Roommate Rules

Today, at UT Tyler, I was in class... on tumblr. 

Class hadn't started yet! ;) I was early for the parking, and killing some time. I ran across a question about what makes a good roommate! We have come on the blog about a few personal experiences, but not the bare bones of what is generally good practice with living with someone that isn't family! 

1. Mind your noise, and if they’re being too loud ask them to turn their netflicks down, or whatever. Or text them something nice like, “Volume, bro. :)” 
2. Find out our methods of communication! The text didn't work? Try a note! A conversation! 
3. I solemnly swear I won’t be too messy. If we lose the path from the door to our beds we have problems with more than each other, the fire marshal, too. Ask them to clean with you! 
4. If it smells, don’t just shut the mini-fridge or leave the trash bag there. Do something about it. 
5. Don’t move or mess with their stuff. If things get messy, see rule two. 
6. Respect their space! This means their territory and their body. Without their consent, you can’t see or touch their anything. 
7. Take medicine for your health? Some meds are considered controlled substances, so know where they are located at all times. 
8. Maybe stash things you consider valuable (cash, SS card, meds) in that cabinet in your room. You can attach a combination lock that only you know the code to open. 
9. Wash your hands. Actually, that should have been rule number one. OHall’s many door handles are the perfect place to contract the flu. Don’t play, you need to be healthy to study/work/do what you do. 
10. Know the rules and policies for drinking on campus (dry) and be sure to stay safe.
11. Do unto your roommate as you would have them do unto you.

So, after a few different experiences, these are what I decided to highlight. Does anyone have any other suggestions? 

How to Talk to New People

            So, last week I covered Sidewalk Etiquette at UT Tyler, but it seems I've missed expanding on a key point. After moving over thirty-eight times, talking to people is not really a problem for me. It is just something that I do.

So when some of my friends were like,
"MEGAN, I'M SOCIALLY AWKWARD."
"MEGAN, WHAT DO I SAY TO PEOPLE?"
"MEGAN, HOW DO I SOCIALIZE?'

1. My overwhelming answer, every time, is to say- "Hi"
2. If they respond, ask them about themselves and what they enjoy. 

That's it. No tips or tricks. Just two steps. I can't guarantee that they'll answer. I have no idea if they will respond to your text. I don't know if you will even have anything in common at all.
Or, telling someone you like the color purple may lead to lasting friendships. Who knows?

What I do know is, you'll never meet anyone unless you try!

Roommate Bonding

   Last semester, I wrote this post about how I supposedly was going to live with my friend Stephanie after my horrific roommate experience that first semester of college. During the summer, she changed her plans and moved in with another one of our friends. I took this opportunity to change to Patriot Village and get the luxury of a kitchen. This decision had the end results of another random roommate selection but for 3 new roommates.
     Now I'm going to tell you the truth here. I spent the whole summer after the room changing ordeal freaking out about "What if I have bad roommates???" and remembering how awful it was.When the move in day came, I moved in at the same time as one of my roommates and that went pretty well. The others moved in while I was out. We all congregated in the kitchen on the Sunday and had a "get to know you" talk that lasted about three hours.

      After that talk, our overall level of friendship on a range of 1 through 10 was about 4. The first couple days of school came and everybody was in class and trying to find classes and all that other jazz. A flyer appeared on our door announcing that our RA and another RA were hosting a BREAKFAST FOR DINNER!! on Thursday night. Megan mentioned I was doing this in her blog. So all of us got all excited about the prospect for free dinner and made a plan to all go together. So that night we all walked to Clubhouse and feasted on the copious amounts of pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon whilst slipping on some OJ. 

      

 Here is a picture of one of my roommates holding the BIGGEST chocolate pancake that was made with another smaller one within it. Which she consumed all of it and then some.

After this wonderful bonding session, I ended up spending most of my weekend with the roommate pictured.This included Mortal Kombat on my Xbox 360 and then preceded to watch old school animation movies. I don't mean old like 2005 but rather 1981 old.

So that's a summary of my first week of school aside from what I did in classes.

Now I embark on the second week of class which includes my 20th birthday on Friday.

So I'm hoping that it's good week. 

Sidewalk Etiquette

When we're walking to class at UT Tyler, I notice that sometimes we notice each other, but don't say one thing.  Not even a little wave. How silly, right? As a senior, I've decided to share some tips with you on how to get to know and talk to people. :)

• Compliment them sincerely. If you like a girl's hair, she probably spent some time on it and would love a quick, "LOVE your hair!" Maybe I'm biased with my pink locks, but it feels good to have your hard work appreciated and admired. 
• Make eye contact and say "HI" when you pass people you know! Even if you don't remember their name, you totally met them at the MET or have Chuck's class with them. Don't pretend like you don't remember them. It makes you look rude, not cool. 
• Ask people you have interest in about themselves! Get to know what you two have in common. You may be surprised that the person next to you is just as close to their grandparents as you are to your own. They may not like watching movies either. You never know, unless you ask. People consistently surprise me. 

If people make you nervous, it is okay. Sometimes, if you find one friend, meeting more is easy! Tonight, Emmy went to a PV thing with her roommates! We have lots of get-togethers on campus all year long, so stay tuned!

It's a small world after all!

Summer's over. So that means Emmy is back! woo-hoo! 

Talking about myself in third person is weird. So Im'ma put that on the back burner for now.

I returned to UT Tyler for my sophomore year of college.

There is a bunch of fresh new faces and the faces of my previous peers.

My major will not be spoken of til the end of the semester. If I slip up or happen to mention it it will be the "Thing that shall not be named." 

So I was put through random roommate selection for a Patriot Village four bedroom and ended with an upperclassmen and two freshmen. 

One of which has a very distinct first name that I believe I sent a postcard too/called when I first started working here. So yeah. That's kinda amazingly weird. 

I ended up giving my roommates a tour of where their classes would be when they started classes that Monday. 

So this is a new experience as my work life has seeped into my home life- 

giving direction to the freshmen I live with as they go through their first year of college.
So that's my life right now.
See ya later!

How I Met My Roommates

          Everything changes; I'm still not used to it. I am one of those annoying people that likes to know what to expect. However, when I have to move every few years, and am constantly put in new situations meeting new people, it can really rev my anxiety. Having a strong support system is important to me, so I knew my goal when I got to UT Tyler would be to make friends. The idea of that excited me and put me on edge.

What if I couldn't find my kind of people? What is my kind of people?

        During new student orientation (what many of you are going through now) I met many, many new people. This guy named Sam was in my group, and he was very intelligent, and called himself "Stupid Sam" during our name game, and I'll never forget. He and I ate at Applebees a few days ago. Natalie was in our group, too, but at that time she feigned a mustache with her pointer finger and called herself "Notorious Natalie". She ended up dating one of our friends and I love seeing her around. "Krazy Kelsey," a future art student and I really hit it off. I got phone numbers. We traded emails and added each other to facebook.

When I ~finally~ got here on move in day, I had met my roommates and started making my rounds in OHall. I was texting all those new people I met. Kelsey invited me to the fifth floor, where she lived, for some coffee.

         Oh, I was nervous, but I walked up anyway. Kelsey is totally sweet, so I shouldn't have been nervous in the slightest. She introduced me to her roommates, absent-mindedly and
we realllllly hit it off.
Like. Really.

Baylee just stopped what she was doing to talk to me.
Cassidy came out in her towel and started talking to us.

The towel happened to be purple, and that really cemented it because we all exclaimed how it happened to be our favorite color- and the rest was college memory history. We became instant friends, and Kelsey is still cool and everything, but with some people, you just instantly click.

So, don't be too anxious to get out there.
You may find some fun memories and friends to keep.

Roomies

Ah. It's renewal time for on-campus residence students.  The students must choose to flee to an off campus residence or to stay or move facilities. Whispers and handshakes spread through the campus as the friends decide to room with friends for first time. Residents "fighting" over the three bedrooms and the rooms with the best view.
  I'm currently living alone in a double at Ornelas Hall. I searched through my friends to see if they needed a roommate and they wanted to live on campus. It came down to moving in with one of my best friends Stephanie in a triple next to three of our close friends. We're pretty close. I spent most of the last semester with this chickadee. So i'm pretty jazzed to be living with a friend. My roommate that I had last semester left a mark on my view on being paired with roommates. So I went pro-active and decided to pick my own.
        Rooming with someone that is a close friend has it pros and cons. The cons: we both hope we don't end up hating each other and it ruining our friendship. The pros: we know each other very well, we have common friends, and we've already pre-established our room rules.