Roommate requirement

The summer before I left for college, my friend John asked me what I thought would be the most important quality for a roommate. I believe my answer was, “It doesn’t matter, I think I can get along with anyone.” (Oh how I miss you, naive optimism).\nIf I had been asked this question after my first roommate experience I might have replied, “Anyone who doesn’t blast emo music and scowl at my friends.” After my second roommate situation I might have responded, “Anyone who doesn’t set a morning alarm to Fergie’s “My Humps” and who doesn’t habitually fall out of his or her lofted bed and drunkenly break everything on the way down.”\nBy the time my friend Kayla and I decided to room together this year, I was slightly cynical and pessimistic (Imagine that). But besides the fact that neither one of us ever thinks to empty our trash until flies begin circulating the can like it is a rotting wildebeest, the living situation has been working out suspiciously well. \nSo, what is that one quality that most accurately predicts a positive roommate experience? I’m so glad you asked. I have discovered that the answer is, “Someone who gives you room to be yourself.” That sounds simple enough, but it entails more than you might think. Take me, for example, sometimes I like to put an object down my shirt and then breathe heavily and pretend I’m giving birth to it. Sometimes I like to stuff all my clothes inside each other and pretend that it is a person. And while some might look upon these primitive behaviors with disapproval and concern, Kayla accepts my quirks even when she may not understand them. She watches as I go into labor with my calculator and asks how many centimeters I’m dilated. She looks at my clothing all stuffed inside each other and says, “Let’s name it Princess Sofia.” \nNot to say any roommate experience is ever incident-free. One night Kayla was holding a bottle of water in her top bunk bed and when she fell asleep her arm went limp and I woke up soggy. Once I hung up on her grandpa who, in my defense, gave me reason to believe that the call was a creepy prank from a pervert.\nBut seriously, as you look for next year’s housing, remember to room with someone who gives you space simply to be yourself, whatever that involves. Find someone who respects your need for silence in the room when “The Hills” is on MTV and who accepts your declaration of “No-Shower November,” no questions asked.\nAnd if you can find that person, consider yourself lucky and hold on tight. And if at the end of the year that person tells you that he or she is transferring, like Kayla recently told me, then maybe you should take the hint that maybe you’re too eccentric to really live comfortably with other people. Stop wasting your time looking for someone who can prove otherwise.