Sydney: What has worked well during your time as roommates?
Leslie: We have a good balance between spending time with each other and being able to get our work done. We know when we annoy each other, so we’re able to [distance ourselves from one another] if we need to.
Why did you want to be roommates more than once?
Elizabeth: After our Prep year, we had become really good friends, so it was not even a discussion, [but] more of an assumption that we were going to be roommates, because it worked so well. We wanted to live with the same people; we had the same friends.
Leslie: Our Prep year, we went on a crazy zipline adventure together. After that, there was no turning back. We knew we would be best friends. Normally, proctors suggest discussions about rooming, but we did not even discuss it.
How did living in the same space affect your friendship?
Elizabeth: Sometimes we were sick of each other and we needed our own space. Last spring, we were doing the same sport and [saw] each other too much.

Why do you think it’s good to live with another student?
Elizabeth: Coming in, especially as a Prep, a day student roommate was the best of both worlds, because I did have a friend, but [I] also had my own space at night. Most of the time, she was gone by 10:30 [p.m.]. I could wake up and go to bed on my own time. Also, during Orientation, it was nice to have her to text to ask to go to something or meet up.
Leslie: It was nice to have a built-in friend.
What did you wish you knew before having a roommate and what would you like to tell people considering rooming together?
Elizabeth: Make sure you have [friends other than] your roommate. For some best friends, rooming together and doing the same sports works, but it can be hard not [to] have different groups of people. Especially if you are seeing them all the time, you are bound to get sick of your roommate at one point if you don’t have a place to go where they are not.
Leslie: It’s okay if it’s awkward in the beginning, because a lot of times friendships…need to happen naturally instead of being forced.

Lily Barnes ’19 & Sophie Rivest ’19

Sydney: What has worked well during your time as roommates?
Lily: Early on, we established boundaries, but didn’t really sit down and talk about it. [Each of us] quickly learned how the other worked. For example, she stays up later than me; I’m a morning person, and she’s not. We’ve learned little things about each other [that help us] respect one another.
Sophie: We’ve also made roommate contracts during the years, but they’re fun rules. Some are unwritten rules, such as, “Whoever is watching a show first can listen to it out loud and the other has to put in headphones.” We also dance to one song; we always say goodnight.

Why did you want to be roommates for more than one year?
Lily: We got super lucky, since we’re best friends. We were put together Lower Mid year and clicked right away, so Upper Mid year we wanted to live together again.
Sophie: I came in as a really shy Lower Mid, so having an automatic friend was really nice. I don’t really like to be alone in a room, since I get bored and lonely easily, so I would not want a single.

What was unexpected about having a roommate?
Lily: Going into it, I thought I would have a roommate and get along with her – I’d do my thing and she’d do her thing; we wouldn’t be friends. But we got lucky and we’re super close, though that doesn’t happen for all roommates.
Sophie: I didn’t expect to want to be roommates for more than a year; I thought it was just a temporary thing.

How did living in the same space affect your friendship? Do you think you would have been friends if you weren’t roommates?
Lily: I don’t know if we would’ve been friends if we weren’t roommates.
Sophie: Lower Mid year, we didn’t have a single class together, and she doesn’t play sports, but I do, so we wouldn’t have been on a team together. I honestly don’t think we would have been friends or at least not nearly as close.
Lily: We’re kind of opposites as people, so I think we would just have been acquaintances.

Were there times when you did not want to have a roommate?
Sophie: There was [only] one period [like that]. She’s very motherly, whereas I am more childlike, so there was a period [of time] last year [when] she kept nagging me [about little things], and it was hard for me. So for about four days, yes, but other than that, I have always loved living with her.
Lily: I’ve always wanted a roommate; I even fought for us to be roommates this year as a proctor, since I would not ever want to live without one. Not having her to go to dinner with, to have shower parties with, [or] not having her with me all the time would have made me really sad.

Would you recommend to most people that they have a roommate?
Lily: Yes, definitely as new students.
Sophie: A roommate is an automatic friend [which is] especially nice when you have to find people to go to meals with during the middle of the year.

What did you wish you knew before having a roommate, and what advice would you give to people considering rooming together?
Sophie: You should talk to your roommate about everything. I was wildly messy my Lower Mid year, but we’ve worked on that [through talking about it]. I think it’s good to go into the [experience without expectations,] because you get to know each other really well.
Lily: Don’t be close-minded to them becoming one of your best friends, because it’s awesome when it works out like that.