I received a lot of advice before coming to college – friends, relatives, neighbor’s brother’s uncle’s best friend’s girlfriend’s dogs all felt the need to share their best words of wisdom before I embarked on this major life adventure. Some of it was worthless, some it was weird, and some of it was priceless.

Before my first year at Wash. U., fear outweighed excitement. And I think, looking back, that I was more afraid of my freshman roommate (nothing personal) than I was of Gen. Chem. I had no idea what it would be like to live with someone my own age—someone likely to be very different from me.