Have you ever been nervous to send a text to someone you really like? Butterflies fluttering around the pit of your stomach as you watch those three dots appear and then disappear. Wondering if the person is going to answer right away or make you wait in anticipation. It’s one of the most sickening but exhilarating feelings in the world. And it’s exactly like trying to find a roommate.

College is stressful enough. Between filling out applications, writing essays, trying to get your transcript together and all your teacher recommendations in on time, you wouldn’t think trying to make friends would be all that bad. But it’s exactly like dating. You have to put a mini biography about yourself on the college’s Facebook page and hope people will message you to try and get to know you. But if that doesn’t work out, you have to be the messenger and that is really intimidating.

For me, everyone in my college group chat put their little message in the Facebook group chat but then no one ever messaged each other. Everyone just said, “Message me!” and everyone expected someone to message them. So I took matters into my own hands and messaged two girls. I put myself out there and introduced myself but waiting for a response was incredibly agonizing. I checked my messages over and over again, making up excuses as to why they weren’t answering: the school’s internet is awful, maybe their schools internet is awful, their is phone is broken, they never learned to read. Regardless, my stomach churned and my nerves skyrocketed.

After a couple hours of nervously biting my nails and continuously checking my messages, they both answered. It’s hard talking to new people, I won’t lie. There’s like this thin piece of ice that both of us were to afraid to break as we tried to hold a conversation. It’s like playing twenty questions with a stranger. Are you clean or messy? Do you stay up late or go to bed early? What’s your music taste? It’s literally like speed dating. A little awkward, but honestly, so exciting because that just means college is real and right around the corner.

I haven’t found a roommate yet and of course, I’m getting nervous but now people are messaging me and that thin piece of ice is slowly breaking. The awkwardness and tenseness of the situation probably won’t go away for a while but I’ll keep speed roommating until I find a girl I really like!