Photo Credit: Alex Nedelcu
Socks under the pillows, shoes unpaired, strewn all over the place, and frustration starting to take over me, I let out a loud grunt and automatically burst.
“It is a FIVE day trip! How can you be so messy?!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, well aware that there were other people in the rooms adjacent to us. I didn’t care. I was angry.
My roommate looks up from her iPad, all green innocent eyes, as if she did not do a thing. She rolls those eyes and looks back to her technology, nonchalantly crossing her ankles. She has a point, of course, and then again, she doesn’t. My stuff is next to hers, but my socks are strictly black, while hers are purple.
We all have our pet peeves. I hate cotton-balls for example, but above all, I hate, hate, messiness. I did not necessarily mind it as much until I began rooming with others on school trips. It was the small everyday habits that annoyed me the most. For example, I want to sleep on the bed, not on her belongings.
When I go on trips with three or four other girls, I go absolutely insane. Five girls means five toothbrushes, five suitcases filled with clothes, five makeup bags, and five completely different attitudes and personalities. Some of these attitudes consist of different opinions regarding messy and clean. My opinion of clean means C-L-E-A-N, as in no socks laying around, no shoes unpaired, no makeup brushes on the toilet seat, and clothes being where they belong.
I enjoy the fun and games that go into school trips, but when I arrive at my hotel room after long, rigorous workshops, I expect a neat room where I can kick back and relax. There is only one solution for this: don’t become roommates with someone that is messy. Simple as that. However, sometimes you cannot help who you room with. For all you know, you could be with Messy Maggie. Or Stinky Sally, for that matter.
And, if you are, I can truly sympathize. However, as a fairly neat person myself, I know that a messy roommate is not the end of the world. Sure, aggravation will turn you red every time you walk into the room, but it is truly no big deal. Take a breath, put the strewn belongings where they are supposed to be, and relax.
Above all, over the past five days, I learned to compromise. I understand that you cannot always receive what you want, but ultimately, it is your job to work things out yourself.
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