If you are doing it for purely financial reasons, then follow the above advice about the least impact and hassle on your life. But if you doing it for the education/adventure or what you referred to as “fun” then you want to use a different set of rules. Ask yourself “what do I need to learn” and fill that void. Avoid the classifieds and just keep your eyes open in social settings for potential roomates, having a mutual aquaintance helps getting the true scoop on someone.
While my roommate experiences were all in my formative years and I would not even consider it now, here are the three roommates scenarios I believe that enhanced my life the most, these were not friends and sometimes they were friends of friends or friends of existing roommates, all were from college days when stuff didn’t seem to matter so much.
1. I had a roommate from a different religion, socio-economic background and frame of mind. In those two years, I learned a lot. He was a good dude.
2. I had another roommate who was a really good looking guy, he was “model good looking” and dumb like rain man. Wherever we went, whenever we had parties, women flocked to him, but after a short while of talking to him, most lost interest. But they are already drinking and already gussied up, perfect scenario for an average looking but witty guy like myself. After a while I just called him “bait.”
3. The best roommate was the non political, non angry lipstick lesbian. I was young, I knew very little about women (not just sexually, but mentally and emotionally). She wasn’t guarded, didn’t worry about giving up the secrets of her gender, didn’t feel like she had a group to defend and never had I met a more candid person. She had the mind of a man with the body of a woman, it was like having a spy. I had the other team’s playbook in my livingroom and there was no better wingman/wingwoman. Oh, and her friends….I have to stop writing or I am going to start crying, damn you brian for binging this up, that only lasted one semester and she moved to another city, I still have unanswered questions 20 years later that I didn’t ask when I had the chance. Damn, Damn, Double Damn.
