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The prospect of living with a stranger can be daunting. So far in your life, you’ve likely only lived with family members, so it can be hard to imagine living in a different housing situation. Your mind might be flooded with all kinds of questions and worries about it. Will your roommate end up being fun and friendly or dull and mean? Will they be messy or neat? Loud or quiet? Anything could turn out to be true, and any type of relationship could end up developing. 

You could end up being close or distant with your roommate, but whatever relationship you develop, your freshman year roommate is the person who will be closest to you once the school year begins. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you will be best friends. You will grow some level of closeness and familiarity when living in close proximity, and will have a lot of influence on each other's moods and comfort levels. 

It can take a good level of understanding and cooperation to live comfortably with someone new, and you and your new roommate will be on that journey together. That is one major reason that your freshman year roommate is your best friend!

They Are the First Person You Make A Connection With

Your roommate will be around you more than anyone. 

Your roommate is the person on campus you will be around the most. They will likely even be the first person you meet on move in day. Unless something goes horribly wrong, your roommate is somewhat like a built-in friend. When you are both new students and don’t know anyone else at school, you will probably feel most comfortable with each other. It can even be easier making friends when you have someone with you initially to navigate your new space and peers. Even if you split up and go different ways during the day, you’ll probably be tempted to talk about your experience. 

Your initial interaction with your roommate can set the tone for your expectations when meeting other people. A good initial meet up will make you feel happy that you wound up with a decent roommate. Even if you primarily end up part of separate friend groups, your freshman year roommate will always hold a special place as your very first connection made on campus. It’s the kind of connection that brings many people to stay connected to their freshman year roommates long after graduation. 

You Know Intimate Details About Each Other

Your roommate knows things about you that no one else knows. 

When you live with someone, you inadvertently share things with them that you normally don’t share with anyone. Many of your closest friends know nothing about your bathroom habits, your sleep schedule, and whether or not you snore. But your roommate knows almost all the details of how you go about living on a day to day basis. They may appreciate some of your quirks or even be annoyed by some of them, and you can end up feeling the same way about their habits. 

There will be a lot you can judge each other based on and also a lot that you can relate to each other with. Knowing things about each other that other people don’t will make you feel closer together. Even if you don’t interact all the time, you can feel somewhat like family while sharing a space and with that the normally out of sight parts of yourself. Cohabiting will force you and your roommate to know things about the other that you would have never known if you hadn’t lived with them. This can easily lead to you forming a quicker and deeper bond. 

You Fight Like Siblings

Living with someone can bring out the best and worst in a person. 

When you live with someone, you are likely to have conflict at some point. It's almost inevitable. How often you have those conflicts can depend on how well you can resolve things, but with two different people living together, it is bound to happen. It’s almost like living with siblings. While you may love your siblings and get along with them a lot of the time, sometimes you will have conflict from simply being different people with different boundaries and personalities. Even if you fight from time to time, it does not mean that you hate each other. It’s the same thing with your new roommate. 

Your roommate doesn’t mean to upset you, but they will do it sometimes. You will also unknowingly upset your roommate sometimes. And at times it can cause you two to bicker. Sometimes you will get along great and sometimes you might fight. That’s something that is normal for anyone who lives in close proximity with each other. And you’ll usually make up eventually. It's so much more beneficial to make up with your roommate and move on together rather than let small conflicts get in the way of your relationship. You may find that you care about each other, but can still get irritated with each other at times, just like with siblings. 

When No One Else Is Around, They Will Likely Be

You’re not often alone when you have a roommate. 

Most times when you’re not in class, in the dining hall, or out with your friends, you will be with your roommate. Even if you don’t spend lots of time together outside of your dorm room, they will almost always be there whenever you’re at home relaxing. When everyone is tucked into their own dorm room for the night, you don’t have to be bored on your own if it's not what you want. You can always enjoy your time with your roommate even when everything in the city is closed. When you have a roommate, you can easily be on your own even when they are there, or you can break that silence and have a fun interaction until you’re both ready to part ways. You are never really alone when you live with someone. 

You Share Basic Necessities

Sharing often happens when you live with someone. 

You and your roommate each have necessities that you use to survive on a daily basis. When you share a space, things can end up being shared even if that wasn’t initially intended. If you’re out of shampoo, it can feel easy to just use some of your roommates. Maybe your roommate tends to have a delicious snack that you’ve never thought to get for yourself until that point. When you’re right next to each other, it is a lot easier to share all these things. 

You two might even decide to share many items as time goes on. Depending on how much space your dorm room has, it can be a lot more convenient to share certain items rather than pack every space with double of everything. Sharing these necessities can also lead to shared shopping trips or simply considering each other when you go shopping for dorm room items. You’ll eventually know your roommate’s favorite foods, snacks, and toiletries once you regularly end up shopping for the both of you. Sharing things will make you feel a lot closer to someone. Sharing with your roommate is a bonding experience!

You Swap Stories

Sharing stories is a fun way to connect with someone. 

When you’re heading home from a long day of classes, work, or school clubs, the first person you’ll see that you can vent to is your roommate. It can be cathartic to talk about everything you had to go through during the day, especially when you’re bombarded with work and classes. It will often be tempting to unload all the interesting details of your day as soon as you see your roommate. And they will likely end up doing the same. They will be just as tempted to tell you about how difficult their bio quiz was or how little time they have left to write a ten page essay. 

You’ll swap positive stories and negative stories. After a fun time at a party, your roommate is the first one you’ll probably go home to and share the story with. They will find out about the connections you made, the insufferable person you had to make excuses to get away from, or that you accidentally hit someone on the head while you were dancing. Anything you want to vent or laugh about can be done once you or your roommate walk into your shared space. 

And when your roommate shares stories with you, you will learn about as much about them as they will learn about you. That will make the two of you feel really close. When tough or funny things happen to people, one of our first instincts is usually to share that with someone. Even if you have other friends on campus to talk to, your roommate is always the closest to you. Since they’re so accessible, you will automatically share a lot of whatever just happened in your life with them. They will also likely hear some miniscule details that other people won’t, simply because they were the first person you could tell the story to as soon as it happened. 

Your Friends And Family Practically Know Them From Your Stories

When you talk a lot about someone, they become known amongst your family. 

Your family typically knows your best friend or at least knows a lot about them. When you’re close to someone, you’re tempted to talk about them a lot, especially when you have lots of experiences with them. Because you’re living with someone, they will be around you a lot of the time, giving you a lot of material to talk about whenever you hang out with other friends or talk to your family. Whether the situations you two get into are good or bad, they will likely be discussed. In fact, even if nothing happens on a particular day, you can still end up bringing up your roommate to other people since they are such a big presence in your living space. 

Your friends and family might even bring your roommate up themselves. Even if they’ve never met your roommate, they will feel like they know them on some level. They might be curious to know how your roommate is doing or how you two are getting along. They may even ask for a follow up on how they did on the exam they were just stressing about. Hearing about someone on a regular basis makes them feel as if they are somewhat part of your life even if you’re not around them yourself. Your friends and family will feel a distant connection to your roommate simply because they are such a big part of your life at the moment. 

You can also be certain that the same thing is happening the other way around. Your roommate’s friends and family have likely heard a lot about you, and even if you don’t hear about it, might ask how you’re doing from time to time. They have a vested interest in your relationship with the person they care about and will want to hear that things are overall going well. 

Your freshman year roommate is someone you will be embarking on a new adventure with. Sharing your first living space outside of your parent’s house with someone in the same situation can bring you to feel a certain level of closeness with each other. The person who will navigate this new stage of life by your side will be important to you and can feel very much like a built-in best friend.