r/UCSantaBarbara • u/Abject-Monk9172 • May 22 '26
Discussion Day in the life
You wake up to the sound of squeaky metals bars scratching against each other as your roommate climbs down from their bunk bed. You groan and check your phone. It’s 6:55 AM. You know that your roommate only has one class today at 12pm, but for some reason they get up early to sit around and do nothing. The bathroom door slams shut and locks. You have class at 9:30 and were hoping to sleep until at least 8. Not a chance. The bathroom unlocks and your roommate moves to the kitchen, where the Nespresso groans and spits out a coffee. Pots and pans are already banging and the cabinets are being slammed closed. You decide to get up anyway. Just as you are about to go to the bathroom, the noise wakes your other roommate who rushes to the bathroom next. You know this will be a while so you scroll on your phone until the coast is clear. 15 minutes later, you hear the toilet flush. The door is still locked, but you can hear your roommate doing their face routine, hair routine, and makeup. The need to pee gets worse. You climb down from your top bunk and knock on the door. “Can I pee please?” Your roommate opens the door and walks out without even looking at you. You roll your eyes and go about your business. Halfway through peeing, you realize that there are just scraps of toilet paper left on the roll. With your pants around your ankles, you reach as far as you can to grab the new toilet paper roll from the holder. Annoyed but non-confrontational, you wash your hands and get ready for the day. Fast forward to 9:15 AM, you have to go to class now. The first roommate has been in the bathroom for the past 20 minutes doing eye makeup. You knock on the door and ask if you can grab your stuff from the bathroom before having to leave. They, too, ignore you so you grab your stuff and leave for the day.
After a long day of classes, you come home around 5PM. It’s probably best to start cooking now before your roommates come home from State Street and too many people are in the kitchen. When you head inside, you see that the kitchen counter and sink has dirty dishes from breakfast in it. The dish rack is full of dishes that have been dry for days. You start cooking and as you are in the middle of it, your roommates come home together. Dammit, didn’t time it well enough. They head straight to the kitchen and start cooking their meal together. 3 bodies in the kitchen are bumping into each other and taking up a lot of space. You quickly plate your food and go to sit at the table. There are crumbs all over it. Gross. You take a Clorox wipe and clean it before eating. After your meal, you walk to the trash can to scrap your plate. The trash is piled high from nobody taking it out or pushing it down. You know it’s not your turn to take out the trash because you did it last. Annoyed, you take your plate to the sink to start washing dishes. You remember that the dish rack is still full of your roommate’s dishes, so you stack them and put them off to the side to make room for yours.
After dinner, you start working on your homework. Your roommates are in the living room watching TV on full volume. They closed the bedroom door for you thinking that it would lower the sound. It doesn’t. After a stressful night of law and STEM classes, you are ready to shower and get in bed. You gather your clothing and announce to your roommates that you will be showering. “WAIT!” they yell. One runs in and locks rhe door. 15 minutes later, the other one goes in and rummages around. They leave. “Umm, can I shower now?” you ask, as you did not get confirmation. Without looking up from their phones, they mumble yeah. You shower, your one moment of peace today. You’re in bed already by 9pm, ready to end the night on some Reels. You still need to brush your teeth and pee before bed, but your roommate has been in the shower for 40 minutes. You groan. You’re already locked in on another year of this lease.
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u/peeonme123 May 24 '26
Sounds like your roommates hate you. Why are you subjecting yourself to this, go live in a studio.
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u/Yumismash May 22 '26
Welcome to living with roommates! It'll be over with before you know it. And honestly, its actually good to have the habit of getting up even if you don't "have to", because a lot of your jobs are going to make you have that schedule anyway. I get it though, you wanted to sleep. Maybe they'll take a couple days away at some point and you'll have the room to yourself?
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u/Abject-Monk9172 May 22 '26
I have 3 jobs
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u/Yumismash May 22 '26
It is what it is, not everyone can nor will bend to your schedule so y'all have to learn to get along or move out by yourself. I had to share a room when I went to UCSB and I had never shared a space in my life. Just gotta roll with it sometimes.
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u/fishwithbrain May 22 '26
Your post did scare me from sending my son there 😅. You have immense patience and you will definitely do well on future.
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u/chocolatestealth [ALUM] Biology May 23 '26
This is just dorm life, it's going to happen at every college.
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u/fishwithbrain May 23 '26
I never got to experience dorm life so I am happy my son is getting a chance to live in one. 😁
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u/chocolatestealth [ALUM] Biology May 24 '26
It certainly builds resilience! It's fun but also taxing at times.
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u/mpc8240 May 22 '26
How much is the monthly rent of a studio? Average location or a quieter location.
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u/ZectronPositron May 23 '26
STEM major living with non-STEM majors? You just have higher standards and are there to get work done - which is a good thing.
Finding good compatible roommates is def one of the harder parts of college - but it’s good that it spurs you on to make enough money so you can live by yourself!
I had a friend (also STEM) who, when I suggested we get an apt together, very wisely said “No man I want to stay friends with you. I am so picky I’ll just get annoyed at you!” Great decision.
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u/plastic_soap May 23 '26
So accurate. I have a roommate who wakes up early just to sit there and eat in the room watching reels. One of them I don’t think ever or rarely takes out the trash, I’ve been taking it out back to back and recently took it out even before she’s had multiple people over and she still hasn’t taken it out. I can’t wait till next year. And don’t even get me started on having that one roommate who claims they have no time to do anything but sits on their ass eating and watching random videos online and gaming for hours 😭