On residence move-in day my first year, I was the keener who showed up at 9:00 a.m sharp. This was more out of fear than excitement. You see, I had been calling for weeks:

“Can you please tell me how many roommates I’m going to have?” “You’ll find out on move-in day.” “What’s your best estimate?” “My best estimate is that you will find out on move-in day.” “What about a name? Can you at least give me a name?” “I can’t disclose that information.” “What does it rhyme with?” “You’ll find out on move-in day.” “A nickname?” “Anonymous!”

As you can see, my efforts to gain insight about what the whole “roommate situation” would look like were fruitless.

Move-in day I was the first person on my floor to show up. I was shown my room and got to pick my bed first. I set up my things, said hi to awkward fathers who poked their heads in, and waited.

I wondered what kind of first impression I should make: should I go cool, mature, university student? Organized, go-getter? Independent genius? Looking back on that first hand-shake, Devin (my roommate) claims that I was “Nice, but… quirky? I don’t know, you seemed nice! My mom liked you!” Apparently it didn’t go as bad as I thought it had.

We talked while she set up her things, awkwardly trying to figure out what each other believed on important topics such as, “Are the Twilight books good because they are legitimately good or are they good in an ironic way,” meanwhile trying to determine if the other person was going to be a psychopath or not. We’d both heard the roommate horror stories, apparently.

At the end of the day I really didn’t have to stress out about moving in with a complete stranger so much. Devin and I were kindred spirits: God had truly outdone himself in matching us up. In our two years on residence, we shared more laughs and adventures than I had ever had with a friend before. The best part was we were growing together: not just in ourselves, but in our faith.

So, don’t stress out about who you may get as a roommate. Put on your brightest smile, shake their hand confidently, take interest in their interests, offer to help them settle in, and get ready for a new adventure. Who knows, you could end up meeting your best friend…