Pieces of BGSU

When move-in day arrived, I was extremely nervous.  Not only was I leaving my family for an extended period of time, but I was moving in with a random stranger for nine months.  To me, nothing could have been more nerve-wracking.

I was moving into Harshman Bromfield.  I had Facebooked my roommate beforehand to discuss items to bring to the room, but there wasn’t much conversation.  I decided not to bring anything, just a microwave in case we both brought TVs and/or futons, etc. 

I had zero friends at BGSU, and my older sisters told me to talk to my roommate.  I tried that, but he wasn’t very friendly.  I asked him if he wanted to get lunch, and his response was “No.”  Completely dumbfounded, I try to shrug it off as maybe he had a bad day.  For the next few weeks, I would invite him to eat with me and ask to hang out on the weekends.  He never ate with me and went home every weekend.  I realized I wasn’t meeting anyone else on the floor and decided to move into a different residence hall, which is an option after the first few weeks of school.

About a month into my first year, I moved into McDonald (Mac as most students call it). I moved in with a random roommate again, who I had Facebooked beforehand.  Mac was an incredible place to live.  At that time, it was only for first-year students (it still mostly is) so everyone had their doors open and everyone was so social.  I could tell that I was already going to enjoy being here. 

My roommate and I got along, but we didn’t hang out a lot.  We just had different interests and different friends.  At the end of the fall semester, he moved into his fraternity house, leaving me with a double room all to myself.  Having a double room had its pros and cons.  I have more space, but no one to talk to when I was hanging out in my room.

Winter break came and went, and I still had my own room.  One day, I was enjoying some TV when my door knob started turning.  At first I thought it was just someone on the floor, but it was my new roommate moving in right then and there.  I was completely stunned, but welcomed him.  He was a combination of my previous two roommates.  He went home every weekend, which made it difficult to hang out.  We got along and respected each other, but again had our own friends. 

In the course of one year, I had moved buildings and had three roommates.  When I tell this story it sounds awful because I had three roommates, but I managed to make friends and enjoy freshman year.

If I could give advice to incoming students, I would say this:

v  It is OK if you and your roommate are not best friends.

v  Don’t be afraid to move residence halls.

v  Keep your door open when you are not sleeping (this is a way to meet people).

v  Socialize with the people on your floor.

v  Go to floor programs (another simple and easy way to meet people).

v  Be willing to try new things and meet new people.

v  Don’t go home every weekend (Labor Day is the first three-day weekend.  Avoid going home then.  I feel like it’s a test to see who is the most social.)

 Until Next Time BG,

Mike