Lily Huynh/The Cougar
For students at the University, living on-campus marks the start of a new adventure. Your dormitory is unknown land and a random roommate becomes a story to tell.
Chicken soup of comfort
Many freshmen entering living spaces have to learn more than what time to go to sleep. They discover more about their health and who can help.
For political science junior Olivia Rodriguez, who was living in Moody Towers her first year, having one roommate was more than enough.
“We cleaned all the time, but for some reason, I found myself becoming sick very often,” Rodriguez said.
When Rodriguez got sick near the end of September, her roommate stepped in, taking all the necessary measures to make sure Rodriguez recovered well.
“She made it her number one mission to make sure I felt better,” Rodriguez said. “She would bring me medicine, vitamin C packets and most importantly, chicken noodle soup.”
Though they no longer live together, Rodriguez’s roommate’s care did not go unnoticed. The experience left a positive mark on Rodriguez’s college journey, with chicken noodle soup serving as a reminder of kindness and care.
“Her efforts never failed to make me feel better, both physically and emotionally,” Rodriguez said. “She never got tired of helping me get over my sickness and never failed to bring me some delicious chicken noodle soup. Every time I eat or see some chicken noodle soup, I think of her and the comfortable environment she made sure I had.”
The twin dynamic
While most students brace themselves for the random housing lottery, some bypass the uncertainty entirely. For psychology sophomore Grace Odedeji, living with her twin was an added bonus.
Odedeji said that her roommate was one of the better parts of her day-to-day life on campus.
“Whenever people find out we’re twins, one of the first things they ask is if we dorm together, and they’re usually surprised when we say yes,” Odedeji said. “People expect twins to separate when they get to college so they can branch out and have their own experiences, but for us, living together has made college a lot easier.”
Odedeji notes that while others may see a downside of sharing a space with a twin, it has its perks of knowing exactly who you are living with.
“I didn’t have to worry about getting a random roommate or learning how to live with someone I had never met before,” Odedeji said. “Of course we still get annoyed with each other sometimes, but it has made my college experience better.”
On-campus bubble
The housing lottery can also bring unexpected good luck. Random assignments can yield reliable friends. Psychology sophomore Annie Zhou lived in Cougar Village One, sharing a room with a friend, but she also had two random suite mates.
“My suite mates were very considerate of each other and myself, sometimes we would study or go eat together outside of the dorm,” Zhou said. “Several times, my suite mates have woken me up for an exam when I have overslept, so I must say I appreciate them.”
Now living in Cougar Place, Zhou emphasizes the benefit of living on campus. She continues to live on campus rather than commuting because of the connection with her peers.
“I felt living on campus made me feel more in touch with the campus itself in my freshman year especially,” Zhou said. “It is relatively easy to feel separate from the University, since it is a commuter campus, but I feel a lot more spirit and connection with peers in my housing experience.”
Being in walking distance from her living space to campus makes every day life easier and uncomplicated.
“I feel like being able to live on campus makes things so much easier since I do not have to coordinate the logistics of walking, traffic, buffer, or parking when planning to do an event on campus,” Zhou said.
Messes, magic
Students with packed schedules rarely see their bed or their roommates.
For sophomore psychology Valentina Espejo, balancing her work schedule often meant leaving her room at seven a.m and returning near midnight.
“Usually, my roommate would not be there, but it would be three in the morning and I’d hear people inside my dorm,” Espejo said. “Other times, I would come back and see clothes and dirty laundry all over the floor. I could brush it off because I barely saw her so I could not care less.”
But the thought of a stranger in her room without her knowledge spooked Espejo, especially after finding unfamiliar hair on her own bathroom floor.
“Someone’s hair products became grime that was attached to the shower floor,” Espejo said. “I was taking a shower after a long shift, which had maybe been cleaned once in the whole semester. I did not dare step onto any surface barefoot.”
The tension hit an unsettling turn when one evening, Espejo stepped out of the shower and encountered an unfamiliar face: a friend of her suitemates.
“I open the door to a girl who projectile pukes onto the floor, getting a little of it onto my feet. She was far past drunk,” Espejo said.
Despite the chaos, Espejo experienced the unexpected joys of community living. Despite rarely seeing her suitemates, the shared space underwent a festive transformation during the holiday season.
“I never got the chance to bond with my suitemates, but magical things still happened,” Espejo said. “They took it upon themselves to decorate the space. I saw our ceiling covered in Christmas lights and a small tree. It might have been grimy, but my freshman dorm experience had a little bit of it all.”
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