When sophomore year was coming to a close and I realized I had no place to live, I reached out to a stranger via an allMSU advertisement and took a plunge to live with five people I never had met.

Three girls, including myself, and three guys shacked up together in a house on Milford Street.

As I learned when I lived in the dorms, living with a stranger can be a very eye-opening experience. What was different about moving into a house with strangers was I had my own little space. When things got weird — which on occasion, they did — I could retreat to my room and shut the door behind me. However, the dynamic in a house is immensely different from that of a dorm.

Your kitchen is there. Your living room, your bathroom, your driveway. There is no escape like the cafe or a study lounge.

In my own experience, I was lucky. My two female roommates became two of the best friends I’ve made here at MSU and we plan to live together again next year. On the downside, I never anticipated how difficult it can be living with members of the opposite sex.

I’m sure my male roommates would tell you, if you asked them, that living with girls isn’t exactly a walk in the park either. As my roommate Brandon would say, “You girls cause drama.” And to be fair, on occasion we do.

Naturally tension is there when the living room is too dirty (thanks, boys). And sure, my heart does skip a beat when I hear my male roommates discuss a girl they like and how she makes them feel inside.

You see a whole different side of people when you live with them. The boys probably have a new insight about the way women live and I know I have learned something about guys as well. Not only that, I’ve learned about conflict management, how to pick my battles and that you can’t let the little stuff get to you.

Do I regret going in blind? Sometimes. I regret it when I walk in my front door on a Tuesday night after working 10 hours at The State News to find a party going on, or when the house is so messy it’s almost too disgusting to clean.

But then there are those times where I don’t regret it at all. The times when we have a random dance party on a Saturday morning, the way after a bad day at work I can crawl into my roommate Megan’s bed and talk to her about it, when I come home on a late night to find my roommate Kara has made me some dinner because she knew I didn’t eat any and how many new friends my roommates Brandon and Aaron have introduced me to.

In any living situation, it’s all about a give and take. Sometimes when you’re being a jerk, you have to fess up to it. Sometimes when things are bothering you, but you know they’re minuscule, you have to let them go. And sometimes, you have to accept people the way they are and give them the chance to be your friend.

Between the screaming matches happening in the living room and the late night, drunken ramblings of “Oh my god, I love you guys so much,” I think we all learned a little something about ourselves.
And I’d do it all again if I could.

Kate Jacobson is the Managing Editor at The State News. To reach her, e-mail her at jacob171@msu.edu.