Girls are from Venus boys are from Mars By Samara Nazir Jayplay writer
Photo illustration by Kit Leffler
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Nothing seems unusual about four roommates in a two-bedroom apartment with one bathroom. However, when that combination is three girls and one guy, the situation becomes more interesting. Fortunately, Hai Chen, Olathe junior, had a positive experience from living with three girls.
Despite preconceived notions about coed living arrangements leading to sheer disaster, gender mixing can work well for college guys.
Chen quickly saw the differences living with girls rather than guys. Chen says girls keep to themselves a lot more, and you really can't be rowdy around them or play video games with them. You might also be pulled into girl talk, but he advises to steer clear of any fights.
Girls are also much cleaner than guy roommates, Chen says. "Except that girls
shed hair in the shower," he says. "Sometimes I had to pull out a loogie of hair before taking a shower."
Allen and his roommate currently live with two girls, which he says is a good balance. Allen says that living with the opposite sex helps you build an understanding and connection with them. For instance, through living with girls, Allen has learned that he really doesn't know how to dress.
He says he never fought with any of his roommates. Plus, they knew each other fairly well, which eliminated the issue of hidden feelings creeping into the scenario. He is not living with any of the girls this year only because he had made living arrangements elsewhere, but Chen wouldn't mind living with a group of girls again.
For girls, living with guys can be just as fun. Fed up with being around too much estrogen and drama, Sarah Kadhim, Colorado Springs, Colo., junior, opted to live with two guys and one of her current roommates next year. Sarah knows the
Allen and his roommates never fight and because Allen and his girlfriend were friends with each other prior to dating, she was well aware of the roommate situation and never had a problem with it.
Similar expectations and good communication are the two components that John Wade, a licensed psychologist for the Counseling and Psychological services at Watkins Health Center, says are most important for coed roommates to keep in mind. Wade stresses that people do need to be mature enough to understand that there can be no romantic intentions involved for the situation to work. Or
guys too well to worry about the issue of romantic feelings developing, but she is slightly worried about sharing a bathroom because she doesn't know where she'll put all her stuff.
as Bryan Allen, Manhattan senior puts it,
"You just don't dip your pen in the company ink if you know what I mean."
Any girl you live with has to be like your sister says Michael Krost, Plano, Texas sophomore, who was also considering living with a few girls next year. The living arrangements, however, didn't work out because Krost and his potential roommates had one too many roommates for a four-person apartment at the Legends, so instead he is living with three other guys. Krost thought that living with girls would be fun and different. But then again, what guy would say no to living with girls?
Contact writer at:
snazir@kansan.com
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Jayplay 04.28.05