Stay a step ahead and follow these steps to a stress-free transition
College can be scary. Not only could it be your first time living away from home, but the first time living with a complete stranger. Fortunately, there are some easy ways to make the college transition a little easier.
Moving to a new place is a great opportunity for decorating. While working with a small space can be challenging, it’s still possible to decorate a dorm room well.
Posters, pictures, bulletin boards and wall hangings are all affordable ways to brighten up the room. To help with space restrictions, lofting the beds is a great way to open up the area. Putting the desks and dressers underneath the lofted beds frees up space in the middle of the room.
It’s also important to correspond and coordinate with your new roommate.
There are two ends of the roommate spectrum new students can expect coming into school.
First, there are best-friend roommates. These are people that click and instantly discover they both enjoy the exact same interests and hobbies.
Not everyone gets a roommate they instantly bond with. From drug addicts to someone who never leaves the room, there just seems to be something inherently wrong with them.
Most living situations fall somewhere in the middle. The important thing to remember when living with someone else is to find common ground. The first thing both roommates should do is set up guidelines for the room. The agreement resident advisors hand out is a good start, but it doesn’t cover all the details.
Take time to figure out things that seem silly, like listening to music in the room. Discuss having visitors, cleaning duties and make agreements about borrowing stuff. Although it might not seem like a big deal, close quarters can change that quickly. It is also a good idea to go over one another’s pet peeves.
Remember that none of the agreements are set in stone. Communication is important. It might be best to decide something and discover two weeks later that it isn’t working. As long as you and your roommate are open and talk about issues as they arise, things should be fine.
It’s going to be hard at first, but remember to give it a few weeks before things fall into place. If you’re miserable at first, it might just take some time.
If things don’t get better, first talk to your resident adviser. Their job is to help with these situations. They are a great resource to talk to. If you give it time and still don’t like it, request a transfer.
CU is a large campus with lots of options. There are over 300 different clubs on campus. Get involved in clubs and activities or get a job to earn some extra cash.
Leave your room door open and people will stop in. You never know who you might meet.
