Four months ago I was assigned three new roommates for college. My first instinct was to check out Facebook, the place where social networking occurs all the time, every second of every minute of every day. My reasoning for looking up my new roommates was to see if I knew where they were from, if we had any friends in common, and or other like interests. I know it is not right to judge people based on their appearances, where they went to school, and what activities they do, but to be honest, I do it and I know that almost everyone else does the same. Even once I see all of those things listed on Facebook, I still try to keep an open mind, though I may have already pre-judged. And so began my journey of getting to know Janessa, Andrea and Liz.
I found my actual roommate Janessa right away on Facebook because her name is rare. Once I found her, I saw where she was from. She was from a school in Southern Indiana called Jasper. Being from Southern Indiana myself I had heard of it, but that was not necessarily a good thing. Another reason I had heard of it is because I played sports and had played them numerous times in a variety of sports. Jasper was one of our schools sports rivals. Coaches would always try to get us pumped up to play them and would be ecstatic whenever we beat them in the sport. I had also knew that certain people in Jasper were rich and wealthy. Driving through Jasper you could see where the preconceived notion that all of Jasper people were rich. I had also heard, and learned from some sport experiences that they were snobs and thought they were better than everyone. Therefore, once I found out my roommate was from Jasper, my first thought was “Great….Jasper”. So, I went and told my mom and she told me to keep an open mind, and I did. I realized that just because she was from Jasper did not automatically mean she would be a snob. I looked into her more on Facebook and saw that she had played volleyball like I had, which was a plus because we already had something in common. I also saw that she had a boyfriend and was glad to know because I also have a boyfriend. Later on Facebook, we agreed to meet up for lunch one day and just get to know each other. I was apprehensive at first, but after getting there all of my Jasper stereotypes flew out the door and I felt so lucky to have found out that not all Jasper girls are snobs and think that they are better than anyone else.
It took a little but more searching on Facebook to find Andrea, one of my suitemates. However, at some point I saw that Janessa had added her and I quickly followed suite. I found out that she was from Vincennes, another town about an hour away from where I live. I had never really heard about any Vincennes stereotypes so I was not too worried. Further investigation into her Facebook page I saw that she did dance and ran Cross-Country, I figured she was athletic like myself. I also saw that she had a boyfriend. I was immediately happy because I have a boyfriend too and that made me feel better, knowing that she would not bring random guys to our dorm. By the look of her on her pictures I thought maybe she would be quite, but I hoped that we would get along, because after all, I was still nervous about my actual roommate. Once we got to the dorm she was quite for the first couple of days, but I have now learned that I was completely wrong and I sometimes wish she would be quite. But, we get along great now.
Last, but not least, I found my third roommate Liz. My first problem was that I could not figure out where she was from. I had looked at pictures and nothing gave it away. But there are some things that I learned from her pictures and other things on her Facebook. I found out she was in band and I was a little skeptical at first. I do not have a problem with people that are in the band, but I was not necessarily friends with them either. I liked plenty of the kids in the school band, but I did not usually hang out with them or anything. They were thought of to be some kind of ‘geek’s, usually made fun of by other people. So I had wondered how this was going to work out. Janessa, Andrea, and I had done some type of sport in high school previously and were interested in working out and intramurals, but I was not sure if she would like us because of our different interests. But, come to find out, she actually does like working out and enjoys participating in our sport interests. She is one of the nicest girls I have met, and just because she was in band means absolutely nothing to me anymore.
We are all humans. To say that we do not judge is a flat out lie. You cannot honestly say when you walk down the street and you see a person you do not automatically put them into a pre-judged category in your mind. It is impossible. But, what I have learned is that your judgments can change. Just because they are from a certain place you have heard rumors about does not mean that they follow those rumors. Looks can be deceiving, because they look quite, does not mean that they are quite. And, just because they participated in certain activities in high school does not mean that they will not appreciate, and maybe even like the activities you enjoy. Now that I have gotten to know all of these girls, I feel bad for stereotyping them and making too quick of an assessment of them. They should not have been subjected to the kind of scrutiny I secretly put them under. We are all great friends now, and probably will be forever. I am lucky to have known all of these girls and am sorry for have judging them.
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