10 Ways to Turn Your New Roomie from Scary Stranger to Friend For Life

School is back in session, but that doesn't mean your sanity needs to check out. On top of an crazy course load, wild parties, and trying to get that cute girl in Russian history class to notice you, you don't need any drama in the dorm room as well. Unfortunately, when roommates are thrown together at random, there's not a whole lot of forward planning you can do to make you are going to get along. Your room mate sitch can and very well might make or break your year entirely, and you need to assure you have a healthy home environment in order to have a productive school year. And so does your roommate, which leads us to our first lesson!

1. Be a nice human.

Being a nice, responsible human being will ensure that it's not actually you who ends up being a difficult room mate to deal with.

2. Remember, you really might be a difficult roommate.

Don't completely let yourself off the hook, even if you think you're doing your best. It's possible that everyone in the dorm is a difficult roommate. It's very, very possible.

3. Get to know each other!

Spend some time together, go out for a few meals, plan some fun movie nights. Bonding is essential to a chill year together.

4. But don't get to know each other too well!

Spending too much time together will render you sick of each other, and you definitely don't want that to start happening right off the bat. Alone time is healthy and will make your awesome, relaxing time together much more awesome and relaxing!

5. Being territorial doesn't make you bitchy, it makes you realistic.

Set aside separate shelves for yourselves in the pantry, in the fridge, and in the freezer. There's a time and place for sharing, but that's not when you're on a college student budget and trying to make things work for yourself.

6. If you see something, say something.

You're living with a totally new person, and some of their habits might get on some of your nerves. And then all your nerves, until you can't stand to be around them anymore because they absolutely never take their hair out of the shower drain. You've got to talk these things out before they fester and destroy your household completely. Think a little thing like hair in the drain can't implode a living environment? Think again. 

7. Listen to your roommates.

You want them to listen to you, so if they have complaints about some of your behaviors, you gotta know you're just as un-flawless as they are. You totally could stand to replace the toilet paper more often. You definitely need to do your dishes a little more regularly. We all do. We're all human, we all don't want to do dishes, we all have to, and that's life.

8. Chore charts are a real thing.

If you all agree to get that system going, then you'll all know who didn't follow it, and it'll get fixed without a fight. Or with a fight. Or it'll never get fixed. But at least you've tried. 

9. Significant others may come and go, but roomies are forever (or at least for a year).

However, when significant others do come and go, there are a few rules that should be followed: A) Send a text to warn your roomies you're having some in-dorm sexy times. B) Maybe steer clear of having those sexy times in shared spaces, or at least involve some protective tarp for furniture. C) Starting to crush on your roomie's significant other? Sorry to crush your dreams, but you're going to have to live with the person whose lover you're considering stealing for a while, and that's going to be no fun at all for anyone. Unless move-out day is tomorrow, hold the hell off on acting on those flying sparks.  

10. Roommates can be built-in besties that are awesome and you get to live with anywhere from a year to forever.

Good roomies aren't even usually roomies who got along from the get-go. They're people who have learned to work together to create a lovely little living environment and have become pals in the process. Roommates can be people you lived with for a year while counting the seconds until you were set free, or a family that you come to love and rely on. Chore charts, they really do work. 

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