“You can’t live alone! It’s social suicide!” 

OK, so maybe that isn’t exactly what Damien from “Mean Girls” says, but it’s what everyone thinks. If you’re anything like me, you start to get small heart palpitations when thinking about living arrangements for the next school year. 

Grand Valley asks for your living plans in late November. At that time, you hardly know your roommate, you haven’t made any close friends in your classes yet and you certainly don’t know where you should live next year. 

Making friends has never been an easy task for someone as shy as me. My anxiety shoots through the roof and I start to get sweaty when I think about meeting new people. As a freshman last year, I went into the dorms blind. My roommate was amazing, but she decided to live in her sorority house this year, so I was all by myself. Besides her, I hadn’t made many other friends throughout the rest of the year. 

So, I made the decision to live alone this school year. I was scared… I didn’t want to be committing social suicide. I was so reluctant to move in and begged my parents not to make me go to school this semester. I finally moved in in the middle of August and it was terrifying. 

But, once I moved in, I loved my apartment right away. Truth be told it was way better than I had imagined. There are a ton of things that are so much easier than living in the dorms. I don’t have to worry about coordinating who cleans the nasty shower or the smelly toilet. I can play whatever music I want and however loud I want (considering the neighbors don’t mind). I realized that living alone is not as awful as people make it seem.

I’m hardly ever in my room anyway. I’m always out at class, Kirkhof or studying at the library. Having a one-bedroom apartment almost forces me to be more social than I normally would be.

A lot of college kids will be concerned because they wouldn’t have friends to live with or roommates to party with. Then there is the lonely factor; there is no one else to talk to.

However, sometimes the silence is nice and well needed.

I won’t lie; it does suck sometimes. There are days when I wish there was someone home when I get back from a long stressful day of classes. I start to feel a little crazy because I’ll start to talk to myself. After checking with my apartment complex, I have actually contemplated getting an animal.

So to all of you who are considering living alone or really have no other option, don’t be afraid. It has its pros and cons, as does any other living situation. But just remember that living alone is actually just like having a mini party on your own every day.

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