The benefits of living with your best friend

I’ve lived with my best friend for almost two years now. We live in a three-bedroom apartment. We used to have a third roommate, but it’s been just us two for these past few months.

We moved in together sophomore year, having met freshman year because we lived on the same hall in Brooks College. We bonded over boys and have been best friends ever since.

Living with your best friend has so many benefits. A lot of people say that living with your best friend is a bad idea in college. They say that since you are with each other all the time, you’ll eventually have arguments and could potentially stop being friends. But people forget that living with your best friend can be one of the best choices you can make, especially in college.

I’m living with someone who understands me. When I come into her room to tell her a story, she automatically knows whether I’m happy, sad or mad. If I’m happy, it’s probably because of my boyfriend, and she understands how exciting it is to be in relationship. If I’m sad or mad, she knows exactly what to say and if I cry, she tells me to let it out and she’s there to hug me until I feel better.

She’s always down to ride to the store with me, or to McDonald’s at 10 p.m. when I’m craving a Coke because nothing compares to that refreshing taste of a McDonald’s Coke.

We happen to be in the same sorority, so we almost always carpool to every sorority function, which saves on the gas. We both usually run out of food at the apartment around the same time, so that makes for another carpool opportunity.

We have study parties at our kitchen table and alternate between telling stories, quoting funny movies and actually studying.

We stay up late and watch funny kids movies like “Scooby-Doo.” She took me to see “Frozen” for the first time, and she didn’t judge me when I cracked up laughing at Olaf when he came on the screen.

She loves to bake and she always lets me eat some of her Hershey’s pie or chocolate cake pops.

I could probably go on and on about how many benefits there are to living with your best friend, but if you can’t tell from what has already been listed that it’s a good thing, then I’m not sure what will convince you.

Sure, we get annoyed with each other or have our disagreements, but at the end of the day we’re best friends and we’re there for each other. If we have a problem, we work it out.

I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like living without her next year, even though we’ll be living in the same neighborhood.

Heather Trotter is a junior journalism major from Franklin, Tenn. She is a reporter for the Lariat.