An introduction to my wonderful ex-roommate, Jonathan

Since many of our contributors will soon be getting their first dose of living in a dorm with a roommate, I guess it's only appropriate that I regale you with stories of my very own roommate, Jonathan.

Sometime in June of 2003, after I arrived home from orientation in Ames, I received a letter in the mail telling me about my home for the upcoming school year. My new home was going to be beautiful Linden Hall in the Richardson Court neighborhood of Iowa State University. To be more specific, I was to live in room 301, and my roommate was one "Jonathan Franklin Roberts". His address was provided for me, and it was suggested I contact him before the year was to begin. I quickly scanned his address, hoping he would hail from a large city. No such luck -- his address listed his home as Albia, Iowa.

I had never heard of such a place before, so to Google I went, and I quickly discovered Albia was a very small town in Iowa south of Des Moines. The population? A mere 7,000 individuals. I became a little concerned that Jonathan was going to be a little in shock of "the big city" when he reached Ames.

I looked up his email address in Iowa State's online phonebook and wrote him a letter. He replied, and the plot thickened!

Albia wasn't actually his hometown. He had only lived there during his senior year to establish residency so he could go to Iowa State for the in-state rate. He actually was from an even *SMALLER* town in Arkansas. Better still, his dad was a Pastor (I'm not sure if that was specifically his title, but he runs a church).

So, the story so far is that my roommate is actually from a small town in Arkansas, his dad is a Pastor, and he had lived in Iowa for his senior year of HS. He was also Valedictorian of his graduating class. Needless to say, I'm excited to meet this character, and I am wondering if we'll mix well at all.

I arrived in Ames around 8 AM on move-in day. Of course, it was the hottest day of the year, reaching mid-to-upper 90s. Better still, Linden Hall is not air-conditioned, and I had to carry all my crap up four flights of stairs.

Around 3 or 4 PM in the afternoon, Jonathan rolled into the room, and we introduced ourselves. We spent the rest of the day getting our room arranged appropriately, and then we went to bed.

Here are some pictures of my room, and soon, I shall post hilarious and not-so-hilarious stories of our adventures in being roomies.