When I was younger my mom always told me stories about her old college roommate. I would rumble with laughter and disbelief as she proceeded to tell me how her roommate had a 13 year-old boyfriend during her first year in college.
It seemed like a fable when I was younger. It wasn’t until I began to apply for housing here at the University of Oregon when that story popped back into my head. Oh no, I thought, I hope my mom’s old roommate didn’t have a daughter. And from then on, the horror stories of bad roommates began to flood my brain.
So when I finally met someone who actually had a good roommate story, I didn’t really know how to react…
Sophomore Katarina Berger new the moment she visited the University of Oregon campus her junior year of high school that this was where she belonged.
A Coos Bay native and current sophomore, Ellen Fields spent a lot of time being bused up to the campus for numerous activities throughout her high school career. Fields couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming and undeniable sense of comfort each and every visit. Like Berger, Fields steered her college sights towards the University of Oregon.
With their minds and hearts set on the same college, Berger and Fields set in motion a decision that would forever impact their college experiences; they just didn’t know it yet.
The summer before college, Fields received the one most blank, bland, and important sheet of paper known to any freshman-to-be: her roommate assignment.
With the sheet in one hand and the other fervently typing on the keyboard, Fields found Berger on Facebook.
It then all started with a friend request.
“I looked through her pictures,” explains Fields, “and I hoped we weren’t too different.”
Berger hails from Piedmont, CA (an area inside San Francisco), which Field heard was where some notorious “rich snobs lived.”
Accepting Fields friend request, Berger did a little stalking of her own. Berger’s friends informed her that Coos Bay was a blue-collar and working class community.
The two many have only been 8 hours apart in distance, but both felt as if they came from two completely different worlds.
With a few messages back and forth explaining each other’s interests and what each would contribute to the room in the fall, communication remained minimal until move in day.
At exactly 8:52 a.m. of move in day, Fields remembers receiving a text from Berger enthusiastically announcing “I’m here! And I really like the left side of the room.” Fields giggled anxiously as her nerves shot towards the roof. She had been informed move-in started at precisely 9 a.m. With her car packed inch to inch with her life belongings, Fields zoomed towards the campus.
Berger anticipated Field’s arrival. “I was really nervous and intimidated because she already had friends she knew here,” remembers Berger.
As soon as Berger and Fields meet face to face in the room that they would share the entire first year, all their pre-notions and previous opinions flew out the window.
The second or third night after move-in, Field and Berger’s hall decided to check out their first frat party, themed “school girl”.  On the walk there, Fields suddenly busted out, “ I’m sorry, sometimes I fart!”
Since then the endless giggles have yet to cease.
“I can just be goofy and I all the time with Ellen,”explains Berger,“ we are very compatible and we know how to work with each other.”
Berger and Fields worked through a whole year living in a space fit for one, and their friendship gradually grew stronger. The girls became each other’s support systems and a home base for each other when dealing with the new transition into college.
And even on the bad days, “ We both were able to understand everyone’s not always going to be perky all the time,” explains Fields, “ when I could tell Katarina needed the room to herself I took the hint and did not make a big deal out of it.”
The year one lead the pair into year two when Berger and Fields both decided to rent a house together with a few other friends. With sights set on a house with four bedrooms and five people, Berger and Fields gladly threw in their chips to share a room together once again. “ The original plan was Katarina was going to rush and live in the sorority house winter and spring term, “ says Fields, “ but in about 24 hours after moving in you could tell Katarina knew she didn’t want to move.”
Sitting in their room, Fields and Berger can’t speak a sentence with giggling or smiling. “I learned to be a better person because of Ellen,” comments Berger.
Although junior year brings the words “study abroad” to the table and every day is a small step towards graduation, Fields and Berger know their friendship will always stay solid and grounded. As Fields puts it, “Let’s just say I plan on having very pretty babies and Katarina is one of the people I plan on showing them off to.”
Laughter once again roars from the two girls from completely different backgrounds who now couldn’t imagine college, or life for that matter, without each other.
We’ve all been informed, if not beat down, with stories about bad roommate situations, but it’s about time someone tells one of the good.