Citation

 

 

Altman, Anna. “A College Education Should Include Rooming With a Stranger.” OpTalk A College Education Should Include Rooming With a Stranger Comments. The New York Times, 7 Sept. 2014. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.

 

Taylor Welch

 

Jane Lucas

 

English 131.01

 

January 22, 2016

 

A College Education Should Include Rooming with a Stranger

 

In the article “A College Education Should Include Rooming with a Stranger” by Anna Altman, was meant to grab the attention of readers and prove to them that this was an important thing for college experience. Being put with a random stranger can benefit your socioeconomic view as well. To receive the true “college experience,” students need to consider rooming with a stranger and getting out of their comfort zone.

Over the summer I wasn’t too worried about getting a roommate for college. A page on Facebook for our upcoming class was used for people to talk and get to know each other. Some may have even became roommates through the interlacement of Facebook. I, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. At first I did not interact with anybody on Facebook. Autumn, who was my girlfriend at the time but now my fiancé, told me to go on Facebook and open up. I’m normally not a shy person unless I have no idea who you are. I said okay. I started to interact on Facebook by getting to know some of the dudes. I began looking to find a roommate. It didn’t take me but a few days to get one. His name was Tanner and he played football. Tanner and I had a lot in common as well. We both enjoyed lifting weights and playing sports. Towards the end of summer, Tanner texted me and mentioned that he would not be attending Lenoir-Rhyne University in the fall. Tanner ended up going to Perdue University. At this point, I did not know what to do. It was too late to change roommate situations considering they already had us together and our room picked out. The first few weeks of school were extremely hard for me considering I did not have a roommate. At the time the only person who I knew well was Autumn. Now I’m not saying that was a bad thing, but at that moment college was not what I was expecting. It was not fun. A few more days rolled by and I started adapting more and more with people so my college experience got better. A few more weeks went by and the Resident Director showed up at my door saying I will be getting a roommate. I was excited and mad at the same time. By this point, I was so used to having the room to myself. Kyle, who was my new roommate moved in and we had nothing in common. Obviously the first few weeks were awkward but we grew past that. Yeah we had those awkward nights when we went to sleep and I swear you could hear a hair follicle hit the ground it was so quiet. These are all things that benefit with the “college experience”. You have to go through these things to really see what its like to room with a stranger. In the article it mentions that “many university’s allow freshman to pick who their roommate might be”. Although this may seem like a great tool, I have noticed this to be not so great. Many of my peers have done this and now they are rooming with someone different. It may seem like a great idea over social media or text but if you haven’t lived with the person then you have no idea what you are getting yourself in to. I was put with some random guy that I have never seen before on campus and now we are good friends. Of course it was awkward at first but that’s the whole point right? Its hard to experience the full “college experience” without the awkwardness. Rooming with a stranger can help you with certain skills in the future.

Communication is key this day in age. People are so caught up in their phones and electronic devices that it surprises me that people can still communicate in person. Rooming with a stranger can help with shyness and communication skills. I can attest to that. Being a shy person, it is hard to have communication skills with strangers. At first, I thought me and Kyle had nothing in common, therefore; we did not communicate well. Since then we have found more things in common than we thought there was. Kyle and I get along great and I wouldn’t ask for it any other way. Yeah having a room to yourself is great but there is nothing like having a friend always there for you when you need them especially when they live with you. Kyle is a great guy. We may have our differences but none of it is to hard to overcome.

Rooming with a stranger is not all the time a bad thing. Rooming with a stranger is a major part in the full “college experience”.