In celebration of the fact that I leave on Saturday for a much needed vacation I wanted to talk a small amount about my freshman year of college and my saving grace that year aka my roommate Jackie. I'm heading to Wilmington to visit her and my sister and I couldn't be more excited. Jackie is originally from Emerald Isle and now lives in Wilmington with her soon to be husband!
Rewind to 2009. I was 18 and so excited to be going to college especially to the same school as my best friend Marissa. Even though she and I has been friends for so long we knew we definitely could not be roommates. Which was totally okay, and I believed those stories of never live with your best friend in college because you won't be friends anymore. I chose to go to East Carolina University, and didn't put too much effort into making sure it was the best place for me. I toured the campus and it felt right so that was good enough for me. It was getting closer to orientation and moving and I was really nervous about getting a random roommate so a friend of mine introduced me to her friend that was also an incoming freshman. We got along pretty well and seemed to mesh okay so we signed up to be roommates. Everything was great when we first moved in, she and I got along and had fun together. Her boyfriend lived off campus so we would go hang out there and she helped me meet new people but then around November things started to change. She was never around and we hardly ever spoke anymore. I was starting to have a hard time and was lonely and just wasn't happy there anymore. I wasn't doing well in my classes and it just wasn't fun anymore for me. I went home for Christmas break, and over that break my Grandad passed away which just added to the hard times already going on. When I got back to school I walked into my dorm room and had a long note from my roommate accusing me of so many things and basically belittling me. My mom was there with me and I just lost it. I was so upset and didn't deserve to be bullied and put down by someone who was never even around me or spoke to me anymore. I made the decision that day that I was not living there anymore so I went to campus housing and got a list of open rooms and went and started knocking on doors. While walking through what would be my new dorm I met my future RA who told me about this girl Jackie who didn't have a roommate so I marched down to her room and knocked on her door. The conversation went something like this...
A-"Hey do you want a roommate"
J-"um yeah sure"
A-" cool I'm alleson"
J- "I'm Jackie"
welcome to room 308
awkward right? But totally worth it. I went and packed up all my stuff and moved in and it was such a good decision. J and I instantly got along. We were different but the same all together and it worked out perfectly. One weekend I took her back to my hometown with me and she got to meet some of my friends and I took her to get her nose pierced where I had gotten mine done and the night we got back to school was one of the funniest nights I've ever had. Jackie would always be there for me and understood that I was having a hard time with things and had such a genuine heart for other people. We were the perfect balance of each other and I think that's what made it so easy to live together. We had different classes but similar morning schedules so some day when we would wake up we would ask the other if they were going to class and if one said no we both didn't go (I know I know, shame on us.) We ate chickfila and yogurt parfaits like they were going out of style and were always on a mission to find popcorn. We fell asleep to family guy or the nanny pretty much every night and made hilarious lip syncing videos and took ridiculous pictures. I had the best time living with J but we both new I most likely would not be returning to ECU after freshman year. I didn't like Greenville and just wasn't happy there. We actually both ended up leaving ECU but continued to keep up with each other as hard as it was. We didn't see each other much, I lived in Connecticut for a summer and she was on Emerald Isle and then she actually moved to NYC for a bit so we were both kind of all over the place. We don't get to talk everyday but I know if I needed her she would always be there for me and vise versa. I'm sure I'll have some fun stories to recap when I get back from seeing her!
I totally believe the saying people come into your lives at just the right time. I still may not have liked ECU but J made it much easier to be there while I was and I'm so glad to have made a lifelong friend while being there.
Rewind to 2009. I was 18 and so excited to be going to college especially to the same school as my best friend Marissa. Even though she and I has been friends for so long we knew we definitely could not be roommates. Which was totally okay, and I believed those stories of never live with your best friend in college because you won't be friends anymore. I chose to go to East Carolina University, and didn't put too much effort into making sure it was the best place for me. I toured the campus and it felt right so that was good enough for me. It was getting closer to orientation and moving and I was really nervous about getting a random roommate so a friend of mine introduced me to her friend that was also an incoming freshman. We got along pretty well and seemed to mesh okay so we signed up to be roommates. Everything was great when we first moved in, she and I got along and had fun together. Her boyfriend lived off campus so we would go hang out there and she helped me meet new people but then around November things started to change. She was never around and we hardly ever spoke anymore. I was starting to have a hard time and was lonely and just wasn't happy there anymore. I wasn't doing well in my classes and it just wasn't fun anymore for me. I went home for Christmas break, and over that break my Grandad passed away which just added to the hard times already going on. When I got back to school I walked into my dorm room and had a long note from my roommate accusing me of so many things and basically belittling me. My mom was there with me and I just lost it. I was so upset and didn't deserve to be bullied and put down by someone who was never even around me or spoke to me anymore. I made the decision that day that I was not living there anymore so I went to campus housing and got a list of open rooms and went and started knocking on doors. While walking through what would be my new dorm I met my future RA who told me about this girl Jackie who didn't have a roommate so I marched down to her room and knocked on her door. The conversation went something like this...
A-"Hey do you want a roommate"
J-"um yeah sure"
A-" cool I'm alleson"
J- "I'm Jackie"
welcome to room 308
awkward right? But totally worth it. I went and packed up all my stuff and moved in and it was such a good decision. J and I instantly got along. We were different but the same all together and it worked out perfectly. One weekend I took her back to my hometown with me and she got to meet some of my friends and I took her to get her nose pierced where I had gotten mine done and the night we got back to school was one of the funniest nights I've ever had. Jackie would always be there for me and understood that I was having a hard time with things and had such a genuine heart for other people. We were the perfect balance of each other and I think that's what made it so easy to live together. We had different classes but similar morning schedules so some day when we would wake up we would ask the other if they were going to class and if one said no we both didn't go (I know I know, shame on us.) We ate chickfila and yogurt parfaits like they were going out of style and were always on a mission to find popcorn. We fell asleep to family guy or the nanny pretty much every night and made hilarious lip syncing videos and took ridiculous pictures. I had the best time living with J but we both new I most likely would not be returning to ECU after freshman year. I didn't like Greenville and just wasn't happy there. We actually both ended up leaving ECU but continued to keep up with each other as hard as it was. We didn't see each other much, I lived in Connecticut for a summer and she was on Emerald Isle and then she actually moved to NYC for a bit so we were both kind of all over the place. We don't get to talk everyday but I know if I needed her she would always be there for me and vise versa. I'm sure I'll have some fun stories to recap when I get back from seeing her!
I totally believe the saying people come into your lives at just the right time. I still may not have liked ECU but J made it much easier to be there while I was and I'm so glad to have made a lifelong friend while being there.
side note, never ever ever cutting my hair short again.