Haven't We Met Before?

It's become so routine, we might as well call it tradition.

The beginning of every August, after the housing waiting-game comes to an exciting close and incoming freshmen are finally awarded their room assignments, the world of Facebook explodes with res hall groups, roommate-introductions, and digital floor-plans-for-the-tagging. And of course, as the membership of such groups increases, curiosity abounds. After all, one of your new dorm-mates could very well be your next best friend, your girlfriend, your boyfriend, your baby-daddy... who knows? But you gotta know what's waiting for you in the fall. So you do what we all do.... you Facebook stalk.

Just to be clear, for any ignorant social media virgins that may remain, the act of Facebook stalking involves creepily viewing the profile of an individual you don't know - or maybe you do know them, but you know, you don't really "know them, know them," you just sort of kind of know them, so it's basically still stalking, anyway... you do it because you want to learn something about them - what they look like, what music they listen to, if they have a belly-button that goes in or out, etc.

Basically, it's become custom in the world of Northwestern residences - PARC included - to creep on incoming freshmen FB stalker-style before they arrive. Who will your neighbors be? Who might accidentally stumble into your room one evening after a few too many beverages? Who seems likely to leave a trail of adult hair on the bathroom floor? These are serious questions... questions we simply can't wait until September 14 to answer. So we peek.

Of course, freshmen are no exception to this privilege. The road goes both ways. And it's pretty justified, at least in this context. Let's face it, over the next nine months, you'll be sharing pretty much everything with these people - toilets, sinks, mirrors... hell, maybe even beds, ifyouknowwhatImean. (And yes, ladies and gentlemen, PARCcest - as we've come to call it - does happen. Sometimes it ends well. Sometimes it ends badly. And sometimes, it ends with a PARC-wide herpes outbreak - true story, unfortunately, but perhaps the topic of another post.) The fact is, we all deserve a little sneak peek at what we're getting ourselves into.

So indulge yourself a little.

But just remember, Facebook judgments are hardly reality. A number of schools have placed a freeze on housing assignment changes within the first eight weeks of school precisely because students - and apparently their Facebook-observant parents - have prematurely requested roommate changes based on stereotypical information found on Facebook profiles.

So judge away, but be careful. We might enjoy satisfying our curiosity during the summer, but we won't really know anything until September comes.