While working and listening to my iPod, Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” came up in shuffle mode. A wave of nostalgia washed over me as I thought of where I first heard the song. When I moved to University of California Riverside in January 1990, my first roommate in the dorm was a pre-med student. I don’t even remember his name. He had a stereo and a collection of CDs, one of which was Tracy Chapman’s eponymous debut album.
Unfortunately, introducing me to this new artist was one of the few positive things about my relationship with this roommate. He was in a fraternity and had a drinking problem, coming home very late and very loud time and time again. It got to the point where his fraternity brothers actually apologized to me one night when they had to carry him into the room at three in the morning. They said they were trying to get him to shape up.
On top of it, this roommate had a habit of bringing his girlfriends over and they’d fool around in bed while I was (trying to) sleep on the other side of the room.
After trying to work things out with him, I eventually complained to the residence hall advisor and at the end of that quarter, he was kicked out of the dorm. There are lots of other things I recall from those days. While some were quite good and others were a bit of a pain, they all form kind of a neutral cloud of memories.
At least I found out about Tracy Chapman.
christao408 
I love Tracy, fast car is awesome, but my favorite song is where she is talking about a revolution. She’s just AWESOME thanks for reminding me about her
i remember stories in undergrad from some of my friends about their horrible roommates. one of my friends’ roommates came home drunk and puked in the closet thinking it was the sink in their bedroom!
true!
I hated dorm rooommates. I had 2 in a triple- they’d get drunk and/or high, and have sex with chicks from down the hall… and I was in the top bunk, so I could even FEEL them. One night, they got super trashed and they all fooled around on the futon, so that was even more weird than usual…
Great story. I’ve always wondered how it worked out in the same room as I’ve always had my own room in college.
love that song!
@minhaners – I was in the dorm for a total of two quarters. The only time I’ve ever had to share a room with someone else in my life and I didn’t like the experience. My second roomate was an exchange student from Japan, but he spent all his time hanging out with other exchange students so didn’t get much of a chance to know him.@secade – Wow, that’s way too much!@kunhuo42 – Eeew!@onmovement – Yeah, it is a song that makes me think I could learn guitar. Probably not going to happen, though.@Loonsounds – “Talkin’ About A Revolution”… another wonderful song from the same album.
my college dorm room-mate is a very very proper guy with a strict living schedule. My grade was the best while living with him ‘coz I don’t feel like disturbing him while he was studying so I studied. But I couldn’t stand his strict discipline and moved out the next year.
wow..it’s actually pure luck for those who have a nice room mate. such an interesting story to share….
ick what a crappy roommie.. that’s why i like living alone=/
I am glad he was kicked out. A pre med you say?? I hope he didn’t graduate as a physician. That would be one too many alcoholic docs.
Everyone has a roommate story. I had 3 different roommies my freshman year. Glad I was able to choose my roommate for the next 3 yrs! What a difference that made…
@ZenPaper – Sounds like a good roommate to have.@agmhkg – Yeah, it is luck. And sometimes lady luck just doesn’t like you…@subaru3169 – Amen. Or at least with someone you know and chose to live with.@ZSA_MD – Knowing that doctors already have a higher than average rate of alcoholism, I’d hope he didn’t become a doc, too. If I recall, he explained that his major was a result of parental expectations more than anything. That’s a poor reason to follow any major.@murisopsis – Wow, three in a year. When did dorms get outfitted with revolving doors? =D
Ugh, I think almost anyone that has ever lived with a roommate has a bad roommate story. I know I certainly do!
Yeah that brought me back indeed. Roommates. Good. Bad. I’ve had more than my share of a few in college. Fortunately my drunk pre-med roommate was mostly being drunk elsewhere. And the pot smoking pre-med/music major roommate more than made up for it with his classical guitar stylings. It was like having a personal concert in my room regularly.
@doiturselfer – Ugh!
I stayed at home so I don’t have any roommate stories.
@ElusiveWords – That’s what I did, too, after I moved back to the Bay Area. Cheaper and no problem with annoying college roommates.