remember me having this crisis about having to accept a roommate. That's just how weird American college life is- they force Freshman to share a room with someone they don't know. They all have to fill out this questionnaire about themselves, saying when you go to bed, how tidy you are etc etc. I had to do that too and hoped for the best.

So Denise was the girl they matched me up with. Given that she is German, like me, and from the same University in Scotland as me, we were a bit disappointed as we actually wanted proper American roommates to have the full experience and meet as many different people as possible.

However, because we were a bit lazy and it was just too much of a hassle, we left it as it was.

And what can I say, this has been the BEST decision we ever made (or let it happen to us).

Because ever since she stumbled in to our room at 5.30 in the morning, we were best friends. Not just that though- we survived these 5 months, side by side, only being separated for 6 hours at most. Having the messiest and dirtiest room that even boys complained about, staying up until 4am talking and talking and talking, running to the vending machine in our pyjamas, but overall just making each other better people. It was an incredible experience that I am so glad I had and not just having a roommate in general, but being her roommate.

The thing is that you are never alone. Never by yourself. Privacy is something that's not really existent when you share a room. I was seriously afraid of that, as I am someone who likes being alone, just spending a day in bed doing nothing and not talking to anyone. I thought that it would be the most horrible thing, not being able to pick your nose (haha) or just run around naked in the room whenever you wanted. Turns out I was wrong.

Obviously there are roommates that can make your life a living hell and I saw that (unfortunately) happening to some of my friends, but if you have a roommate that is your (best) friend, your life changes in a weird way. All of the sudden I had this person that I shared everything with, that overheard my Skype conversations, heard me sleep, was there 24/7. And I sort of had to embrace it, I had to accept that watching movies by myself was not really happening anymore because there are always people in my room, wanting to socialize. I had to look more or less presentable all the time because if someone really wants to come in to your room, you can't just not open your door. If you wanted food, you HAD to go outside and on the tiny campus you would always meet someone you knew. So hiding from people because you are embarrassed about what you did last night was hard. Like really hard.

But you know what, I feel that all of this (mostly) changed me for the better. My roommate changed me for the better and (I think) I changed her too. Even though I think it's weird for people to share a room, it is an experience worth having. I realized that I don't really need to be by myself as much as I thought, I was much more spontaneous, socializing way more than I would have if I lived by myself, I was more open and friendly and chatty. I think I never talked as much as I did in these months.

So it all turned out pretttyyyyy good for me.

And now I am all by myself again. In a flat where I have my own kitchen, where I don't need to go out for days if I wanted to. And to be honest, it is weird.

It's also because it's summer and not a lot of people/friends are here in Edinburgh right now and I don't have a job. So being all alone is so strange and different after these past months- and I miss having her around.