Your RA told you the first week of school that there was to be absolutely no drinking in the dorms. No beer, no vodka, no 4Loko, no shots, no power hours. Did everyone listen to the RA after that rule was so unjustly implemented? Of course not. Pre-gaming doesn’t happen over glasses of water.

But what happens when you prefer to keep your room alcohol-free and your roommate wants to turn it into a college bar at happy hour? Or vice versa. The fact that there’s a clear-cut “right” answer to this dilemma doesn’t make it any easier to solve. You shouldn’t have booze in your room, we all know that. But one of you really, really want to just mix up a rum and coke while you straighten your hair Friday night.

Once again, Marysa’s here to lend a helping hand with this all too common roommate problem… Read More »

So you like to stay up late watching Bravo reruns while your roommate prefers to get her full…uh…14 hours of sleep each night. If you’re a night owl, it can be tough striking a reasonable balance with an early bird. What time do the lights go out? What about music and TV? Visitors? It seems like one problem just begets another! Good thing we’ve got Marysa on our team to tackle all the tough questions.

Tune in to this week’s Ask a Roommate to get tips on how to handle this tough sitch… Read More »

I had the most awkward roommate my first year of college. Like everyone under the sun suggested, I tried my best to stick it out and get to know her. Keyword: tried.

After a failed trip to Canada that almost got me killed, five-week-old leftover Indian food in my mini-fridge, taking and wearing my jeans without asking, puking all over her bed and then shutting the windows…I finally had to count my loses and accept that my roommate was absolutely CRAZY and our relationship was going nowhere.

Thank God.

But, since hindsight is always 20/20, if I had the chance to choose who my freshman year roomie would have been, you know who I would have picked? Celebrities. Big time celebs. Not the Indie films stars (even though I still find them incredibly talented and way more interesting than me). I’m talkin’ Hollywood A-list, top-of-the-line, million-dollar-making, still warm from their last vacation, celebrities!

I’ll admit, not all of my top 10 celeb picks were motivated by everlasting friendship: Read More »

Disagreements with the one you cohabitate with are inevitable. From your parents to your boyfriend, people won’t knock and your snacks will get eaten. Yet the college living situation always seems to be the most tumultuous, and so I have collected all my wisdom to show you the signs that you’re being a bad roommate. Yes, you. That wasn’t a typo. Instead of blaming your roommate, look out for these signs in your self and you’ll be able to negate any sign of conflict. Because what’s a better way to learn than with examples of what-not-to-do? Read More »

In April, I made a decision that I knew would undoubtedly change the rest of my college experience: I signed a lease to share a five bedroom duplex with not one, not two, not even three – but a whopping FOUR girls.

I was excited to be living with these girls because although we aren’t the best of friends, we spent the better half of our last year partying at each other’s respective houses and decided that in an effort to make it easier on all of us we’d just… live together. We eliminated the need to sleep on each other’s uncomfortable couches in dirty, beer-stained clothes and brave the BRUTUAL winters to walk home.

Regardless of how fun and exciting this whole idea was, though, I was still scared sh*tless to share my life/belongings/food/drinks with four estrogen-filled, sometimes catty, often-drunk females. We’ve all heard roommate horror stories and let’s face it – with five girls occupying such a small space, I figured The Hills-esque drama was inevitable.

BUT, not to jump the gun (it’s only been about three weeks since we moved in!), things have been great. FABULOUS. I’d even go as far to say that I actually thoroughly ENJOY living with girls – and that having roommates (especially four of them) really has its perks: Read More »