Ever Had a Difficult Housing Situation?
Vancouver, Canada native Rainy Duan (‘21) may not be living on campus anymore but her short time living in a program house left her with some lessons learned.
“Going through my horrible rooming situation Sophomore Fall really made me become more aware of my actions. Initially, I roomed with a few upperclassmen whose habits differed from mine (i.e. sleep schedules, noise levels, tolerance of room temperatures, cleanliness, etc.) Since it was a program house and I was the only non-member, I didn’t know how to voice my complaints. Therefore, I contacted res life and they decided to move me to a different room. Before moving, I met with my new roommate, and although we chatted about our preferences, we didn’t fully examine them in detail. Our differences led to a lot of conflicts."
Although Rainy did not have the most compatible housing match, this experience allowed her to further develop her skills in perspective thinking, effective communication, and self-confidence. What’s impressive about Rainy is not only her personal growth but her empathetic nature to care about others and work out win-win solutions with others.
“Learning to understand other people’s struggles by considering issues from different perspectives has helped me grow a lot. In the sense that a lot of the issues I mentioned earlier were instances that I never would have considered if I were always living by myself or with my family. In the future, if I room with someone again, I will be much more aware of my own actions and have more courage when communicating or confronting these issues with my future roommate.”
Congrats Rainy. Keep going!
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