To help you approach your new living arrangements with the right attitude and to make the best of your experience on campus, here are a few guidelines to have and to be a great roommate.
Roommate relationships begin first and foremost with the choices you make. Regardless of how dissimilar you and your new roommate (or even your suitemates) may be, you hold the power to make your living situation successful.
如果你不能做出决定，那就好好相处, all of the advice in the world will be useless when a conflict arises. So, open up your mind and prepare for a new experience. Make the best of your living situation and experience campus living with a fresh start.
Many incoming first-year students have never shared a living space before and are used to having things their own way when it comes to their living environment. Your roommate is working to share the space, just like you are. So, be respectful of your roommate’s belongings and area of the room and try to work out a living arrangement that is suitable for you both.
If you have suitemates, you will be sharing a bathroom space as well. Conversations about respecting community areas shouldn’t stop with your roommate – many of the same discussions would be beneficial to have with your suitemates.
A good way for you and your new roommate to get to know one another is to simply ask questions. This might seem somewhat intrusive and uncomfortable at first, but in the long run you’ll see that doing so proves worthwhile. Social media can also be a good way to informally get to know and talk to one another before actually moving in together; however, don’t form opinions of your roommate based solely on the information provided on these sites.
保持开放的沟通是必要的. Establishing the similarities and differences in your living styles, 习惯, and interests is the basis for creating an enjoyable living environment.
从一开始就制定一些基本规则. 在发展友谊时, 人们通常会格外体贴, but it is important to have a mutual understanding of one another. Speak up from the start, and don’t just find a compromise. Collaborate and come up with a living plan to suit you both.
Establishing guidelines in the beginning will be much easier than doing so after you have already developed a relationship with your roommate. 你等得越久, the more difficult it is to give your opinion and state your views without the possibility of offending your roommate. Agree on some basic rules in the beginning and save yourselves an argument later on. Feel free to refer back to those rules periodically and make modifications if necessary.
冲突是完全正常的, but knowing how to deal with the conflict can sometimes be a challenging task. When a conflict does surface, you have yet another choice to make. You can choose to constructively confront the situation(s) at hand or you can choose to ignore it. 在一般情况下, ignoring a problem often makes the problem worse, and it doesn’t disappear like we might hope it will. 尽你所能解决这个问题.
Remember, there is no such thing as a “perfect” roommate relationship. 每个人争吵, but how you choose to handle it will set the course for the remainder of the year.
Decide together how you will confront one another if an issue does come up, so you will feel comfortable in discussing the situation. Set up a meeting in a neutral place rather than diving into immediate confrontation. 要直截了当. 说“当你在情境y中做x时，我感觉是z.”
Be honest about your needs, thoughts and feelings. If you find that you just need space away from one another, try making a schedule to allow each individual personal time in the room, 积极参加校园活动, 让你的生活远离你的房间. This will not only give you and your roommate time apart, but it will help you to meet other people as well.
Not every conflict can be solved without outside advice. 所以如果一切都失败了, don’t be afraid to involve your Resident Assistant and take advice from an unbiased third party. 这就是他们在这里的目的.
If you find that a solution cannot be reached between you and your roommate, you do have the option of speaking with your 住宅生活 Coordinator. Due to limited professional staff availability, we certainly recommend attempting to solve the issue first in order to avoid drawing out the situation unnecessarily.
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