After living for three years in a room the size of a broom closet, without a window or located on the 7th floor without an elevator, you decide to opt for shared accommodation, However, it is not easy to share your living space on a daily basis. If this solution offers undeniably interesting advantages – profitability, a remedy against loneliness – the perfect understanding can quickly turn into a nightmare.
The series How I met or Friends had dangled before our eyes the ideal of living together, and yet a simple mistake can tip the tender balance of life for two (or more), at the risk of becoming the prototype of the old couple arguing about the dishes. Here are three particularly delicate areas about which disputes arise most often that announce the beginning of the end:
Space
It is needless to say that flatsharing implies sharing an apartment, or even a single room. As long as your life and that of your roommate is similar, you may meet this person morning, noon and night, whatever you do and wherever you go. Yes, we are getting dangerously close to a thriller scenario. And in fact, your privacy will be almost zero – unless you live in a 200m², but let's be honest, students are poor, especially in Paris – which is why your agreement will be based mainly on the art of concession. It is important to leave the other a minimum living space: access to the kitchen or bathroom, a place to work in peace and more than anything respect for the sleep of your roommate.
Sleep
There is nothing more dangerous than a tired man. Like space, sleep is part of your roommate(s' privacy). Thus, in extreme cases where two people share the same room, the slightest night movement, snoring or creaking of parquet announces a rain of reproach as breakfast. Stealing someone's sleep is about to suffer their bad mood the next day, and again, the wisest solution is dialogue and compromise.
Food
Admittedly, this may seem ridiculous, and yet food is one of the most equivocal points at the heart of your roommate. In fact, it can be both a source of convergence and the basis for friendly sharing, or even an act of forgiveness. She dared to touch the chocolate you bought especially for your week of partials? He didn't do the shopping this week? An empty fridge is the assurance of an approaching storm. And yet, what could be better than a restaurant between roommates to forge new links? Good food makes good friends.
This is why roommates require unwavering patience, constant communication and honesty, at least if you do not want to find yourself paying the rent in February.
