Roommate Question

<p>I recently got my housing information for my freshman year. I was given my roommate's information and send him an email introducing myself(gave him my cell number etc). His response was "cool". Literally "cool". One word. I've got to establish some sort of communication so I know what to bring because I'm coming from far away but obviously he isn't very responsive. I'm going to try emailing him again in a week but if he isn't going to talk to me I don't see how this could possibly work. How hard is it to change roommates right after school starts? I would like to do it before school starts so I don't have to move everything by myself but thats not really possible. Ok 2 questions: 1 How would you respond and 2 How hard is it to switch roommates?</p>

<p>maybe he just doesnt like emailing, dont judge him too fast.</p>

<p>I would probably send her an email (it would be "her" for me.) which is like two and a half times the email she sent me. (I do that a lot. I love to talk.) As for 2., I don't know.</p>

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<li><p>I would send another email, focussed more on getting to know your future roomate rather than introducing yourself - if you said something like "Hey, I'm Brian, I'm your new roomate! I thought you might want to know a bit about me. I'm the oldest child in my family, and I'm from xyz location and I like sports and watching MTV. Here's my number if you want to call me", he may not have known how to respond. Perhaps he's shy and reluctant to give up information about himself, or perhaps he has negative experiences with people who like sports and watching MTV from xyz location. Whatever the case, shoot him another email. Ask him casual questions about himself. Maybe if you facebook him you'll get a better idea of some of his interests?</p></li>
<li><p>As someone who works for a reslife office, and as someone who has changed roomates, it can not only be a lengthy process, but is often not possible before school begins (unless you selected to live with someone and reslife made a mistake or something). When I switched roomates, I not only had a long list of reasons why it wasn't working (extremely messy roomate, boyfriend over weekends and weeknights, disrespectful with regards to using my things, left condoms on my bed and cans of alcohol all over my side of the room - the list goes on), I had an empty room next door to move into as well. Even still, I had to have a talk with my roomate, sign a new rooming contract, document the times the roomate contract was violated, have a mediation with the RA, and a mediation with the RD, before I was allowed to move. It took at least two months.</p></li>
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<p>^ Obviously though, policies vary from school to school. Some are more leniant than others. I guess the point I was trying to make is that you should give him a chance and you'll probably need reasons other than "my new roomate is a poor conversationalist" to move.</p>

<p>My email wasn't a big thing. It "Hi I'm Luke I'm going to be your roommate..." gave him my phone number in case he wanted to call and that was about it. I had been holding back on making a facebook but made one that day and friended him. He doesn't really have anything on there. Its not that I want to switch roommates already. I haven't judged him because there's frankly not anything to judge him on. I know his address and thats it. I'm not looking for a marriage proposal, just basic information. I'm pretty shy myself and I forced myself to make that first move.</p>

<p>I wasn't trying to sound harsh, I'm sorry if it was taken that way. I think humor sometimes translates poorly over the internet.</p>

<p>If your email was no big thing, and he doesn't have much information about him on his facebook, maybe he's just a guy of few words, or, at least, a guy of few words on the internet. I know it's hard to make the first contact, and getting your rooming assignment can be a nerve wracking experience (I think everyone wants to somehow know "what they're in for" before they move in). I still think you should shoot him another email asking him to tell you a bit about himself, and suggest that you guys call or email to have a dicussion about bringing stuff.</p>

<p>Ok thanks for the advice. I guess there's not much to do anyways. Thank you all again. I'll send him another email.</p>

<p>Be direct. Tell him you want to figure out who's bringing what. Ask how he can best contact you. I would be really reluctant to call my roommate who I've never met and don't know just out of the blue, even if she did say it was okay. Maybe he's got a job and trips planned and doesn't have a whole lot of time for long e-mails. Maybe he's just nervous about going to college and is trying to put off talking about it. That's how my roomie was last summer. She wasn't a bad roommate at all, she just wasn't all that excited about college. There could be lots of reasons for the briefness of his response; give it another chance.</p>