One important aspect of finding a place to live may not be the perfect place but the perfect roommate — or roommates, in sophomore art education major Leah Kildow’s situation.

“We have eight girls all together,” Kildow said.

Kildow, who lived in the residence halls for two years with one roommate, has found a house for next year. Kildow said they had five girls for an eight-person house, so they asked others if they would be interested in living with them next year.

“Each girl has her own room,” Kildow said, “and there is a large kitchen and living area. It’s a lot more space than a dorm room, so hopefully our living situation should be OK.”

At one point, Kildow had an advertisement for a roommate in her AOL Instant Messenger profile.

“We found people that were interested,” Kildow said. “The five girls then decided if each girl knew who each other was and if they would have a problem living with each other, like whether a girl smoked or had animals, and eventually we found eight.”

While Kildow had to search for her roommates, junior justice studies major Brendan Moody knew who he was going to live with his first year off campus.

“For my first house, I had some buddies transferring to Kent (State). They were all from my high school, so I figured we would be able to live together,” Moody said.

Each following year Moody has gone through the same process of finding a place to live and finding another roommate.

Moody said right now he has a few different roommates from the previous year. And next year, a few more changes will be made.

“Things happen,” Moody said. “People find other people to live with, transfer to another school or go overseas.”

Heather Beer, a landlord at College Towers, said sometimes people do have to leave in the middle of the year and need to get out of their contract.

“We try not to get involved in personal conflict if a situation arises,” Beer said. “But when people need out of their contract for academic or military reasons, there is a way to handle the situation. There needs to be communication with the landlord.”

Getting to know each roommate’s personality becomes important to avoid conflicts.

“We have a hard-working, smart kid, then a lazy, dirty kid, the kid with no job who is never there and the average joe,” Moody said. “We all manage to live under the same roof. I think the differences in our personalities help us function better sometimes.”

Sometimes not just personality is important but understanding as well.

“I think I would like someone who is laid-back, and to know she is going to be able to deal with me when I am messy, crabby, loud, emotional or however I am feeling,” Kildow said. “And I have to be able to understand that same person when she is feeling that way, too.”

Moody offered a piece of advice for those having a difficult time choosing a roommate.

“A person’s bedroom can say a lot about a person, whether they are messy or neat, or what types of things they like,” Moody said. “Their personality is revealed through it.”

Contact fine and professional arts reporter Jennifer Zemanek at [email protected].