Roommate Reminiscences

One August afternoon during my junior year at BYU, I sat sulking alone in my apartment. For nearly a year I had enjoyed the camaraderie and brotherhood of rooming with three of my closest friends—a happy “band of brothers.” But we four had been broken up when infiltrators of the feminine persuasion convinced two glassy-eyed roomies to seek new lodging in married housing and the third moved to another apartment. My well-balanced world had been knocked off its axis by a collision with inevitable change, and I had an inkling that this roommate perfection would be hard to obtain again. However, I became good friends with the replacement roommates, and within a year I, too, abandoned the ranks of bachelorhood, but I still look back on that year and that apartment with fondness.

Inhabiting the same space, college roommates share in each other’s joys and trials—and sometimes become each other’s joys or trials. Some of the most important lessons at college come from this interaction: learning to get along, to pick up socks and do dishes, and to see past differences. We want to hear your college roommate reminiscences. Send your roommate stories to First Person, BYU Magazine, 209 UPB, Provo, UT 84602 or firstperson@byu.edu.