The four years I’ve spent in college have felt like the longest and shortest of my life, shaping me into the person I am today. One thing I’ll miss most: some of the best people I have had the privilege of calling my friends. And I’m not alone in this sentiment. I sat down with what some could call the closest of friends — roommates that decided to live together through all of undergrad — and walked away from each interview knowing a little more about what it means to be a true ride-or-die.
Graduating seniors Latifa Adan and Jasmine LaMotte clicked instantly, as they discovered — before they moved in together — that they grew up quite close to one another in Massachusetts.
“When I found her Instagram, I was like, ‘Wow, she’s in the town right next to me, and I’ve never seen her before,’” LaMotte said. “It was meant to be.”
As it was for myself and my amazing first-year roommate (even though we’re not a part of the highly exclusive four-year roommates club), graduating seniors Yael Waxman and Kerrera Jackson took a bit longer for their friendship to blossom.
“When we first were roommates, we … ran in similar circles, but we definitely had very distinct lives,” Jackson said. “Throughout the year, we just got closer and closer. … [When] the year ended, I remember leaving our [first-year] room was super emotional.”
Jackson described a moment at the end of their first-year fall when she knew she would be in it with Waxman for the long haul.
“I was at a party at a random house off campus. … It was boring and we were leaving and I was like, ‘I need to take something from this house.’ … I ended up taking two oranges, and I brought them back for Yael because one of her big things … was that she always had like 15 oranges in her backpack,” Jackson said, recalling her thoughts about Waxman and her fruity quirks even when she wasn’t around.
Graduating seniors Donatello Sassaroli and Zahir Bashir, as well as Lev Barnett, Liam O’Hara and Gabe Klaris, also made it as four-year roommates with the additional obstacle of being in triples during their first year. They were actually in neighboring rooms on the fifth floor of Carmichael Hall, and I can let you guess which group stayed in the trio all four years.
“I remember when I got my roommate assignment, my parents were mad I was in a triple. They were like, ‘We’re paying all this money for a triple?’” Bashir said. “But my roommates seemed chill and … it worked out.”
While roommate assignments for first-years are random, each student fills out a survey detailing what their preferred living situation is. O’Hara was a bit more than surprised when he got put in a triple with Barnett and Klaris.
“It’s kind of funny because I didn’t want to live in a triple, or even a double. I requested a single. … I was pissed,” O’Hara said.
But the room worked out, as the trio decided to do a triple again the following year.
From personal experience, I’m not sure how much those surveys are actually taken into consideration when placing roommates together. I always felt terrible because my roommate was a ‘go to bed and wake up early’ kind of person, whereas I was … not that. Graduating senior Will Bornmann may have not told the whole truth on his survey, according to his four-year roommate Rory Myers.
“We both put on our roommate intake survey that we were ‘somewhat clean’ … which was true [our first] year,” Myers said. “And then, I don’t know what happened, man, he just got comfortable. He got complacent. There was a dividing line … and you would see this line of clothes at the exact halfway point between our sides of the room.”
Myers and Bornmann laughed about it, and the two were eager to share quirks they found endearing about one another, including Myers always wiggling his toes when they watch TV and Bornmann’s affection for Dewick peanut butter (for the gains, of course).
“Mr. Rory likes to nap and sleep a lot. I would wake up — I have an Apple Watch, so my alarm … didn’t make any noise — and I would just pick my body up. And Mr. Rory, being the light sleeper he is, wakes up if I don’t even get out of bed,” Bornmann said.
The other sets of roommates were excited to reveal their built-in besties’ idiosyncrasies as well. Adan said she will miss LaMotte’s many “thinking out loud” discussions she would have with herself, and LaMotte loved to have a roommate who could sleep through anything.
Sassaroli pointed out that for the entire time he’s known Bashir, he’s “got one dish in his bag” for his meal prep that smells “quite delectable.”
Waxman gushed about how accommodating Jackson was as a roommate, pointing out a few of her own peculiarities that Jackson would be flexible with.
“Kerrera was just a really good roommate,” Waxman said. “[She] would always make adjustments, like … I would go to bed earlier so she’d be willing to do work in a different room, or … [she would put] a towel down to do her makeup because she would open her caps and it would wake me up.”
O’Hara was self-aware of his little quirks when it came to settings in his living spaces with Barnett and Klaris.
“I need the volume on an odd number, but preferably a multiple of five,” O’Hara said. “And then my other [quirk] is, I’m the worst about lighting. If there’s any white lights or an overhead light, I’ll freak out.”
“We did have to get creative in the dorm,” Barnett said, noting that they had to utilize string lights and desk lamps as opposed to overhead lighting. Barnett also pointed out an unconventional hygiene habit that Klaris partakes in.
“Gabe showers at extremely late times in the night, which doesn’t bother me,” Barnett said. “It would be like 2 a.m.”
After racking their brains to come up with a quirky characteristic for Barnett, Klaris remarked on his habit of wearing noise-cancelling headphones in common spaces.
“I’ll speak to [Barnett], and I’ll just never get a response,” Klaris said. “I’ve done this for four years, and I will keep trying.”
Sophomore year, my roommate and I had the shared quirk that every time we would be in the room together late afternoon, we would ask each other if we should take a nap rather than do our homework. They were both my most restful and least productive semesters at Tufts.
With different levels of living compatibility and friendship, what’s the secret to living together for all of college? The common consensus was comfortability and that all of these roommate pairs, or trios, simply enjoyed coming home to each other.
“There aren’t many [other] people that I’m this comfortable with in the world,” Barnett said about Klaris and O’Hara.
“I can wholeheartedly be myself around Jasmine,” Adan said.
“It’s nice to have someone in the house. I’ll come downstairs, and Will’s just on the couch watching some [television],” Myers said. “It’s nice to have someone to talk to at a random part of the day.”
Bornmann thoughtfully added: “We’re just two young, like-minded, handsome individuals that like video games and anime.”
All of these four-year roommates — with the exception of O’Hara and Klaris — will not be living together after graduation. While I haven’t lived with any one person for four years, my house of six has been friends since orientation week, and there’s an uncountable list of things I will miss about them, as these four-year roommates also echoed.
“I will miss my cuddle buddy,” Bashir said. “We will be even further separated.”
“I’m just to-the-moon blessed,” Bornmann said somewhat sarcastically about having Myers as a roommate. “We need to find video games to play [while we’re apart].”
As tears fell on my keyboard finishing my last article of my senior year, reminiscing about the incredible memories I’ve made with all of my roommates and friends during my time here, these roommate stories left me with one inspiring message.
As Waxman beautifully put it: “To be known is to be loved.”
