As a sophomore in college, my long distance boyfriend got a job right near my college town for the upcoming year. He was a few years older than me, we had been dating for two years, and after all that time apart, nothing sounded better than moving in together. So we did it; he and I and a few of my friends got a spacious apartment together right near school.
For about a year, everything was great. I got to show off all of the skills that make me excellent housewife material – I’m a great cook and can drink a bottle of wine on any given day. It didn’t bother me that he used my shampoo. Or that he always bailed on dates to stay in instead. Or that he left wet clothes all over our room. No, none of that bothered me because I was in ~love~ and everyone had told us we shouldn’t do this, but we could totally do it.
Senior year comes along and it seemed like everything was going to be great, we even got a dog together. Because like everyone knows if you can take care of a dog you can TOTALLY take care of a baby – they’re like the same. Unfortunately, all of those little things that weren’t bothering me before started really bothering me now. How many times did I ask him not to use my towel because I have OCD?? Why was this my fifth night in a row that I’m cooking for the two of us? When was this 23-year-old going to stop throwing up at every sorority event we went to? Eventually, I knew I had to break up with him or else I would actually murder him. But then we were faced with the whole living together dilemma. He couldn’t afford to pay two rents and I definitely couldn’t afford to cover his part of the rent as a poor college student, so what did we end up doing? We continued to live together for an ENTIRE SEMESTER.
That semester was pretty horrible overall. We were not getting along, it was uncomfortable for our roommates, and it was confusing to explain to people. However, I don’t think that I would have known that all these little annoyances would really get to me the way that they did unless we lived together. And if I never figured that out we would probably be engaged by now, and I don’t know about you but I’d much rather break up with my boyfriend than break off an engagement. If I could give anyone advice, I would say to wait until after college to move in with your boyf, but it will definitely make you figure out if the two of you are marriage material.
You live and you learn — and when all else fails you drink a lot of wine..