For the average senior who has spent their entire college career at the same university, at this point in their lives they are usually living with some of their best friends who are dreading their eventual split after graduation. Due to experiences that brought me to where I am, that is not my story.

After three years of living and surrounding myself with the same girls, I had an interesting thought that living with boys could be just the type of change I needed for my last year in Eau Claire.

Some of you might be thinking, what’s the big deal? Plenty of us have had brothers, dealt with boys in our classes and have good friends who are boys. Let me just give you a bit of background information to help you understand where I’m at.

I am the middle of three sisters and because of that I always had an extra set of friends growing up at home since I got along so well with both of them. None of us were the girly type though; our favorite activities included climbing trees, chasing animals around the backyard and even building treehouses we attempted to sleep in.

As I grew older, I had a lot of other girl friends. I was very social and surprisingly knew how to relate to a lot of different types of girls even when I tended to act like more of a tomboy. Guys on the other hand, not so much.

I always felt dorky and out of place around boys while other girls seemed to be so put together. It was weird because I already liked most of the activities they did, but my inner awkward girl couldn’t seem to pull it together when I was around them.

After three years living with a house full of five other girls, I took a risk and signed a lease with four random boys I met through a mutual friend in hopes of a positive change. They were looking for one last roommate and agreed to letting a girl sign the lease.

Nervous at first, I quickly started adapting knowing full well that some things were going to be different but I was ready to accept the changes.

Simple things like hand soap, hand towels and a toilet brush  seem to escape boys minds when at the store. They assume that as long as they have enough beer and frozen pizza to get through the week they’re set.

I think they have a thing or two to learn but that’s where I come in. I’ll help them make our house a little more like home while they teach me to become more carefree and have a year worth remembering.