While some students make the decision to live on campus with different people each year, other California Baptist University students have built strong friendships by living with the same roommate from freshman to senior year.
Some upperclassmen have created and maintained friendships with the people they roomed with during their freshman year, and others live with friends they have known since before college.
Kara Singleton, senior communication studies major, met her roommate Jessica Licup, senior health care administration major, during their freshman year while living in the same cottage at CBU.
Singleton said the two rommates bonded through music and trips to McDonald’s.
A contributing factor as to why Singleton said she wanted to continue to live with Licup was her personality.
“On top of being clean, (Licup) always goes out of her way to do nice things for her roomies, like random Starbucks surprises or love notes when you have had a bad day,” Singleton said. “Living with her these past four years has been an amazing experience and I am glad I got to live with my best friend.”
Licup said it was easier for her to live with someone she knew versus getting a new roommate every year.
“Kara and I know each other really well to where we know our good and bad house habits, so it made it easier for us to live with each other,” Licup said. “I do think that getting a new roommate is fun, exciting and a great way to meet new people, but there’s nothing like living with your best friend for four years.”
Christina Seaton, freshman chemistry major, and Megan Carr, freshman pre-nursing major, met on the first day of school during their first semester last fall. Seaton said they plan to live together for the next three years.
“We are both kind of introverts, but when we get together we are super loud and laugh at random things,” Seaton said. “When she is studying, I am studying too, and we just get along really well.”
Miranda King graduated in December with a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology and is currently enrolled in the teaching credential program at CBU. King lives with her roommate, Kirsten Keyser, senior civil engineering major, whom she has known since they were children.
“When we were little, it was our joke that we were going to go to college together and be roommates, and it actually happened,” King said.
King is a diver on the women’s swimming and diving team while Keyser is on the women’s golf team. Although King and Keyser are on athletic teams, King said conflicting schedules were never an issue for the roommates.
“Our schedules kind of work out,” King said. “We are in season at the same time and have practices at the same time.”
Students have the ability to learn new things about their roommates while living with them during the school year.
“I have known Miranda since I was born, but we have never really lived close to each other until college,” Keyser said. “We got to learn so much about each other that we never would have known.”
Conflicts big and small may arise between roommates. Fortunately for some students, they do not struggle with conflicts while living with their roommates.
“I have heard horror stories of living with your best friend, but Miranda and I were lucky, and it has been great living with her these last four years,” Keyser said.
“You would think in four years you would have issues (as roommates), but we haven’t,” King added.
King will be a bridesmaid in Keyser’s wedding this August.
