Editor’s note: Only each participant’s year and major are listed to allow interviewees to speak openly about past roommates.
The beginning of the semester is an adjustment for everyone. Homework assignments, exams and busy work schedules make for a hectic time of year.
On top of everything, over 19,000 undergraduate students are trying to learn how to coexist with complete strangers.
The Spectrum interviewed students and asked about their craziest roommate experiences. Below, in no particular order, are the wildest responses:
“My roommate would wake me up every single night at 3 a.m. by playing his clarinet. I asked him to stop, and he said it was the only time he could practice.”
—senior anthropology major
“My roommate asked if she could have one of my water bottles, and I came home, and she had drunk the entire case. I’m still dumbfounded.”
—junior criminology major
“My roommate from my freshman year wiped her s—tty ass with my hand towel.”
—senior psychology major
“The first time I invited my boyfriend over to my apartment, my roommate hadn’t cleaned her cat’s litter box in months. When he walked through the door, he immediately gagged.”
—junior nursing major
“I came home from class, and my roommate had left a raw chicken breast sitting uncovered on the counter. There was a mouse eating it.”
—junior Spanish major
“My roommate would blow up the toilet and regularly not flush it. When asked about it, she said it was a ‘cultural difference.’”
—senior engineering major
“When I lived in a dorm, I had pictures of my family on my desk. One time, I came home from my friend’s house, and all my family photos were facing down. I asked my roommate about it, and she said they were bothering her and her Tinder hookup.”
—junior communication major
“My roommate had explosive diarrhea in her bathroom, then left for winter break. At my old apartment, we all had our own bathroom, so it took a while for me to notice. I stayed at school, and about a week into winter break, our apartment legitimately smelled like straight sewage. We called maintenance, and it took about four workers to unclog her toilet and get the smell out.”
—senior education major
“I overheard my old roommate on the phone with his friend plotting to flush my goldfish when I left. I asked him about it, and he said he was just talking about a short story he had read for class. I never left my goldfish alone again.”
—sophomore business major
“I came home from SU [Student Union], and I caught my roommate eating my leftover Moe’s from our mini fridge. I was just kind of like, ‘What the f–k?’ But she didn’t stop eating it. We haven’t talked since.”
—senior communication major
Kayla Estrada is a senior news editor and can be reached at kayla.estrada@ubspectrum.com
Kayla Estrada is the opinion editor at The Spectrum. She is an English major who enjoys rainy weather, “Bob’s Burgers” and asking people who they voted for. When she’s not writing, she can be found hunting for odd-looking knick-knacks at the nearest thrift store.
