Arriving on your first day at college can be a stressful
occasion. Not only are you likely getting ready to live away from home for the
first time in your life, but you are also going to be meeting the
person you are expected to live with for the next year.
Hopefully you’ve gotten
in contact with them already and tried to break some of the ice before your first (almost always awkward) meeting face to face.
Generally, the school should provide you with contact information for the
student you will be living with, this can be a blessing and a curse. A little
contact at first is good, but don’t start stalking their social media. If you
start looking through their lives to much you’ll start to form an opinion of
them which may turn out not to be true and could cause unnecessary conflict.
When you do meet for the first time, your both going to try to figure out some of the basic things that make you each different. It’s important you figure out what each of your personal tendencies are,
for example are they a night owl or an early riser? How do they feel about
guests coming to the room? Are they a neat freak or are they a little messy?
etc. These question help establish a room dynamic, sets some basic rules and helps you finds some of the boundaries that need to be set. Simple questions like these are a good way to ease tension in your first meeting, but be careful not to share too much, you’ve only known
each other a short time and learning about one another is something that should
come with time.
Probably the most important thing to remember however, is to be yourself.
Pretending to be someone else is not really an option when your living with them
in such close proximity, so take a deep breath and relax. Be open, friendly and
positive, who knows this could be your future best friend.
If your still worried about how your first meeting will go, visit this site for some useful icebreakers that can help keep the conversation from becoming stale.
