Living Social 101

We all know someone who has had an experience with…THAT roommate. You know, the one that uses your stuff without asking, or throws their things on your side of the room, or how about that one that is just flat out too loud to deal with…

So how do you deal with living with someone that you got randomly paired up with?  Here are a few tips from your lovely dormers here at CSULB on how to not be “that roomie” and how to cope with one.

“Clean. Up. After. Yourself,” huffed Harlee Morikawa, a second year communications major. “Not everyone has to be a neat freak, but there is a difference between being a bit messy and being downright gross messy. It’s unhealthy.” Bottom line: don’t be too mean, just be kind of clean.

“Be considerate," said Deanna Lee, a second year graphic design major. “Sure, everyone likes having company, but if you’re going to invite your friends over past midnight when I’m trying to sleep or study? Cmon…” Bottom line: If you’re a night owl, try and host your shenanigans elsewhere; perhaps the USU or downtown Long Beach?

While some students are able to study with music blaring from ear to ear, others can only study in complete and utter silence. So in a cramped room, what is one to do?

“If my roomie is playing loud head banging music when I come back from class, I just venture to campus to study at Starbucks or something,” said Tillman Hubbard, a fourth year kinesiology major. “Or if it’s at night I just go down to the common room with my computer.”

Quiet floors at the library guarantee silence!

And the number one key tip to surviving the year without strangling each other? Communication and compromise. Communicate the problem and compromise a solution that both contribute to. Either way you’ll end up either a happy camper, or another story to tell your friends back home about THAT roomie.