Episodio 70: Learning to Live Together (Aprendiendo a vivir juntos)

Duolingo English for Spanish Speakers Podcast

Era el verano de 2018 y Greta Van Curan se estaba preparando para su primer año en la Universidad de Tufts en Boston, Massachusetts.

Como muchas universidades de los Estados Unidos, Tufts asignó a los estudiantes de primer año su compañero de cuarto.

Algunos iban a tener no uno, sino varios compañeros de cuarto, incluyendo a Greta.

Por eso, a partir de agosto, Greta estaría viviendo con dos completos extraños.

During the summer, the university sent all the new students an email about things we needed to do before we arrived.

One of those things was to answer questions about our personalities.

There were questions like: “Do you have any hobbies? Are you a clean or a messy person? What time do you like to go to sleep?” They were very specific questions about our lives — and a lot of things I never thought about before!

La universidad usaría esa encuesta para encontrar coincidencias.

Greta tardó quince minutos en completarla.

¡Sabía cuán importantes eran sus respuestas!

It was nice to know that every other student was in the same situation, but I was definitely anxious to find out who my roommates were going to be.

I really wanted them to be nice because we were going to live in the same room together.

I also heard a lot of stories about roommates who didn’t get along.

And I didn’t want that to be my experience!

Welcome, les damos la bienvenida a “Relatos en Inglés”, un podcast de Duolingo.

Soy Diana Gameros.

En cada episodio podrás practicar inglés a tu propio ritmo, escuchando historias reales y fascinantes, contadas por las personas que las vivieron.

En el episodio de hoy, dos historias de personas que viven con compañeros.

Escucharemos cómo es vivir con un extraño en la universidad y cómo es vivir por su cuenta después de la universidad.

Después de que Greta completara la encuesta, esperó unos meses hasta recibir una respuesta.

Y poco antes de que comenzaran las clases, al fin recibió la gran noticia de quiénes eran sus dos compañeras de cuarto.

In early August, I got an email about my two new roommates.

There were photos and information about each of them.

I learned one of my new roommates was named Barrett.

I looked at her social media profile, and I immediately liked her.

In all of her photos, it was clear that she was fun, adventurous and cared about her family.

I thought we were going to get along, but there was no way to know until we actually met.

Greta y Barrett no se conocieron personalmente hasta finales de agosto.

Greta fue la primera que se mudó.

Pero después de eso se fue durante una semana de mochilera por el bosque para conocer a otros estudiantes de primer año como parte de su orientación.

I was very dirty because I spent a week outside in the woods! When I returned from the trip, I opened the door to our room, and Barrett was there! She didn’t know who I was at first.

But when she realized that I was her new roommate, she suddenly looked so excited and happy.

I shouted, “Barrett!” and ran over to her.

I didn’t have time to take a shower after my trip, so I just said, “’I’m sorry, I smell bad, but I’m giving you a big hug!”

Las dos se pusieron a charlar y esa primera interacción dejó a Greta muy aliviada.

We tried to tell each other everything about ourselves in those few minutes, We both felt very comfortable.

I thought Barrett was so sweet, and I was so excited to spend more time with her.

Si bien desde el comienzo su amistad fue natural, rápidamente Greta y Barrett se dieron cuenta de que tenían personalidades opuestas.

I’ve always loved talking to people, and I usually have the loudest voice in the room.

I realized that Barrett was much quieter.

She was also very organized, but I didn’t always have a plan.

We definitely had different personalities, but we always got along very well.

Greta y Barrett también descubrieron que tenían diferentes estilos de vida, al igual que su tercera compañera de cuarto, que no pasó mucho tiempo con ellas.

Pero también aprovechaba para relajarse y pasar tiempo con amigos.

Además, organizaron, u organized, sus pertenencias de diferente manera.

We all liked to sleep at different times of the day.

I usually stayed up late, but Barrett preferred to go to bed and wake up early.

And our other roommate sometimes slept in the afternoon.

We also organized our spaces in the room very differently.

In general, Barrett didn’t own a lot of stuff that she didn’t need.

But I was the opposite.

I had lots of little things on my shelves.

I didn’t need most of my stuff, but I just thought it was nice to look at.

Ellas comenzaron a adaptarse a la vida universitaria, junto al resto de los estudiantes de primer año.

Participaron en talleres, comieron en el comedor de la universidad y eligieron sus clases para el semestre.

The first week at the university was really busy.

And everyone spent a lot of time with their roommates because we were all a little nervous and we needed to get used to living at the university.

It was nice to have Barrett because she made me feel more comfortable.

Esa primera semana de clases, Greta y Barrett pasaron mucho tiempo juntas.

Pero cuando comenzaron las clases, fue diferente.

After that first week of school, we didn’t hang out as often.

That’s because we both started hanging out with different groups of friends that we met through our hobbies at the university.

I still thought Barrett was a great roommate, but we weren’t close, like we were when school started.

¡Era difícil para Greta y Barrett pasar tiempo juntas porque tenían otra compañera de cuarto y ella tenía un horario muy diferente al de ellas! Siempre parecía estar durmiendo en la habitación, por lo que era difícil que todas se juntaran.

I started spending less time in our room at night.

I went somewhere else to do my homework or hung out with my friends instead.

And I usually came back late at night.

Barrett also spent a lot of time outside the room, either in the library or with her friends.

It was really hard to get to know each other when we never spent time in our room together.

Pero las cosas cambiaron después del receso de Acción de Gracias, o Thanksgiving.

A fines de noviembre, Greta y Barrett se fueron a sus respectivas casas para celebrar la festividad con sus familias.

Pero cuando regresaron al campus, su tercera compañera decidió mudarse.

After our other roommate left, Barrett and I started to spend more time in our room together.

We could stay there to do our homework or relax without worrying about waking up our other roommate.

That was when we started to become closer friends.

Además del tiempo que pasaban juntas en la habitación, empezaron a compartir los fines de semana y gran parte de su tiempo libre.

We loved taking walks to get ice cream.

We did that all the time! We also watched our good friend perform comedy and played games on the fields outside our building.

Sometimes we also studied together at coffee shops or the library.

Barrett is one of the smartest people I know, and we were in the same chemistry class, so she basically taught me chemistry.

I didn’t know anything!

Las dos se hicieron más cercanas durante el segundo semestre de su primer año.

E incluso jugaron juntas en un equipo deportivo.

Y cuando sus madres se conocieron, ¡también tuvieron mucha química! Fue durante el famoso “fin de semana para padres”, una tradición en la que los padres visitan a sus hijos en la universidad.

Barrett and I were very different, but our moms had pretty similar personalities.

They got along really well, and they were happy that we were roommates.

We even had a group chat together with our moms! And when they came to visit us, we usually went out to dinner together.

Cuando terminó el primer año de universidad, llegó el momento de elegir nuevamente compañeros de cuarto para el próximo año.

Greta y Barrett ni siquiera tuvieron que hablar sobre si querían volver a compartir la habitación.

We already knew that we were going to live together during the next year.

We were excited to move into an apartment.

It was even more exciting because we were going to move in with eight other friends that we made during our first year at the university.

Era emocionante pensar en los próximos pasos a seguir.

Aunque también estaban un poco tristes por tener que mudarse de su primer departamento en el que habían compartido tantas cosas.

After we packed everything, it was strange to see our room empty.

So many things happened in that room during the year we lived there.

It was a little sad to leave, but we were also so excited to move in together the next year.

So, it wasn’t goodbye, it was see you later! Not everyone has good experiences with their college roommates, so I feel lucky that I had such a great roommate.

Al igual que Greta, Kody Anderson también tuvo que aprender esta habilidad tan importante de vivir con compañeros de cuarto.

Pero la lección llegó después de la universidad y tuvo diferentes desafíos.

En 2015, Kody acababa de graduarse de Trinity University en San Antonio, Texas.

After I graduated from college, I took a month-long trip to Europe with some friends.

When I got back, I knew I wanted to stay in San Antonio for a while because a lot of people I knew were also staying in the city.

But I needed to find a new place to live.

Una amiga de Kody, Teresa, se había graduado el año anterior y estaba alquilando una casa y necesitaba nuevos compañeros de cuarto.

Invitó a Kody y a otro amigo, Mike, a mudarse.

It was a pretty big house.

It had three bedrooms, two living rooms, and a really big backyard.

And the entire house had wood floors.

One of the best parts about the house was the cheap rent! The only bad thing about it was that it was next to some railroad tracks, so sometimes a train passed by and the whole house started shaking.

Teresa y Mike trabajaban ayudando a estudiantes de preparatoria a ingresar a la universidad, mientras Kody buscaba trabajo.

It was a different experience to live with friends after college.

Everyone in my new house had a full-time job, and we were learning to be more responsible and independent.

I was used to eating at the dining rooms at my college, so I had to learn how to cook for myself.

Como era la primera vez que Kody vivía por su cuenta, tuvo que aprender a presupuestar y administrar su dinero.

Y tenía que coordinar sus finanzas con sus compañeros, lo que no siempre le resultaba fácil.

During the first few months after I moved into the house, I was looking for a job.

Then I finally got a job as a salesperson, and I had a salary for the first time in my life.

I needed to pay for things like rent, electricity, and internet.

We received bills for the whole house, so we had to be very organized.

Teresa paid for the rent, Mike paid for the electricity, and I was responsible for the Internet.

Kody creyó que les fue bien como compañeros de cuarto, a pesar de que todos tenían personalidades muy diferentes.

Teresa era quien ayudaba a los tres amigos a llevar un registro de sus quehaceres, o chores.

Teresa was probably the most responsible person in our house.

She wanted everything to be organized and clean, so she wrote down all of the chores for the house.

There were three main things to do — one for each roommate — including mopping the floors, cleaning the bathroom, and taking out the trash.

And then each week, we changed who did which chore.

Mientras que Teresa era una persona muy limpia, Mike no priorizaba sus quehaceres domésticos.

Y Kody estaba en un lugar intermedio: no era un fanático de la limpieza, pero quería ayudar.

I knew that I needed to start thinking more about cleaning now that I lived with friends.

It was nice that Teresa cared about keeping the house organized and clean.

I tried to do my chores on time because I wanted to be helpful to my roommates.

But at the same time, I didn’t mind if things were a little messy.

A veces, los quehaceres generaban algo de tensión entre los compañeros de cuarto.

Mike’s personality was the opposite of Teresa’s.

Sometimes he didn’t do his chores, which made Teresa upset.

And then Teresa and I had to do Mike’s chores ourselves.

One day, Teresa had to talk to Mike about his chores.

It wasn’t a big fight, but it made everyone a little uncomfortable.

Pese a que las actitudes frente a los quehaceres generaban cierta tensión, en general, los tres compañeros se llevaban bien.

Todo parecía ir bien, hasta el invierno de 2015.

One day, we realized that there might be some kind of animal living in our house.

Soon it became clear that we had a big problem!

¡Kody pronto se dio cuenta de que tenían ratas en su casa! Y no solo una, ¡sino un montón de ratas! Los tres se unieron para deshacerse de ellas.

O al menos lo intentaron colocando trampas, o traps.

We got mouse traps, and soon, we caught our first rat! Then, during the next two months, we caught many more.

We had to get rid of them after we caught them, and none of us really wanted to do that.

It was very unpleasant.

Ninguno de ellos había lidiado antes con roedores como estos.

Después de intentarlo todo, comenzaron a presionar al propietario, o landlord, para que hiciera algo.

Necesitaban ayuda profesional: un fumigador, o exterminator.

The landlord called an exterminator.

And the exterminator found a hole under the sink in our kitchen.

That’s how the rats were coming into our house.

He covered the hole, and then put more traps outside.

That’s how we finally got rid of the rats!

Como si la experiencia de las ratas no fuera suficiente, los compañeros tuvieron que lidiar con otro problema de plagas cuando llegó la primavera.

¡Esta vez fueron zorrillos, o skunks!

Our neighbor always put food outside for the cats on our street, but skunks also came to eat the food! Soon, we noticed that there was a terrible smell inside our entire house.

We realized the skunks were living under the house! The smell was in every room, all over our clothes and even on my guitars.

Sometimes I had to leave the house just to get away from it.

My girlfriend and brother called the house “Skunk Palace!”

Esta vez no intentaron resolver el problema ellos mismos.

Inmediatamente llamaron al propietario.

Esta terrible experiencia le enseñó a Kody una lección de vida.

The biggest lesson I learned is that it’s important to know when to stop and ask for help.

And learning how to say what you need is an important part of becoming an adult.

Pero lo que verdaderamente compensó estos inconvenientes fue lo mucho que Kody disfrutaba de pasar tiempo con Mike y Teresa.

It was actually a really great year, and I had a lot of fun living in that house.

It was difficult sometimes, but it was a great experience.

I think my friendship with Teresa and Mike got stronger during that year too.

We spent a lot more time together, so I learned a lot of new things about them.

We’re all still friends and, luckily, we can laugh about the rats now!

Kody Anderson ahora vive en Los Ángeles, donde trabaja como redactor y además es músico en su banda, The Holy Knives.

Se ve con Mike a menudo en Los Ángeles porque son vecinos.

Y hace poco se fue de vacaciones con Teresa y otros amigos.

¡Sin embargo, Kody todavía odia las ratas!

Nuestra primera narradora, Greta Van Curan, terminó viviendo con su compañera de cuarto, Barrett, durante los cuatro años de universidad.

Ahora viven en diferentes ciudades, pero se envían mensajes casi todos los días y siguen siendo amigas cercanas.

Este episodio fue producido por Stephanie Maltarich, una periodista que vive en Colorado.