Many live with close friends at some point in their lives, and unfortunately the roommate situation can wreak havoc on friendships. Even short trips together have been known to cause irreparable damage. For years now, my close friends and I have discussed the idea of living together but were hesitant, as we had seen how easily other great friendships had been destroyed.

I took the test this past weekend, though, with one of my close friends and her younger sister. We took a trip together to Nashville to see a few of our favorite bands and found out just how strong our friendship is.

It was a weekend of sharing stories, space and experiences - and it was fabulous! But it could have easily gone wrong many times as we dealt with situations that would typically cause issues among roommates - even in short term arrangements.

For example, we began our trip with eight hours in a van and not enough sleep - a prime situation for arguments. None began though, as we switched our focus to the trip and chattered anxiously about the night to follow.

Once in Nashville, we checked into our apartment-like hotel (it had its own kitchenette) and began to get ready. Three girls in a tiny hotel room can get stressful quickly, and the stress did begin to pile on as we dodged each other while scrambling to get ready in time. We did not resort to arguing, though, and threw on the music we would soon be hearing live to keep ourselves focused.

The next morning, I tiptoed through the room in the dark as I prepared for my daily run and the left the others sleeping with the agreement that I would be their personal alarm clock upon my return. After an amazing run next to a replica of the Parthenon in Centennial Park, I returned, did my alarm duties and headed out to explore the city a bit before preparing for night two in Music City.

All in all we had a great time seeing seven different bands together, and although Luna Halo and The Honeymoon Thrillers easily fell at the top of the list, we found a close second in The Vicious Guns. It just goes to show how experiences together can really bond roommates, even if it is only for the weekend.

That bond helped us conquer any complication that may have come up as we borrowed clothes and jewelry, swapped food, played music (loudly) and talked while others slept. Even with all of these potential catalysts, we made it through the weekend without any issues. In fact, the experience ended up making the three of us better friends, and has made the prospect of living together even more attractive than before, considering that we’ve already tackled the usual issues. And, hey, if we do end up living together at some point, we’ll have WilliamPaid to manage our rent, so we can forget about those issues too!