By Ross Clurman, Contributing Writer

College comes at you fast. You live the fi rst 18 years of your life among family and friends, and then all of the sudden, it's time to go away to college. If college requires a long drive, then you're probably not going to live at home. This can prove to be a diffi cult situation to cope with - especially if you have roommates.

In many cases, your new college living arrangements require you to share an apartment, a house or a room with another person. In many colleges, restroom arrangements may also be communal. That's a lot of space shared by a lot of people

Once you've unpacked in your new home, your fi rst few days will probably be spent getting to know your surroundings. Since you may still be a little shell-shocked from the move, you and your roommate might do quite a lot together. This is a great time to get to know the person you'll be sharing close quarters with for the next year. During this settling-in phase, you might discover some characteristics in your roommate that really irk you. So what happens when your homeaway-from-home turns into a division of "mine-and-yours" space? Do you buckle down and tough it out, or do you cut and run? I found the most effective method is the proactive approach.

No two people are alike; we all know this. So, there's a strong possibility that you and your roommate will have differing personalities, values and beliefs. College is a great introduction to what life is like in the real world. (Not the reality show on MTV; your life after college.)

If you're looking for a list of dos and don'ts on getting along with a roommate, then you've come to the wrong page. By now, you should have assembled enough common sense to know how to function with others in a polite manner. Your roommate will hopefully know, too. If not, see your local RHA. The key to getting along with your new roommate is simple: respect. Respect your roommate and, more than likely, you will receive respect in return.

A huge part of that is respecting the space you and your roommate live in. Keep your part tidy. That won't be as hard as you might think. Trust me, you'll have a lot less space to worry about in college. My dorm room made a matchbox look spacious. It consisted of two twin beds, a fridge, two desks with computers, one wall closet and a carpet square that was reminiscent of naptime in preschool. I value my privacy, and living literally feet from another person was a huge challenge for me. The arrangement would not have lasted a year had I not respected him, his space and myself.

To have a successful living experience, you sometimes have to learn to let go. A friend of mine and I had the pleasure of living with a couple of the worst roommates imaginable. I was able to get through living a year with roommates who would continually consume groceries that didn't belong to them, always manage to get intoxicated on school nights and never clean up their messes by doing one thing: I ignored them. By leaving these terrible, horrible, no-good roommates to their own devices, I was able to get my studying done, have fun and still salvage enough food to satiate my appetite.

College will be a combination of the most diffi -cult and enjoyable times you'll ever have the pleasure of living through, and your experience will by no means be free of challenges. If one of these challenges is having a roommate you are less than fond of, don't fret. You'll move past it and live to tell about it. I did.