Terrible Roomates... Possible to change roommates or cancel housing contract? HELP!

<p>I dorm with two others in a triple at Clark Kerr. The other two are frequent partygoers, while I am more of the introverted type, tending to stay in my room and study. Last night, I've had just about it. </p>

<p>They came back again, drunk. And this time, being loud and boisterous and waking me up wasn't enough; one of them threw up in our room's garbage can and a foul odor of vomit diffused throughout the room! It was only until I told the other roommate to take the garbage can (with the vomit) to dump the vomit out did they realize that vomiting in dorm garbage cans isn't conventional practice! Even after they dumped out the vomit, the room still smelled because they brought the garbage can back in; plus, there was some residue vomit on the floor...</p>

<p>For me, the worst part of all this is that I am now sleep deprived because of them - they wake me when they come home at 3am from their parties (I am a light sleeper). I seriously cannot function properly without 9 hours of sleep. I NEED my sleep to do my BEST in school, and I will seriously do whatever it takes to secure good sleep. I didn't pay 12 thousand dollars to so drunk roommates could wake me up at 3am in the morning. </p>

<p>Right now, I am disgusted, worried, and sad. I always thought it would be the dorm that would be causing the problem, not my dorm roommates. I should have listened to my mom and got an apartment near school all by myself.. ;_;</p>

<p>But is it too late though? How hard is it for an appeal for the cancellation of the housing contract to be approved (this semester)? How hard is it for someone to find an apartment right about now, near walking distance (or bus, I have a Cal 1 Card) of Berkeley? I realize now that I would rather live by myself in my apartment rather than a dorm, but if that's not possible, how hard is it to change roommates? </p>

<p>School is starting in two days and if I don't deal with the issue now I won't have time to deal with it later (I'm a CS major). I really need the wisdom of CCs best right now. Please help me in this desperate situation; I give you all a thousand thanks...</p>

<p>First off…</p>

<p>1) Classes haven’t even started yet. Chill. There’s nothing to study for. You probably should be going out and coming back at 3 AM everyday until Thursday anyways.</p>

<p>2) Have you talked to your roommates? If no, then stop reading and go talk to them.</p>

<p>3) I understand your concerns and everybody needs their own quiet time, but you also come off as a person who sounds like a real nag if you don’t get your way. “I srsly can’t function w/o 9 hrs of sleep.” Do you think your roommates will respect you if you say that to them? Come on, be cool, be understanding, and compromise. Not everybody is going to adhere to your pure silence, 9 hours of sleep non-sense.</p>

<p>4) You know, you probably could’ve just left the trash can OUTSIDE of your door. I doubt anyone would’ve stolen it. And then you could’ve sprayed your room with Glade or an air freshener or something.</p>

<p>5) You roommates aren’t going to be drunk everyday. It’ll happen once a week, usually Thursday nights. So just saying…I doubt it’s an everyday thing.</p>

<p>6) If all else fails, then pursue the room cancellation/switch dorms thing.</p>

<p>Welcome to college.</p>

<p>I completely disagree with the post above. You deserve sleep and a room without vomit. I don’t have specific knowledge/advice, but you should probably contact RA or whatever your school has to resolve such issues.</p>

<p>Ok, don’t listen to the post above. I know exactly how you feel, and chances are, these are not the type of roommates you want to be with the next year. I’m not sure what would help, but talk to your RA (I’m guessing you’re not the type to confront your roomies), then go to the housing office (1st floor of the building behind crossroads) and explain the situation and file for a request to move. Make them know how important it is (I wasn’t pushy enough and filed my request too late, so I didn’t get another offer), and it is their responsibility to make sure you don’t have these kinds of problems. Though I’m not sure if you’ll get your 9 hours of sleep as a CS major xP</p>

<p>And if you do want to move out, you can definitely find another place, and I think if this is the situation, they will let you leave or at least accommodate you so you find another room.</p>

<p>Thank you for the quick replies.</p>

<p>notaznguy, the two are talking about going to another party tonight, AGAIN - the third time this week in the four days I’ve been here. Now, it’s quite possible that my two roommates will break out of this habit and realize the importance of academics once school starts, but from my observation, I highly doubt it. Judging by the converations I’ve had with them, my roommates aren’t particularly concerned about their grades, or anything for that matter besides getting girls and free drinks… </p>

<p>I try to be nice to my roommates and everyone around me. I respect my roommates sleeptime, and I’m as quiet as possible when they sleep till 1 in the afternoon. Yesterday, I offered to pay for a new refrigerator so they didn’t have to pay 180 dollars to rent one. I respect my roommates, and they should respect me. If I don’t get 9 hours because of harsh workload (as meep1234 implied above) or procrastination, then it’s my fault. But if I’m woken up at 3 in the morning because of yelling and vomiting, then it isn’t my fault. What I want is just flowing, uninterrupted sleep - from the time I go to bed, and the time I wake up in the morning… </p>

<p>I’m going to talk to my roommates, then the RA and see if I can cancel the housing contract. If anyone can shed more light on this process, please do so.</p>

<p>@meep1234: Thanks, I’ll go to the housing office and try to file a request ASAP.</p>

<p>Cant you find other studious guys with the same problem and switch roommates? Is that against dorm rules?</p>

<p>This is typical freshman antics going out to parties and getting ‘wasted’ before school starts. They don’t know their limits and throwing up is usually bound to happen. Once school starts, they’re going to have a hard time keeping up the lifestyle, due to a lack of parties available to go to, or due to a lack of a liver. Obviously they don’t have their drinking down and are most likely new to it, once they have experience, they won’t be load or throwing up unless they’re just douch-ebags. </p>

<p>At most, they’ll come back a little tipsy once or twice a week during the school years; not to the point of a raging drunk. </p>

<p>In the end, if you really want out, you can most likely get out. However, if you see it through, I’d be willing to bet that you’re going to grow as a person, instead of trying to find ways out of situations that are not ideal. Sometimes it’s just best to accept the situation you’re in; in the case of college roommates, I would argue that it’s part of the experience. The stories you can tell your friends back home about, who knows, maybe they’ll impart a little something with you about life that will change you for the better. </p>

<p>To be honest, from MY experiences, those that said they have positive roommate experiences at CAL are those that are willing and accepting of others. They’re willing to compromise and work with their roommates, not trying to cop out at the first sign of trouble. </p>

<p>Those that absolute need to have a certain environment to work in are those that usually have bad experiences because you can find faults with practically ANYBODY you room with. If you want the perfect roommate, it’s as much a reflection of yourself as the roommate.</p>

<p>Just wait until school starts. Parties are just opened frequently right now because there are no classes. Most people become more tamed once they get into the rhythm of school (less parties, catching up on sleep/homework, etc).</p>

<p>Oh, and you will come to find that a consistent 9-hour sleep is hard to come by in college regardless of your roommates’ antics…</p>

<p>lol studying when school didn’t even start yet</p>

<p>I think you should get a single room if you can afford. Or a double room with a person similar to you. It’s better for your personality type especially for the first year.</p>

<p>It’s freshman year and classes haven’t started yet, this is THE TIME to go out and party. This is when a lot of people start drinking for the first time, which is why they can’t really handle the alcohol and throw up. They’ll get calmer and better at it as the semester goes on.</p>

<p>They’re being normal freshman here, you can’t really call them “terrible”. You’re the annoying roommate if you’re going around complaining about this continuously. You probably won’t be able to switch at this point, so just chill out and don’t burn bridges with them or the rest of your dorm.</p>

<p>I’m sure many of us here have roommate stories. My roommate and I share a studio and our sleep times are completely yin-yang but we don’t mind. As others have said, part of being a college student means having to endure “terrible” roommates. However, some students can tolerate more than others, and if you really need peace and quiet, you can always find a way to switch out or cancel.</p>

<p>How hard would it be to switch into foothill (would the spots be full about now)?</p>

<p>I would stop by the housing office and talk to them directly. You can’t wait for answers from this forum.</p>

<p>As mentioned above, you can go to the Housing Office and they will let you switch if the situation is serious. </p>

<p>However, if you go right now, they will laugh at you because school hasn’t even started and your reasoning above isn’t really legitimate since there is nothing to study at the moment.</p>

<p>I would wait at least 2 weeks after school starts and if their behavior is still out of control, then I think it’s okay to go.</p>

<p>In my opinion though, it sounds like your roommates are just two typical curious freshmans trying to experience the college party scene and they will settle down once school starts.</p>

<p>LOL @ the studying when school hasn’t even started.</p>

<p>notaznguy flutterfly_28, are you smoking crack or something? Normal kids don’t do this kind of nasty and unacceptable thing just because classes have not started or just because they are freshman. some obnoxious kids who don’t freaking care about their roommate. </p>

<p>FroshPosh, your RA is not gonna help you so much. You should directly go to the housing office tomorrow early in the morning. You will never get along with your roommates and your freshman life will never be happy if you choose to stay with them. Don’t let them disturb your sleep and privacy. They’re not supposed to drink in the first place so call the police. these idiots will soon be on probation and won’t get their diplomas. SCHADENFREUDE! Meantime yell at them and kick their asses hard. And talk to your parents ASAP so they can call the housing office and the police about your urgent situation.</p>

<p>“hey’re not supposed to drink in the first place so call the police. these idiots will soon be on probation and won’t get their diplomas.”</p>

<p>And what world are you living in?</p>

<p>“Normal kids don’t do this kind of nasty and unacceptable thing just because classes have not started or just because they are freshman.”</p>

<p>Uh, yeah they do. Hello, college → party & getting laid. Academics is just one aspect of college life. What world do YOU live in?</p>

<p>and LOL @ they’re not suppose to drink.</p>

<p>Were you home schooled or something?</p>

<p>Some of you need to read, or re-read Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal then come back to this thread before saying anything.</p>