The Roommate

Chapter 1: Doin' The College Thing

It's hard to believe you finally did it. You really made it to this point in your life. Have you actually gone away from home? Have you actually come to college? Are you actually standing in your own room at Western State College? You can't believe it. It seems like only yesterday that you started High School and suddenly you are out on your own and moving into your own Dorm room. You're not sure you are really ready for this. In fact, you aren't even sure you are going to enjoy doin' the college thing.

High School was hard enough, taking you an extra year to finish due to all those skipped classes and poor grades in your first year. Sure, you buckled down and got things done in your later years, but it wasn't easy and college is supposed to be filled with more challenges and test of your willpower. You weren't the most popular guy in High School, even though you had your strong small group of friends, but now you have to start all over from scratch. All in all it doesn't feel like it's going to be that easy.

Things have already started out on a negative tip for you. When you got here and met with the dorm leader you found out that your request for a private room was denied and you would have to share with a roommate. He tried to explain that they tried to fulfill all requests, but they had too many students and not enough rooms to house all that wanted singles as such. It didn't really matter what he said since all you heard was you would have to have a roommate.

Not only that but you would be sharing a bathroom with another room in a two room grouping they called a four person suite. You didn't think there was anything sweet about it, but there was nothing you could do. Your request for privacy has ended with you having to share a room with another and a bathroom with up to three others. Not exactly the dream living situation you had hoped for, but now you just hope your assigned roommate and suitemates are cool and easy to live with.

The room is actually rather small for what you would expect for two people, but the space is well used to give as much open area as possible. Part of this space saving was done by having a bunk bed, rather than two singles. There were also two full sized desks opposite the bed and a wall of cabinets, drawers, and closet space between the bed and entrance door. The back of the door housed a full-length mirror and on the opposite end of the room was the large window, with small opening section, looking out upon the courtyard.

Just outside the room was the small corridor that connected your with the doors for both the other room and the bathroom for the suite. It was also open to the main hallway of the dorm, which allowed anyone access to the bathroom, but the general rule was you are not supposed to use any but the one connected to your suite. In reality this meant you had to make sure to be covered when you walked from your room to the restroom because you could be seen by anyone who happened to be in the hall.

Your family just left, after helping you move all your boxes into your dorm room and you started to unpack and organize the important items. Within the hour your computer and television were both set up and you were already connected to the school's network. Your clothing and the rest of your things were still mostly in boxes but you made sure to claim ownership of the bottom bunk, since you didn't want to have to climb up and down all the time.

Now that you have the basics set up you starting to stew about the whole roommate situation again. You don't want to have to deal with this but might be able to make the best of it if you talk to the dorm leader about it. Perhaps you might get some say over who you get to have or may even be able to talk him into giving you the room to yourself if something happens to one of the others before they check in.

On the other hand you may just want to dig in and get the room mostly set up and ready for when your roommate does arrive. Put your stuff away in the most convenient places and set things up the way you like them before someone else comes in and tries to arrange it.