Today’s post was written by Jordan Hoyt, a senior Mechanical Engineering major from Tulsa, Okla.

One of my best decisions I made during my college career was deciding to room in LaFortune House and be part of the International Living Community. This is one of the most underrated residence halls on campus and was a perfect home for my sophomore year. It could be your home, too!

LaFortune House, or “Lafo” as it’s called by some residents, is home to suite-style living, rooms with sinks, and a huge lobby area fit for hosting equally large weekly international dinners. American students are mixed in with suites of mostly international students and through this they are given amazing opportunities to experience different cultures. If you’re hoping to learn a new language, this is the place to do it since nearly every major language is represented!

This experience also offers a unique view of your own way of life. During the first snow of every year, many of the international students get to see their flakes falling from the sky. Teaching new friends how to make their first snowman, teaching them American football, or taking them trick-or-treating on their first Halloween is by far one of the best ways to feel like a joyful kid once again.

LaFortune is located right next to the Reynolds Center (home of the TU basketball and volleyball teams), H.A. Chapman football stadium and Lorton performance Center. It’s location makes it a hub of entertainment on campus. It’s also reasonably close to the engineering buildings. And let’s be honest, TU’s campus is small enough that it only takes 10 minutes to get anywhere on campus.

If you are interested in the International Living Community at TU, click here for more information.

Today’s blog post is from Katie S., a junior Communication major from Des Moines, Iowa.

As an out-of-state student who knew no one else attending The University of Tulsa, I was very anxious about having a roommate, a stranger with whom I would have to share my space. The University of Tulsa has several services available to help make a match. They have a couple of online roommate finders where you can chat with potential future roommates before committing, as well as social programs during the year to facilitate interactions between people seeking a roommate.

Rather than actively seek out a roommate, however, I went with the “I’m Feeling Lucky” Google search equivalent – a random roommate. The university makes this match based on a short questionnaire. I answered questions about what time I like to go to bed and wake up, how I preferred to study, and how messy or clean I was. Just a few questions to determine the person I would spend the next year sharing 150 square feet with. This was a scary thought.

During the summer, I received an email letting me know that my roommate had been selected, and giving me her phone number and email. We reached out and began talking and making plans for our room. Of course, I also began investigating her on social media to try to get an understanding of who I would be living with. I finally met Catherine during move-in, and soon learned that the university had done a great job matching us up. We both came in with an art focus, so we had a lot of classes together, which helped us encourage each other to finish homework and gave us plenty to talk about. She is from Tulsa and has family in the area, as well as a car. This meant that she could tell me what restaurants and shops were good, take me with her when she went out for groceries, and her family always offered me an off-campus home if I was ever in need of one. We made friends and picked majors and grew independently, but also grew closer to one another.

I found in my random roommate a best friend that shares my sense of humor, introduces me to new things, answers honestly when I ask her opinion, and constantly makes The University of Tulsa a better place to be. We lived together in Fisher South as freshmen, have stayed close friends in our sophomore and junior years, and plan to live together again in the on-campus apartments as seniors.

Not every random roommate experience will be as positive as mine. There are instances in which two people are matched and it doesn’t work out. But this is no reason to avoid the process!

You learn a lot from your freshman roommate. They will teach you patience and tolerance. You will find new likes and dislikes based on their habits or interests. You may discover something that you do that you weren’t even aware of until the person living with you points it out. Even if you are from the area, or know someone else attending, I would encourage you to consider this option. I was very fortunate that Catherine didn’t decide to room with one of her many high school friends that go to TU, but instead decided to let fate choose her roommate. Random chance, you might find, can put great people in your life.