choosing your dormmate

[kasia]

did you have a preference for the ethnicity of your college dormmate? i didn't, but ended up being paired with an asian girl anyway. and as it turned out, everyone on our dorm floor was paired with someone of the same race. this worked out well, since the asians ended up going to the same parties anyway while the non-asians did their own thing. and i did feel more comfortable with someone whose mom had an accent just like mine, grew up with the same background as me, and understood why i wanted to eat rice every once in a while. at the same time, i didn't learn very much from her, since she was pretty much like me. also, our floor did become very cliquish.

any thoughts?

[moJo]

no i didn't have a preference. i ended up with a nigerian chick from london and a colombian chick from palmdale (small town outside of LA). korean guy next door roomed with a white guy. my friends in another room were indian, taiwanese, and mexican. unlike kasie's dorm, i have a feeling our dorm housing wanted to intentionally mix it up.

[AliBabaIncorporated]

My university was accused of intentionally pairing up minority students to be roommates, without explicitly admitting or telling them about the practice. I heard about too many pairs of Asian frosh roommates in the year above me for it to be coincidental. Though I think they quietly stopped this process by my frosh year. Apparently it was a result of how ID numbers were assigned or something.

My college frosh roommate was a hockey player. never really hung out with him or the rest of my dormmates that much. At that time, I guess I would have preferred to have an Asian roommate, so I'd at least have an "in" on a scene I'd otherwise be on the outside of. But instead I made friends with a few Taiwanese upperclassmen who lived around the corner from me, and they got me booze and got me into parties with hot girls and whatnot, so it worked out better. Aside from them, a lot of my friends were Indian, also not from my dorm.

Actually, I think it wasn't until senior year of college that I actually found a group of roommates all of whom I got on well with.

[pikachupacabra]

It wasn't until two of my roommates two years in a row were white that I decided I wanted an asian roommate. before that happened I had no real preference...but when the first one stained his white bedsheets YELLOW from his sweat, and the second one would lounge around in his tighty whities all day and NEVER WASH HIS NASTY ASS TOWEL...well...I figured an asian roommate might be a little cleaner.

[pablohoney]

I was paired with another hapa guy my freshman year. I'm pretty sure it was by chance, because there were other Asians who were paired with whites, but I don't know for sure. We got along okay but he seemed to think we were a lot closer than I did. He was very distrustful of white people and tried to be close buddies with me right away, but I never quite felt comfortable with him because he was into things like fast cars, strip clubs, and partying with his suburban Asian crew, while I was much more conservative (socially) and hung out with mostly geeky white people. He moved out of the dorms after his freshman year and I haven't seen him since graduation 10 years ago.

My sophomore year I was paired with a total right-wing, conservative business-major white guy from the 'burbs. I didn't agree with his politics at all but we actually got along pretty well and ended up being roommates for the remainder of college (although the last couple years we moved into an apartment and had other roommates as well). I think the reason we got along so well was because we were both very private and respected each other's space, so we could hang out and have a good time without for the most part getting too personal. We weren't close friends, obviously, but I think it was better that way since we were roommates - there was a level of politeness that never went away. We used to get together every once in a while after college but he's married with kids now and I haven't seen him in 5+ years.

I don't know if there's a moral to my story as far as race goes, but I'll say this: if you're living in the dorms, meet as many people as you can! It's an incredibly rare experience to live around that many people your age, education, and (probably) social class. Once I moved off-campus it was much harder to meet people (never mastered the art of meeting people in class). Once I graduated it got even harder. Most of my friends to this day are people I met while living in the dorms.

[hooligan]

Preferred Asian American

1st year Japanese
2nd year - 3rd year Chinese
4th year -5th year Korean

[Arex]

It wasn't until two of my roommates two years in a row were white that I decided I wanted an asian roommate. before that happened I had no real preference...but when the first one stained his white bedsheets YELLOW from his sweat, and the second one would lounge around in his tighty whities all day and NEVER WASH HIS NASTY ASS TOWEL...well...I figured an asian roommate might be a little cleaner."Sweat," eh? Is that what he told you? You should've told him to deposit his "sweat" in the toilet before he went to sleep each night to reduce the chance of him "sweating" in bed. Either that or wear Depends or Huggies Pull Ups to contain his "sweat."=)

My freshman year I was thrown into a ridiculously small three person dorm with a Japanese international student who had been living in the same dorm room for 3+ years and a Chinese junior transfer. They were both nice enough, but it kinda sucked 'cause I had nothing in common with either of 'em. The Japanese guy was already established in the dorms and did his own thing. The transfer student went to sleep at 9 or 10 o'clock each night and woke up at 5 or 6 in the morning to study the Bible. I haven't gone to sleep that early since I was in elementary or middle school. So my dorm room that first year was pretty much just a place for storing my stuff and sleeping each night.

Sophomore year, my dormmate was this half white, half Filipino guy from San Diego. He was cool. We were both into the same shit. That was a much better living situation. A few times a found myself ranting about white people, forgetting he was half white himself. But then he started joining in, so I guess it was all good.

RX

[BeTheReds]

I think my college did it all randomly unless you requested a specific person.

However I don't think it was a coincidence that they put Amir and Amar in the same room during my freshman year.

Anyway, I got one random roommate, an annoying New Yorker who threw out my kimchi, took the batteries out of my alarm clock the night before a test because it ticked too loud and he could not sleep, complained about my mouse clicking when he wanted to sleep, turned the ringer off on my phone without telling me, becasue it disturbed his sleeping. He usually slept from 8am to 4pm. And when I was sleeping at night, he'd blast the most ghetto rap music on his stereo and refuse to turn the light off. He felt entitled to my computer and allowed his friends to use it. He referred to it as "our computer". He hid all sorts of porn and other aps on there which compromized the smooth running of the computer. When I password protected it, he got pissed. He accused me of being too Korean, saying that I'm half-American too so I should act like it, and stop listening to that shitty K-pop when he's in the room.

After that I chose all of my roommates the rest of the way. This guy was the absolute worst.

[Craig]

I've never lived in the dorm. However, I have had housemates of the following ethnic backgrounds : White(different mixed European stock), East Asian (Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean & Thai), South Asian (Indian & Pakistani), Mixed (White-Indian)

For me, the situation was usually just saving money & I already knew the people beforehand.

[hooligan]

I think my college did it all randomly unless you requested a specific person.

However I don't think it was a coincidence that they put Amir and Amar in the same room during my freshman year.

Anyway, I got one random roommate, an annoying New Yorker who threw out my kimchi, took the batteries out of my alarm clock the night before a test because it ticked too loud and he could not sleep, complained about my mouse clicking when he wanted to sleep, turned the ringer off on my phone without telling me, becasue it disturbed his sleeping. He usually slept from 8am to 4pm. And when I was sleeping at night, he'd blast the most ghetto rap music on his stereo and refuse to turn the light off. He felt entitled to my computer and allowed his friends to use it. He referred to it as "our computer". He hid all sorts of porn and other aps on there which compromized the smooth running of the computer. When I password protected it, he got pissed. He accused me of being too Korean, saying that I'm half-American too so I should act like it, and stop listening to that shitty K-pop when he's in the room.

After that I chose all of my roommates the rest of the way. This guy was the absolute worst.

That story almost defeated my story of catching my roommate masturbating.

[AngryABCGirl]

I got placed with Asian roommates my freshmen year too, and I think they do do it intentionally at UCD, where Kasie went to. It works out pretty well because a lot of potential problems are avoided in my opinion.

I lived with several Hmong girls that I still talk to, but never got close with since they actually all knew each other from the same high school before and spoke Hmong most of the time, but they were great roommates cause they were respectful of space and we could talk about stuff I wouldn't be able to talk about with non-Asians and see each other at the same events on campus.

I lived with two Chinese-Americans and a Filipina-American in my flat in England, and it was a really good time. We didn't find too much in common with the two White students who lived down a floor from us from Penn.

I'm living with a 4th gen Japanese girl and a Hapa (Filipina and White) gir right nowl. We ended up not getting along that well, and I think a lot of it had to do with the differences in identity politics.

Next year I'm living with some international students from HK.

I think the longer I've been on my own, the more I've realized how I need things to be in more accordance to conditions of my background. Things are just easier that way because there are just some things you don't have to explain, not to mention easier to go grocery shopping, cook food, go out, etc.

[hooligan]

What about identity politics?

[contra_diction]

my first dormmate was a fat, irritable white guy... he was always so disgruntled about everything. it was really annoying. and god forbid he did any sort of physical activity during the day. it was bad enough we lived on the third floor without an elevator because this man could make a skunk hold his nose. i left the window as often as i could before he noticed and closed it. the room was clearly divided into my half and his half. you could tell by the trash and piles of laundry which sometimes spilled over onto my side of the room that i'd have to push back onto his with the end of a broom. he was rather filthy and never went out or did anything social...ever. he stayed in front of his two computers and played this game called lineage. that's it. supposedly, he had a wife in europe somewhere, though he never used the phone, got any mail to my knowledge, didn't wear a ring, and the only picture he had framed on display was of a dog.
living in a house with housemates was an interesting experience as well... at one point in time... there was me, my girlfriend (chinese), one housemate (mixed korean like me), his girlfriend (white), a white guy in the third room, another white guy in the living room, and a free-loading friend in the garage (mixed something but not asian, i think maybe native american, white, and hispanic something)...not to mention we had three dogs!
at the moment, i have another fat white roommate, though he's far less intolerable than the previous one.
i'd prefer either an asian or a puerto rican roommate...i really would.

[AngryABCGirl]

What about identity politics?

The way we looked at ourselves and how we felt about being Asian was really different and we basically felt strongly about those differences. A lot of it had to do with generational differences between us. For instance I'm 2nd gen and am arguably very traditional and way more into East Asian pop culture than American, but also a hardcore activist with POC movements. In contrast my roommates were more "Americanized" and all had different viewpoints on racial politics vis a vis our diverse backgrounds.

[hooligan]

That's kind of funny because the worst experience rooming was with Taiwanese Americans. I come from a different sort of space, both of them were Christians and came from affluent parts of Norcal (Fremont and Palo Alto). We were all Americanzied to varying degrees, but I found class to be the thing that really messed with my experience. I came from a blue collared background and both of their families were white collared folks making over 100 thousand a year.

[>:^|]

In our dorm, there was apparently an unofficial policy matching students of color, problem students and foreign students.

[mndeg]

did you have a preference for the ethnicity of your college dormmate? i didn't, but ended up being paired with an asian girl anyway. and as it turned out, everyone on our dorm floor was paired with someone of the same race. this worked out well, since the asians ended up going to the same parties anyway while the non-asians did their own thing. and i did feel more comfortable with someone whose mom had an accent just like mine, grew up with the same background as me, and understood why i wanted to eat rice every once in a while. at the same time, i didn't learn very much from her, since she was pretty much like me. also, our floor did become very cliquish.

any thoughts?
that's interesting, the pairing of the same race and stuff.
my dormmate is going to be a friend that i've known for quite a while

[Seamus]

I've been roommates with all sorts of Indian dudes, a black dude, two Chinese dudes, an Italian dude, an Eastern European Jewish dude, a Japanese/Irish dude, a southern good old boy from Alabama, midwestern Anglo dudes, northeastern Anglo dudes, a Latino dude, and one really evil, sweaty ogre of a biatch whose name is not to be uttered. I actually prefer not to live with only other Asian Americans, because I don't like feeling ghettoized.
Right now, I only live with other Asian Americans, because I live by myself. Finally.

[Hot Diggity]

That story almost defeated my story of catching my roommate masturbating.


Hmmm.... sounds like one of my old roommates. She picked out her crabs and threw them in the trash-can. Yes, she did.

When she wasn't doing that she was picking her nose and wiping it on the sheets.


Nice.

[hooligan]

Hmmm.... sounds like one of my old roommates. She picked out her crabs and threw them in the trash-can. Yes, she did.

When she wasn't doing that she was picking her nose and wiping it on the sheets.

Nice.

W.T.F. You know, there are soaps for that kind of infection.

[Hot Diggity]

W.T.F. You know, there are soaps for that kind of infection.


Ha! It was never ending nastyness with that girl. I had to run her off eventually just as I did my first roommate just for being annoying.

I choose my next roommate after that and still love her to pieces to this day.

[mndeg]

Hmmm.... sounds like one of my old roommates. She picked out her crabs and threw them in the trash-can. Yes, she did.

When she wasn't doing that she was picking her nose and wiping it on the sheets.


Nice.
WTF? picking out crabs?
wow

i think that's as low as it goes

[Napoleon Chynamite]

All my past room/dormmates have been white guys. I got along well enough with all of them but of course felt more comfortable with some than others.

Hmmm.... sounds like one of my old roommates. She picked out her crabs and threw them in the trash-can. Yes, she did.

When she wasn't doing that she was picking her nose and wiping it on the sheets.


Nice.

That's hot.

[Paradox]

Hmmm.... sounds like one of my old roommates. She picked out her crabs and threw them in the trash-can. Yes, she did.

When she wasn't doing that she was picking her nose and wiping it on the sheets.


Nice.
Sounds like a classy girl.

[danngo]

I had an Asian roomate during my first two years of college...after that I just got a single because I like the privacy.

[mr. x]

crabs...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

anyway, I must say for me ethnicity isn't even the issue. When I was dorming the first semester here at Cal I got a white roommate from Nevada, and we both have similar dispositions and like electronic music and have a weird sense of humor so I can honestly say I can't think of a better roommate to have had. I'm living in an apartment now with him (well he's working over summer in Reno) and two other ex-floormates.

Interestingly enough I was paired with a Chinese-American(sort of Canadian) during the first part of summer and though we got along we never talked that much and he spent most of the time programming and I playing San Andreas.

[yoMAMA]

I had a white roommate, a mexian american roommate, and a south asian roommate (sri lankan).

I got along with the white guy most.

the mexican american guy is nice, but he is so messy.

the south asian guy?

let's just say, he's got issues.

[sinisterpanda]

I have an american roommate... I just emailed him. I don't know if he's a transfer student , or if he's a continuing student. I'm living in a hotel for part of the first semester... or maybe they're just lying to me. I hope he doesn't think i'm weird.

Hmmm.... sounds like one of my old roommates. She picked out her crabs and threw them in the trash-can. Yes, she did.

When she wasn't doing that she was picking her nose and wiping it on the sheets.


Nice.


Ew, that's really gross. You shold have picked them out and put it in one of those glass cages. Would have made for interesting pets...even though they probably wouldn't survive without body heat...

[Chad]

i never lived in a dorm but ive been in lots of apartments and houses with roommates.
in chronological order:
1. first roommate experience was with a black guy i found through an ad (i was new to town). he would fry catfish at 3am and then leave the apt without turning the stove off. the oil would start burning and smoke would fill the place, setting off the smoke alarm and waking me up. he would return a couple of hours later and say "what'd you do with my catfish?!" motherfucker. when i got fed up and was moving out he got offended and tried to start some scuffle with me so i pushed him down the stairs. one of his friends came over as i was leaving and stole my 35mm camera while i wasn't watching. i swear i'll get him back for that if i ever see him again.

2. taiwanese fob who was my best friend at the time.. didn't have any real problems with him. he slept something like 14 hours a day though because he was severely depressed, culture shock i think.

3. guy from el salvador. when he came to see the apartment and move in we agreed on the price and then i said "so when you moving in? where's your stuff?" and he walked in and said "i just did" because he had no possessions whatsoever besides the clothes he was wearing, a pocket knife, and picture of his mother. no real problems with him since he was almost never home, working two full-time jobs.

4. three white guys and a girl who seemed to party every single day. couldn't ever sleep here, too many dogs and other animals making noise all hours. the place always smelled like animal feces and pretty soon we had rats. nobody ever cleaned the kitchen.

mostly i prefer to live alone now but if i had to get another roommate i would probably seek another chinese guy.

[hooligan]

What was the story with the El Salvadorian?

[stupidredhead13]

Hmmm.... sounds like one of my old roommates. She picked out her crabs and threw them in the trash-can. Yes, she did.

and another disgusting roommate story:

not my roommate (thank god, though mine had some problems as well). a friend's roommate was too lazy to walk down the dorm hall to the bathroom so he'd pee in empty water bottles and leave them lying around on the floor all over the room.

[Tao]

and another disgusting roommate story:

not my roommate (thank god, though mine had some problems as well). a friend's roommate was too lazy to walk down the dorm hall to the bathroom so he'd pee in empty water bottles and leave them lying around on the floor all over the room.
hahahha, was he howard hughes?

[Chad]

What was the story with the El Salvadorian?
he was just this dude named cesario who came here to work. he was in another apartment with some other guys but they all got evicted and somehow he lost contact with them. i met him through a coworker because i was looking for a roommate to share my apt with. i feel bad now because i probably scared him a few times when i was drunk and making a lot of noise when he was sleeping. his room was empty, just had his clothes, a mattress, and the photo of his mom.

[sinisterpanda]

and another disgusting roommate story:

not my roommate (thank god, though mine had some problems as well). a friend's roommate was too lazy to walk down the dorm hall to the bathroom so he'd pee in empty water bottles and leave them lying around on the floor all over the room.


I do the same thing!!!!!!!!! My pee smells like mangos after a while...which is weird cuz i never eat mangos.

[Tao]

I do the same thing!!!!!!!!! My pee smells like mangos after a while...which is weird cuz i never eat mangos.
wow, you're the filthiest asian i know :tongue:

[deez nuts]

i wanted a white roommate cuz i thought that maybe he can hook me up with white women.

but, i got a short black dude that i called webster and a filipino dude with a short dwarf like white girlfriend who was more manly than me cuz she can grow a full beard and i can't.

[yoMAMA]

i wanted a white roommate cuz i thought that maybe he can hook me up with white women.

but, i got a short black dude that i called webster and a filipino dude with a short dwarf like white girlfriend who was more manly than me cuz she can grow a full beard and i can't.

she?

:eek:

[deez nuts]

she?

:eek:

yeah, she.

looking back they looked like the cast from the lord of the rings when they were together.

webster was gollum

the filipino dude was one of the hobbits (he was a pretty short guy too about 5'7-5'8.)

filipino guy's girlfriend was the dwarf - gimley was it?

[yoMAMA]

yeah, she.

looking back they looked like the cast from the lord of the rings when they were together.

webster was gollum

the filipino dude was one of the hobbits (he was a pretty short guy too about 5'7-5'8.)

filipino guy's girlfriend was the dwarf - gimley was it?

haha....

no clue though cauz I don't watch LOR.

:tongue:

[Anaestacia]

haha....

no clue though cauz I don't watch LOR.

:tongue:

LOTR! And don't bother with the movies, read the books. :tongue:

Dormmates. Well, I've never had really atrocious ones except for one whom I had a massive argument with. She had a lot of problems with the smell of asian cooking in our kitchens and would always make faces, and lame jokes, expecting all of us to laugh. What a shit call on her part - as most of us were asian. Perhaps it was because we (one other friend and I) spoke fluent English that she thought we were more westernized and would "get" her jokes which always fell short from ridicule and racism. She was a psych major and continously took the liberty of calling the asian girl who had a room beside her, a psycho because of her extremely silent ways.

I blew up at her one night and I don't recall ever arguing as heatedly that way before. Just an accumulation of six or so months. It was really awkward the next few weeks, but the ice broke and we remained civil afterwards. I didn't hear her say any of the things she used to anymore.. at least not with me.

[jongeh]

i was paired up with a girl from taiwan my freshman year. i'm sure it was completely coincidental though since my name is as white as they get.

however, i was in a quad, and you don't even want to get me started on my other roommates. my roommate that wasn't the taiwanese one, used to talk so loudly on the phone, one time i heard her making fun of my mom's accent to her parents while i was in my room.

[Tao]

LOTR! And don't bother with the movies, read the books. :tongue:

Dormmates. Well, I've never had really atrocious ones except for one whom I had a massive argument with. She had a lot of problems with the smell of asian cooking in our kitchens and would always make faces, and lame jokes, expecting all of us to laugh. What a shit call on her part - as most of us were asian. Perhaps it was because we (one other friend and I) spoke fluent English that she thought we were more westernized and would "get" her jokes which always fell short from ridicule and racism. She was a psych major and continously took the liberty of calling the asian girl who had a room beside her, a psycho because of her extremely silent ways.

I blew up at her one night and I don't recall ever arguing as heatedly that way before. Just an accumulation of six or so months. It was really awkward the next few weeks, but the ice broke and we remained civil afterwards. I didn't hear her say any of the things she used to anymore.. at least not with me.

i was paired up with a girl from taiwan my freshman year. i'm sure it was completely coincidental though since my name is as white as they get.

however, i was in a quad, and you don't even want to get me started on my other roommates. my roommate that wasn't the taiwanese one, used to talk so loudly on the phone, one time i heard her making fun of my mom's accent to her parents while i was in my room.

wait wait wait....were any of these girls hot?

[Anaestacia]

wait wait wait....were any of these girls hot?

It depends. I could hook you up if you go for the butch looking gals.

[Tao]

It depends. I could hook you up if you go for the butch looking gals.
......


maaaybe.

how butch are we talking about here?

[Anaestacia]

......


maaaybe.

how butch are we talking about here?

Very short hair, shaves it every now and then. Biceps larger than my thighs, that sort of thing. She can be really affectionate though.. WAIT! Where is this going?!! :tongue:

[Tao]

Very short hair, shaves it every now and then. Biceps larger than my thighs, that sort of thing. She can be really affectionate though.. WAIT! Where is this going?!! :tongue:
oh damn nevermind, i don't want someone that looks like one of my guy friends. that'd be weird.

[deez nuts]

Very short hair, shaves it every now and then. Biceps larger than my thighs, that sort of thing. She can be really affectionate though.. WAIT! Where is this going?!! :tongue:


sounds like a good training partner. hook me up.

[Tao]

sounds like a good training partner. hook me up.
you can get her to take a picture of that hemorroid

[jongeh]

wait wait wait....were any of these girls hot?

well... if you completely and totally ignore personality and whiny voices then..... probably still no

[deez nuts]

you can get her to take a picture of that hemorroid

i already have one

you should know me better than that, come on now.

[Tao]

well... if you completely and totally ignore personality and whiny voices then..... probably still no
god damn, a decent girl is hard to find. and the ones i do find are usually taken, lol.