Monday, June 17, 2013

Carly Speaks: Taking a Bite Out of the Big Apple "Finding a Roommate"

Moving to a new city is a pretty scary thing, especially when you can count the number of people that you know in the nearest 100 zip codes on one hand. My first attempt at finding a roommate was to ask my friends that currently live in NYC if they needed a new roommate or knew someone who did. I quickly struck out and needed to look elsewhere. I was really scared to go onto Craigslist and find a random roommate, you never know what you are going to find with Craigslist!


As a CDC, I preached to collegiate members the importance of joining the local alumnae group after graduation. "It is a really easy way to meet people!" I would always say. I figured it was time to practice what I preach. I already was a dues-paying member of the NYC Alumnae group and was constantly checking out the Facebook group for any "roommate wanted" posts. I ended up joining a g-mail group for DGs looking for roommates and/or apartments in the city. I sent out an e-mail to the group and within a few hours I heard back from a collegiate member about to graduate from Zeta Theta-Columbia named Cait. 

The rest happened so quickly; we went through the usual surface level questions about living habits, hometowns (she is also from the west coast!) and what we are doing in NYC (she does neuroscience research at Columbia). Cait had already found an awesome true 3 bedroom apartment in the Upper West Side, and from the looks of the pictures it really was perfect, and was planning on seeing it in person with a broker later that week. One of Cait's friends from Columbia became our third roommate and we signed the lease a week after I posted my original "roommate wanted" e-mail. Cait and I love telling the story of how we became roommates to other DGs because it truly is a testament to how amazing the DG network is. The night before I e-mailed the group, Zeta Theta had their Senior Pursuit meeting and encouraged the seniors to join the local alumnae group for where they will be living after graduation. Cait went home and joined the NYC Facebook page and the G-Mail group and it paid off! 

Kudos to Zeta Theta for encouraging the senior class to stay involved in Delta Gamma. Cait and I get along great, and having our ritual and sisterhood in common was just the beginning. I like to think that Cait and I's story is proof that Delta Gamma is not just 4 years of fun while in college, it truly is a lifetime membership. There are DGs everywhere, so why not go out and try and meet them? You never know what new and amazing friends (or roommates!) you will make along the way. 

No comments:

Post a Comment