Day 14: My Roommates

As much as I may complain about dishes in the sink or having to share the fridge, I really love living with roommates. Learning to love to live with others has been quite a journey though. Before college, I was concerned about having to share a room with someone, but my freshman year random roommate and I ended up eating every meal together and we became the best of friends. Sophomore year I lived in a triple at the house, so I shared my room with 2 others but lived with 60 other girls throughout the whole house. Junior year I had my own room at the house then lived with a fellow AOII, 2 other Americans, and a rotating roommate of different nationalities from Italian to Slovakian to Romanian. This year I am living with Julie, my friend from high school, and Whitney, my friend whom I met on Habit for Humanity 2 years ago on spring break.

Julie & I after the musical Senior year.

Whit & I at Habitat in Mississippi.

Today I found out I didn't get the Fulbright Scholarship to be an English Teaching Assistant in Italy that I wanted so badly, and I truly have never been so thankful for my roommates. They have been there for me while I was dealing with other personal things last semester such as my crazy summer break up and learning how to deal with my emotions without turning to food, but today they were there for me when I really needed them.

Part of my recovery is learning to turn to others when I'm upset, happy, frustrated, etc, so after a good solo cry of disappointment, I went in to Julie's room and asked to lounge in her bed with her. It was obvious I had been crying so she asked what was wrong and listened to me cry and rant in disappointment and frustration. She is one of the most calming people I know and after a good cry with her, I felt so much better. We just laid around and talked about what we want to do with our futures, what we want in life, and how much it sucks that no matter how hard you work in college, you still have to work just as hard to find a job.

She had been cleaning her room so after a bit, she got up and continued cleaning while I grabbed my laptop and lounged around for a few hours in her bed. Soon Whitney got home from class munching on some toast she received from down the hall and came in to the room to say hi. Again, she could tell I was upset, and when I told her I didn't get Fulbright, she instantly made her way across everything laying around the floor that Julie was sorting through to give me a hug.

It was so comforting that Julie let me just lounge in her room and de-steam, and then Whitney helped me get ready once I decided to join the world again and go out to try to have some fun. Thanks roomies for helping me make it through one of my roughest days in a while. I love you.

The roomies on my 21st birthday.