My Roommate freshman year..

Entering college as a 21 year old freshman was a unique experience. I was 3 years older than my entire class and had been living on my own for 4 of the past 5 years of my life. I was also the only freshman in the school that was of legal age in the US.

Every Amherst freshman is paired randomly with a roomate. I had spoken to Matt briefly on the phone before I had left for Amherst. He seemed nice enough and mentioned that he would be bringing us a TV so I couldn't complain. The only thing I really knew about him was that he was from Cincinatti, OH. Because I had arrived at Amherst a few days earlier than the rest of the class, I was all settled into our room when Matt finally arrived. I had been out the night before with Rob and Rylan and a few of the other RC's partying. It was 10am and I was still passed out in bed in nothing but my underwear. All of a sudden I am surrounded by Matt and his parents, standing in the doorway staring at this much older, hung-over, half naked kid who their son has to live with for the rest of the year. Matt later told me that his parents were definitely nervous about his living situation after the initial encounter. Things improved greatly in a short period of time. I went shopping with Matt and his parents that afternoon to pick up a few things for our room, including the much needed beer fridge (which fit a 30-rack of Natural Ice beautifully) and some oscillating fans to battle the humidity of Western MA in late August. His parents turned out to be some of the nicest people I have met and I always enjoy seeing them.

Matt and I started off a little slow but got to know each other quickly. I couldn't tell you much of what happened the first few months we lived together, but by Christmas time the two of us had become the best of friends. Matt was honest with a great sense of humor, and although you might not expect this of him, he absolutely loves crushing beers. I knew I could trust him with anything. We came from very different backgrounds, his being the typical Amherst legacy sort. But that never mattered to either of us, Matt was incredibly down to earth and we got along as if we had known each other our entire lives. I think we both learned a lot from each other. Matt was incredibly talented and I picked his brain as often as I could. I learned alot from him about the finer points of academia, American politics, and careers. I think he mostly enjoyed laughing at my stupid stories after a good night out. He definitely helped me out a lot with my school and was a big reason for my early success academically at Amherst. We never bothered each other, and often did our own thing. He and I both had our own groups of friends. I spent a lot of my time with the hockey guys, and Matt became close with a group of freshmen guys that lived across the quad from us. It was the great talks in our room and the good times on the third floor of Williston that really built our relationship. Matt and I both played guitar and often jammed together. A very talented musician, he was also a member of the Amherst College A Capella group Route 9.

We began every Saturday night by crushing a few beers in the shower and then listening to Jay-Z's '99 problems.' Our floormates in Williston that year were a great bunch and we all really bonded as there were only 12 of us on the third floor, the only freshmen in the building. Our RC was very cool and let us do as we pleased so our common room was always the pre-game hub on weekends. I also got to know Matt's friends over the year who he eventually lived with his sophomore year. They are a great bunch of guys and I often enjoyed having a few wobbly pops with them over in Stone Hall our sophomore year.

Matt invited me home with him for spring break that year. We were going to hang out at his place for the week and take it easy. We would also be able to check out Cincinatti. We departed from Hartford airport and ended up getting grounded for the night at our stop-over in Baltimore due to ice rain. Thankfully, Matt's dad found us a hotel in Glenbernie, MD. I can remember sitting outside of the airport with Matt waiting for the shuttle and laughing like hell at our circumstances, we always had a good time together. We grabbed a stellar meal at the Old Country Buffet and crashed for the night. We finally arrived in Columbus where Matt's dad picked us up. He took Matt and I for lunch at a famous Jewish deli, Katzinger's, in the middle of Columbus, before making the two hour drive back to Cincinatti. Ohio is definitely flat and boring other than the three major cities, something like Southern Alberta.

That week we chilled out, watched a few flicks, ate well, and slept in every day. We partied with all of his old high school buddies in Cincinatti for St. Patrick's day. We enjoyed a few Irish Car Bombs and had an awesome time. A few stories from that night are definitely unprintable but will live on in the memory bank. During that week, Matt's parents took he and I out for dinner on the Ohio River in downtown Cincinnati. Oscar 'The Big O' Robertson was in the same restaurant and stopped by the table to say hello to Mr. Stolper and the group. Friday of that week we headed out to Oxford, OH to spend the night partying with Matt's friends at the University of Miamo-Ohio. What a time.. Oxford is a first-rate college town with a fantastic night-life scene. We pre-gamed with one of Matt's best girl friends from home who had a few of her friends over and then we hopped the bus into town to hit the bars. I have been able to see quite a few college campuses in America and I have to say that Miami-OH has the most beautiful girls I have seen. We had a great night out and even partied back at the dorms, before we all passed out together cosy in Jill's room. Oh Georgia.

Here is where things get interesting. I was supposed to book my flight back to Boston from Columbus on Sunday and leave with Matt and his Dad who was headed to Boston for business. I messed up when buying the ticket online and booked my flight for Saturday at noon instead. We had no choice but to wake up at 7:30 and drive straight from Oxford to the Columbus airport to catch my noon flight. Matt was still feeling the effects of the night before so I took the wheel. After a few U-turns leaving Oxford and a puke break for one sick lady friend, we were on our way. I drove three hours across the great state of Ohio and made it to the Columbus airport on time to catch my flight back to Boston. Eaton, OH is one hell of a town. Upon arriving in Boston, I was picked up by one of my best buddies from school who lived 10 minutes from Logan in Cambridge. After a few hours of sleep in Cambridge that afternoon, Mark (who had picked me up) took me out for a night at Boston College. Freshman Year Spring Break turned out to be an absolute gem. Mark and I drove back to campus the next day and I met Matt back at our place.


There are so many other stories from that first year but I hope this does it some justice at least.
That first year in 302 Williston was one of the best years of my life. I owe a lot of this to Matt. We had one hell of a good time together and he is a friend for life. Cheers buddy, "We've got paper-towel."