<p>I'm currently attending SFSU and I'm stuck in a pretty awful dorm. There's a really terrible smell throughout the dorm itself, and I'm stuck sharing a room with a difficult roommate. He doesn't talk to our other dormmates (or me if he unless he needs to) and I can count the nights I've gotten a good night's rest on one hand. His alarm goes off repeatedly in the morning, he'll turn the lights on at night, and one night he woke up shrieking from a night terror. I want out, so I tried bringing this up with the housing department as grounds to leave university housing and they denied me (my lease is until the end of this semester). I've written to every possible party, had face to face meetings with my RA's boss, and the best they can do for me is a possible transfer to another dorm.
My sleep is pretty important to me, as I can start to feel my focus slipping. My next move will be to get a doctor's note regarding my sleep issues from the campus doctor. My question is: Does anyone think this will work? If it won't, what else can it do?</p>
<p>first take them up on their offer to move you to another dorm and manybe this would be the time to ask for a single room, if at all possible? then if the sleep issues in your new room continue, because of noise created by other students, take it up the ladder to the dean of students.</p>
<p>Have you tried talking this out with your roommate directly? Obviously he can’t control the night terrors, but is the alarm going off because he keeps hitting “snooze” or because he’s not setting it right? What about setting up a little lamp by the door that he can turn on in place of the main light? Is the smell from the laundry, garbage, or sink, or do you think it’s something serious such as mold or rotting wood? </p>
<p>I’m afraid the housing arrangement is probably very similar to having a regular apartment lease, and if you don’t want to lose money you can’t wiggle out of it unless there is a serious, legitimate reason (such as mold or something else causing that smell in your apartment). I don’t think the sleep problem will get you out of it unless you can prove serious distress. I would suggest having a good conversation with your roommate first - plan out what you want to say in advance, and do NOT let the conversation stray. Do not corner him and blame him, just tell him you would like to discusses some agreements since you are roommates to make sure both of your experiences are positive (or word it in your own way, but don’t point fingers and make him feel like he’s a problem or he might ignore you, walk out, or argue with you).</p>
<p>Thanks Novalynnx, I’ll try those suggestions. I had spoken to him for each individual instance, but I’ll try to have a formal talk. I was worried I would end up making the issue into a blame game, so I’ll try to avoid that and use your advice. As for the smell I really don’t know what it is, but I’ll bring it up with housing first chance I get.</p>
<p>How does he react when you try to talk to him? Does he say he’ll change? Shrug it off? Get defensive? </p>
<p>For some reason I was thinking that your housing agreement was for an apartment suite, not a traditional dorm room, but I think my advice still applies. If he doesn’t respond well to the talk, then try to push harder for a room change or look for ways around his behavior (some kind of room divider/curtain to block light at night, ear plugs to avoid the alarm if you’re able to sleep in, etc.). If it’s your whole floor/building that has a smell to it, then it would be much harder to pinpoint the root problem than if it was just your room, but I would still inquire about it.</p>