Toastie ‘97

1 response so far ↓

• 1 Toastie // Sep 23, 2007 at 21:42

  I’ll offer up what, until now, could be considered a rare comment.

  14 years later, I hate to think how one asshole whom I’m calling “Michael”, whom I roomed with for less than one month, had such an impact on the course of the rest of my life.

  Playing “what if” is generally a waste of time, but I’ll indulge for just a minute. I had perhaps the very worst possible roommate I could’ve wound up with in Trent 2. Even with my sensitivities, I imagine I could have tolerated 80-90% of all the guys in the freshman class as a roommate.

  If I had only had a tolerable roommate…well, first, let me say that I clearly allowed myself to be steamrolled by Michael. I never got him to make a single concession. I never really stood up for myself, although I honestly can’t imagine how the situation would’ve gotten any better, short of me becoming more of an asshole myself.

  Anyway, so if I only had a tolerable roommate, I would have actually had a true freshman experience. What I mean is, I would’ve actually bonded with my dorm. I would’ve had a decent group of friends. I still would’ve joined my fraternity later on, but I’d have a significant alternative to that group, so I wouldn’t have needed to depend on it so mightily.

  Simply put, I think I could’ve actually been happy at Duke. There’s a little spoiler for you if you couldn’t have guessed it–I wasn’t really ever happy at Duke. My own pathologies not withstanding, my first roommate experience really struck a huge blow to my chances of enjoying Duke.

You must log in to post a comment.