There are many reasons why campus students prefer having roommates. Personally I only stayed with a roommate during my first semester in campus and it was a pretty bad experience so i vowed to never do so again. It’s a decision I am always glad to have made. There are lots of benefits to having your own personal space but living with a roommate can be fun too, depending on the type of roommate you get.
There are many benefits if you get a good person to live with. You get to share costs or make friends with the person. When you are living with a close friend it’s even better. However, roommates come in many varieties, all with their own unique quirks. Here are some of the most prevalent forms of roommate you’ll get in campus.
1. The Roommate that’s obsessed with you
Desperate to connect, this roommate acts like your best friend. This roommate is even jealous of your actual best friend. They warm up to you more than any roommate should. They are more like a clinger. With time, they become irritating since they take sharing a living space as an open invitation to do everything together. When you go somewhere they’ll want to go too. They will adopt your style, shop where you shop, hang out with your friends and struggle to wear what you wear despite the financial gulf or difference in upbringing between the two of you; All this under the guise of trying to be like you.
2. The academic freak.
Living with this kind of roommate is stressfull especially if you don’t love reading too much yourself. When they are not studying, chances are that they have invited a friend with big spectacles and baggy trousers over to discuss a 20 marks sum. This roommate makes you feel guilty of watching a movie because there’s always that feeling that maybe you should be studying instead. Worst still is when they come with their 28/30 CAT marks yet you have a 10/30 score
The academic freak or geek never gets enough study time. They wake up to study at 5 am, when sleep is usually sweetest then they switch on the lights, disrupting your comfort. They are also the kind to switch off the radio or TV just when your favorite program is about to start. When you tell them they should use the library instead, it becomes a fight.
3. The Exiler, Sex maniac and Space Hog
I like to refer to this one as the ‘I don’t care about you or what you think’ roommate. This roommate loves sex, whether it’s with their boyfriend, girlfriend or random people. Chances are that most of the times you get to your room after a long and boring class, you’ll find them cuddling with someone. You just have to quickly excuse yourself again and look for a place to hang out.
Living with this kind of person can make you really hate them especially if you are a member ‘Team Dry Spells’. Some never even bother exiling their roommates. They just come with their partners and go ahead to ‘chafua sheets’. The exiler on the other hand will make you spend countless nights away from your room.
Then they make their room appear like it’s theirs alone. Whenever you want to use the gas cooker or coil, chances are that this roommate is boiling beans on it. Whenever you want to listen to music, this roommate is watching a movie. And worse still, they’ll use most of your stuff without bothering to buy theirs.
4. The Room Committee roommate
You know that kind of roommate that always brings a group of loud Jaduongs in the room to discuss politics and things like that. Today they’ll discuss how Raila was heckled in Kisumu and tomorrow they’ll discuss how Uhuru should follow in Museveni’s footsteps and ban miniskirts, just because the girls in miniskirts are out of their league.
On the ladies part, it’s usually endless gossip. This kind of roommate has a gossip team that she always brings over. Each member of the gossip team plays a particular role. There’s one who has specialized in 411 about other people’s relationships. She knows who broke up with who and who’s cheating on who. Then there’s the one who has specialized in criticizing others yet she doesn’t have a life worth talking about herself. All this goes on and on.
5. The weird roommate
This one is either too clean, too silent or too crazy. The silent one is a little more than a ghost in a shell. You rarely know what they are thinking, because they rarely offer any transparency. Sometimes you even fear for your life.
Then there’s the cleaner who will frown when one of your friends enters the room with their shoes on. The cleaner always makes sure that everything in the room is sparkling clean. They will lift your legs to clean up a mess or turn your things over just to make sure there’s no dirt.
Not forgetting the roommate with a terrible taste in music. This roommate is very enthusiastic about listening to strange beats at unbearably high volumes. It’s one thing if someone merely likes a type of music, it’s that person’s every right to enjoy it, but when that cringe-inducing style is forced down your throat in a way that invades your functional headspace, well that creates a problem. This kind of roommate always insists on blasting rap beats out of a desktop subwoofer, audibly mouthing along.
6. The Party Animal
This one treats every night like it’s Friday night. Any beverage that contains no alcohol is “childen’s stuff.” The Party Animal is the life of the party and they are just as happy to go out and find a party as they are to throw one.
The party animal will go to great lengths to try to convert any “boring” people to their partying life style. This person is known for their aggressive pursuit or falling for members of the opposite sex. Ladies of this kind always reappear in their rooms in the morning after waking up on strange beds. Guys of this kind have left a trail of disappointed ladies on their paths since they are ever full of vibe when they are drunk but under perform in bed. They don’t care though. All study and no party makes Jack a bored student.
Written By Philip Etemesi (KU)
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