Your college roommate.

[JDLY]

So I grew up in Iowa, USA, and I'm going to Iowa State University.

Now going to college about two hours from where I grew up, I was quite surprised when my soon-to-be roommate is from China. Not from China as in "born in China but lived most his life in America" but born and grew up in China and is coming over from China to go to college here. This will also be his first time in the USA.

So I was wondering, have any of you guys had a roommate from some other country? Or even one from across your country?

EDIT: Reworded to make more sense. Hope it's easier to understand now.

ANOTHER EDIT: If you are the roommate that was from another area, that's fine too. Feel free to share any stories.

 

[Chasing-The-Light]

Well, I go to a small college in Pennsylvania, and I lived 17 years of my life in Florida. xD So I was the roommate who was so out of place and felt alone and all that... I even resorted to, when people asked me my name, I'd say, "Oh, I'm Niki. I'm from Florida." Just to try and make friends....

My experience wasn't helped by the fact that my roommate last year was a homophobic rapper who hated classical music even though she was a history major. (Ie: I'm a lesbian who loves metal/rock and has a HUGE appreciation for the classical musical realm. My point... we were polar opposites...)

My best advice to you would be to try and make him feel as welcomed as you possibly can and try and be as good of friends with him as you can be. It's really cool, though, that you get the opportunity to room with an international student. Take the time to perhaps help him out and show him around or something.

By, helping out, i mean... offer to help at the store, or the like. I had a Chinese friend last year who told me a story of her not knowing how to make cereal for breakfast -she poured it in a bowl, put milk in it, then heated it up in the microwave. ... Then her roommate (who was also Chinese) tried to tell her it wasn't cereal, but dog food.

Long story short... use it as a learning experience and do what you can to make the best of it! ^^ Having an international roommate/friend can be really interesting!

 

[JB1528]

My roomate was.....I don't know, we probably had a grand total of 5 conversations my entire freshman year. It was just live and let live I guess, he'd stay out of my way and I'd stay out of his.

 

[Move127]

My first roommate was from Japan, my second was from China, and my third was from across the country.

 

[JDLY]

-' roommate is from China. Not from China but living in the USA for most his life, he is coming over from China '-

Did I read this wrong? It doesn't seem right to me.

Never had a roommate from another country here tho.

Some people think that when I say "from China" they think some kid that was born in China but moved to America at a young age. He was born and grew up and still lives in China. He is coming over for college.

I probably could have worded that better, I'll make an edit.

 

[BrailleOperatic]

If I'm the roommate from a different country, does that count? I'm imported from the UK, but currently going to college in Texas. My friends think my accent is funny.

 

[JDLY]

So I grew up in Iowa, USA, and I'm going to Iowa State University.

Now going to college about two hours from where I grew up, I was quite surprised when my soon-to-be roommate is from China. Not from China as in "born in China but lived most his life in America" but born and grew up in China and is coming over from China to go to college here. This will also be his first time in the USA.

So I was wondering, have any of you guys had a roommate from some other country? Or even one from across your country?

EDIT: Reworded to make more sense. Hope it's easier to understand now.

ANOTHER EDIT: If you are the roommate that was from another area, that's fine too. Feel free to share any stories.

Whoops, hit the wrong button, if any mods see this comment it's not needed and can be deleted.

 

[Loner Jo Jo]

My roommate sophomore year was Chinese. God, I hated her by the end of the year. I would try to invite her to do things, and she would always say no, so halfway through the year I gave up. She was always in the room talking on webcam to her boyfriend type thing in Norway who was also doing a study abroad, but because our room was the tiniest on the floor, I would have to go into the very back corner of the room to change clothes or anything privately.

She would lie, specifically about her love interests. At first, she told me that the guy on webcam was her cousin. Then she said it was her brother, and when I called her out on it because she said she didn't have any siblings, she tried to tell me the word for brother and cousin were the same in Mandarin. I asked a friend of mine who was taking Mandarin and she told me they weren't the same word. Really, I knew it was her boyfriend, so I don't know why she lied about it in the first place. But then, second semester she was gone every weekend and she always came up with some thinly veiled excuse when I knew she was going to see a boy. Hell, I didn't care what she was doing; I was just glad to have the entire suite to myself every weekend. And she was the lightest sleeper in the world which I realize she can't help, but I would up till early morning hanging out and doing my work. Even though I would try to come into the room as quietly as possible, she would always get pissy about it. Of course, I don't think any of this had to do with her being Chinese; she was just really annoying period.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

My roommate sophomore year was Chinese. God, I hated her by the end of the year. I would try to invite her to do things, and she would always say no, so halfway through the year I gave up. She was always in the room talking on webcam to her boyfriend type thing in Norway who was also doing a study abroad, but because our room was the tiniest on the floor, I would have to go into the very back corner of the room to change clothes or anything privately.

She would lie, specifically about her love interests. At first, she told me that the guy on webcam was her cousin. Then she said it was her brother, and when I called her out on it because she said she didn't have any siblings, she tried to tell me the word for brother and cousin were the same in Mandarin. I asked a friend of mine who was taking Mandarin and she told me they weren't the same word. Really, I knew it was her boyfriend, so I don't know why she lied about it in the first place. But then, second semester she was gone every weekend and she always came up with some thinly veiled excuse when I knew she was going to see a boy. Hell, I didn't care what she was doing; I was just glad to have the entire suite to myself every weekend. And she was the lightest sleeper in the world which I realize she can't help, but I would up till early morning hanging out and doing my work. Even though I would try to come into the room as quietly as possible, she would always get pissy about it. Of course, I don't think any of this had to do with her being Chinese; she was just really annoying period.

And stuff like this is why I'm shelling out extra for a private room. One of my roommates last year was constantly on the phone, on webcam, or (about once a month) physically with the girl he had to leave back home. The other roommate and I, far from being put off by it, encouraged him -- it made him happy, and didn't negatively affect us, so we were cool with it. If I had had to share a bedroom with either one of my roommates last year, though, we would have been arguing all the time. As it was, we were more like brothers (in the positive, non-sibling rivalry sense) than anything else. Private rooms are awesome.

Unfortunately, one roommate really wanted to give off campus living a shot, and the two of us who were left missed the deadline to keep our rooms, so all three of us are in different places this term. I've got three roommates this term who I have yet to meet, but since the only living space we'll have to share is the bathroom, I'm not anticipating any problems. [edit]Well, maybe a little; I and one of the roommates are seniors, while the other two seem to be Freshmen. I'm 21, and I plan on keeping some alcohol in the room, but I have to be really careful about the underage roommates -- especially since I'm going to school to be a teacher, and supplying alcohol to a minor is a major no-no in that field. Not that I plan on supplying them with alcohol, but I'm not looking forward to explaining why I can't.[/edit]

As for roommates from all over the place, one roommate was from New York, but he'd moved down to Florida as a kid. The other was born in Florida, but to a family from New England, while my family has been in Florida for generations. The place of birth wasn't really an issue, though -- I think our accents were the most noticeable difference caused by that. Most of the other geographically based differences were things like the New York roommate's knowledge of New York city, and my ability, as a Southern cook, to make really good fried chicken -- so, basically, positive stuff.

 

[Loner Jo Jo]

And stuff like this is why I'm shelling out extra for a private room. One of my roommates last year was constantly on the phone, on webcam, or (about once a month) physically with the girl he had to leave back home. The other roommate and I, far from being put off by it, encouraged him -- it made him happy, and didn't negatively affect us, so we were cool with it. If I had had to share a bedroom with either one of my roommates last year, though, we would have been arguing all the time. As it was, we were more like brothers (in the positive, non-sibling rivalry sense) than anything else. Private rooms are awesome.

Unfortunately, one roommate really wanted to give off campus living a shot, and the two of us who were left missed the deadline to keep our rooms, so all three of us are in different places this term. I've got three roommates this term who I have yet to meet, but since the only living space we'll have to share is the bathroom, I'm not anticipating any problems. [edit]Well, maybe a little; I and one of the roommates are seniors, while the other two seem to be Freshmen. I'm 21, and I plan on keeping some alcohol in the room, but I have to be really careful about the underage roommates -- especially since I'm going to school to be a teacher, and supplying alcohol to a minor is a major no-no in that field. Not that I plan on supplying them with alcohol, but I'm not looking forward to explaining why I can't.

I don't mind sharing a room. Yeah, it'd be nice to have a private room, but I can deal with it. However, I lived in a school run apartment last year, and that's when I had to most trouble with roommates. I had a bedroom to myself, but they kicked me out this year because I didn't bug them enough. Mind you, two out of three of them were my friends and I wasn't rude. I would say hi and make small talk and all that, but when I come home, I don't want to have to entertain people, you know? But they told me I would have to find someplace else to live next year because we "didn't have enough bonding time." AND the day they decided to tell me this, I had gone home for my great aunt's funeral and I had just gotten back to school two hours previously. They didn't even say hi or ask me if I was alright before they laid that on me. Ugh. People can be ridiculous sometimes.

 

[Evidencebased]

My current roommate (apartment, not dorm) is from Japan and we have a lot of fun chatting together. It's a good chance to learn about another culture, and also to share your culture with them: she gave me weird Japanese candy, I tried to help her brainstorm a list of "American" foods, she gave me advice on gift ideas for a Japanese guy I know, I explained a couple difficult English words from our assignments to her... We've been friends pretty much from the first day she arrived, partly because I offered to help her out with anything she needed and tried to be a good "host" to her on behalf of the USA.

Stepping up to help your roommate out in a new country is at the least a kind gesture -- even if he ends up snubbing you -- and could at best result in a cool friendship!

(Also, China kind of owns our entire country now. So, uh... be super nice to him. Please. XD)

 

[Move127]

My roommate sophomore year was Chinese. God, I hated her by the end of the year. I would try to invite her to do things, and she would always say no, so halfway through the year I gave up. She was always in the room talking on webcam to her boyfriend type thing in Norway who was also doing a study abroad, but because our room was the tiniest on the floor, I would have to go into the very back corner of the room to change clothes or anything privately.

She would lie, specifically about her love interests. At first, she told me that the guy on webcam was her cousin. Then she said it was her brother, and when I called her out on it because she said she didn't have any siblings, she tried to tell me the word for brother and cousin were the same in Mandarin. I asked a friend of mine who was taking Mandarin and she told me they weren't the same word. Really, I knew it was her boyfriend, so I don't know why she lied about it in the first place. But then, second semester she was gone every weekend and she always came up with some thinly veiled excuse when I knew she was going to see a boy. Hell, I didn't care what she was doing; I was just glad to have the entire suite to myself every weekend. And she was the lightest sleeper in the world which I realize she can't help, but I would up till early morning hanging out and doing my work. Even though I would try to come into the room as quietly as possible, she would always get pissy about it. Of course, I don't think any of this had to do with her being Chinese; she was just really annoying period.

So that you know. Because of the one child policy the recent generations have grown up without siblings. Chinese parents want their children to have some kind of relationship like siblings, so cousins in China are particularly close. Many Chinese people now refer to their cousins as siblings. So when your roommate told you that cousin and brother were the same word she wasn't necessarily lying, she probably just didn't know how to, or possibly didn't want to explain this phenomenon.

 

[SckizoBoy]

snip

And this is why one, my sister was damned lucky to have a roommate that she's now best friends with, and two, I had a single room.

I'm unsocial at the best of times, so having a roommate would've made me falsely social or even worse than I already am. However, I'm fine with being roommates with friends, because they invariably know what I'm like.

 

[Loner Jo Jo]

So that you know. Because of the one child policy the recent generations have grown up without siblings. Chinese parents want their children to have some kind of relationship like siblings, so cousins in China are particularly close. Many Chinese people now refer to their cousins as siblings. So when your roommate told you that cousin and brother were the same word she wasn't necessarily lying, she probably just didn't know how to, or possibly didn't want to explain this phenomenon.

Okay, that does make sense and is something I didn't consider, but it doesn't really matter because I knew that he was her boyfriend. She had pointed him out early in the year as her on-again off-again boyfriend, but apparently forgot she did this. That and she would constantly try to trick me about her exploits. Suddenly, her "cousin" was in the US and in a nearby city for all of spring semester, and she visited him every weekend. I wasn't stupid; I knew she had found a new boy-toy. I could care less really, but I just found it weird that she wouldn't just fess up to having a love interest. Mind you, I don't know much about modern Chinese culture, especially in this aspect, so maybe she was doing something that in China would be deemed "improper". It was just odd to me. Really, I was more mad about never being able to walk in my room and being assured privacy because she was always talking on that thing.

And this is why one, my sister was damned lucky to have a roommate that she's now best friends with, and two, I had a single room.

I'm unsocial at the best of times, so having a roommate would've made me falsely social or even worse than I already am. However, I'm fine with being roommates with friends, because they invariably know what I'm like.

Oh, I've learned that I cannot be roommates with someone I'm actually friends with. If they expect me to be the same person that I am out and about that I am at home, then it would ruin the friendship, like what happened with the apartment. See, I am a social person, but when I come home, I need time to myself to recharge my batteries. When I'm hanging out with people, I feel like I have to make sure everyone's entertained, so I'm always keeping conversations going and cracking jokes and all that good stuff. At home, I'm typically very quiet and like peace. Apparently people don't like this quality in a roommate.

 

[Artina89]

I lived with a guy from iceland called Bear, but he had lived in Britain for one or two years beforehand. He was a funny guy, but we had to make him wear a full face motorcycle helmet when he was cooking because one time he had managed to set his eyebrows on fire. We don't know how, but he did. Myself and my other roommates called him "The domesticated Power ranger".

 

[Ninjamedic]

So I was wondering, have any of you guys had a roommate from some other country? Or even one from across your country?

I've been thinking this too as I'm starting college next month.

 

[Lord Beautiful]

No, all of my roommates have been natives. And all but one of them have been filthy. I hate my generation.

At the moment I have but one roommate, which is likely to change as fall semester begins. I've yet to figure out if he's severely autistic or severely retarded, but either way, he's somehow found a way to constantly make the most annoying noises I've ever heard.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

I got myself into a single room by sheer luck. I hope it'll be worth it.

To anyone interested: By the time it was my "turn" (there were a few different groups that we were randomly selected to) to select housing at the school I'm going to, all the single rooms were gone. ALL of them. So I begrudgingly picked a double room, even though I hadn't had a roommate in 10 years. And really, brothers don't count as roommates anyway.

3 days later, I logged in to check my would-be-roomies email address, and on a hunch just double checked the rooms available. A single room had been vacated. I had never written a faster email to a college residential office before (or slower. or any). They managed to switch me out to the single room, and I lived happily ever after.....hopefully. Maybe. Aah fuck do I know?

 

[Scarim Coral]

During my second year at University I was living in a house with eleven others. One of them was from Malaysia and the other from China. I gotten along with the guy from Malaysia. While I was fine with the guy from China but he is older than me and we didn't have that much in common (he was studying a music related degree while I studying toward 3D graphic).
The Malaysia guy is into anime just like me and he was studying graphic design meaning he was in same building as me (although we didn't see each other that often because of the different lesson time). We even lend each other anime dvds to watch that we haven't seen before.
Quite frankly I disappointed that I didn't kept in touch with him since he didn't use Facebook and didn't give me his mobile number.