When I signed on with my four other roommates, I didn’t sign on for a semi-permanent live-in girlfriend or two other roommates on the weekends. This was one of my many experiences of having an expectation but then a different reality. I need to say before I go any further, I have absolutely no hard feelings toward either of them, it’s just the fact that on weekends this house gets very full, very fast.
I have lost count of the times I felt overwhelmed in my own room because of all the people in the kitchen. I cherish when I get home and have the house to myself for hours. A few weekends ago, I had a mini vacation and stayed at my family’s apartment in the city. After I got over the creepiness of the large, empty apartment, the silence was beautiful. Coming back to a house filled with noise and socialization would normally not push my buttons, but with what my stress level was, it sent me over the edge.
When we signed the lease I was excited to have a kitchen and live in a drama-free situation. The reality was also not quite as I had anticipated. Instead, I ended up with a housemate who has managed to find ways to push all of our buttons in the worst way possible and pick fights about practically anything. I thought living with three guys and one girl would alleviate drama. Silly me. This sounds crazy but I think next year will be so much simpler. I’m living with four girls and one guy and we are all going to be student teaching.
The kitchen is an exercise in frustration whenever I walk into it because of the clutter. I am secretly an obsessive compulsive cleaner and a control freak, but I guess that isn’t really a secret anymore. I have to restrain myself from cleaning the kitchen every hour of the day. Instead, I settle for rearranging my bedroom.
I have learned some valuable lessons about what you hope for and what you actually experience: the expectation never matches the reality. If it happens the way you envision it, you are lucky. Chances are, there will be something totally off that you never saw coming, like a dramatic roommate, an extra housemate, or two, and so many other scarring moments.
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