Drama in Dorms: Will Friendships Last?
Entering the University of Illinois as a freshman can be an exciting time for you and your roommate. Many freshmen decide to room with their best friend and think that the year will go smoothly. It turns out that this is not always the case when rooming with a close friend. Sometimes, things do not go as planned.
Freshmen Alexis Anderson, a political science major, and Stormie Dooley-Hill, a animal science pre-veterinary major, have known each other since freshman year of high school and decided to be roomates once they knew they were both going to attend the University.
Unfortunately, living with a close friend did not go as expected.
Anderson stated , “I will say that we became way more distant”. Stormie agreed and said, “It (the relationship) became distant when we came here.”
Both stated that the cause of becoming distant were from “disagreements.”
“We just outgrew each other and there was a lot of disagreements,” Dooley said.
Anderson continued to explain how she felt “uncomfortable” with their relationship as roommates.
The unique side of this story is that the two roommates decided to remain roommates for the rest of the freshmen year.
Stormie stated, “we are just being civil at this point”.
“[I’ll] room with her for the remainder of this year because of the size of the room and I know I have a lot of stuff,” Anderson said. “But not for the next year because I am going to have an apartment with some lovely friends.”
This might sound scary or unpleasant to hear if you are rooming with a close friend, but the campus gives you many options and resources if rooming with a close friend becomes complicated.
The main solution is to go to the Illinois University Housing website. This website gives students an option to request a room change. This gives many freshmen an opportunity to be able to change their room if things do not go as planned. Requesting a room change is quick and to the point. However, some close friends decide to stay roommates even if their relationship is falling apart.
