For students who are overseas, it can be difficult living away from home for such a long time. But with some luck, you just might end up in a dormitory or houseshare situation with people who are amiable and – more importantly – ordinary.

But what happens when your roommates possess neither of these qualities? Here are six types of roommates who can turn your living situation into a living nightmare.

1. The OCD killer robot

On the surface, this roommate may seem tolerable enough: clean, polite, and friendly, and who can actually pull their weight when it comes to housework.

Alas, if something is too good to be true, it usually is. The mask of good manners starts to slip the moment they learn your standards differ from theirs.

Leaving a pair of worn socks for future use will be punished with a glare of intense disapproval that burns through walls. Getting parts of the toilet floor wet will lead to outright hostility or silent volcanic fury.

Human imperfections are simply unacceptable to this roommate, leaving you perpetually walking on eggshells. Not literally, of course, because eggshells on the floor are a HUGE no-no.

2. The phantom of the dorm room

It is hard to tell if this roommate actually exists at all, even if reports have confirmed sightings.

Almost never seen in the dorm room or flat, questions always abound about their whereabouts. Still, things move around mysteriously, doors can be heard slamming, and the dustbin is occasionally emptied.

Their absence is not really that missed, though, since you don’t even know them that well. Plus, it’s nice to have the place entirely to yourself for the peace and quiet.

On the other hand, failure to communicate may result in all sorts of shenanigans, leaving you baffled at the clogged toilet or the civet cat in the bedroom. (True story.)

3. The frisky fox spirit

It is late at night and you have an upcoming test to study for, so you need to get up early.

But what’s that disrupting your desperate attempt at getting 40 winks? The squeaking bedsprings draw your attention to your roommate’s bedroom – and that inappropriate noise gives away that love is in the air.

You turn away, covering your head with a pillow, praying with all your might that this will be the last time they will be spending a night with a partner.

Then you recall this is the 15th time you have uttered this prayer within a week.

4. The extraterrestrial

If the perfectionist is a too robotic, then the extraterrestrial is a little too alien. Whichever planet they came from, they clearly have not been able to adapt to human social norms.

They eat sandwiches loaded with tomato ketchup and soy sauce, watch Lithuanian television dramas without knowing the language, and keep a collection of used wooden chopsticks under their bed.

You do not want to be rude, so you just smile and wave as they prance through the room, asking if they can borrow your comb to make spaghetti.

Worst of all, every time you try to complain about them to your family and friends, everyone thinks you are telling tall tales.

5. The living dead

They breathe, they walk, they grunt, but no one can tell if this roommate is really alive. Their routine is predictable: they shamble into the room, not acknowledging what a mess their side is in, and just fall flat on their bed.

You cannot count the number of hours they spend asleep because you only have 10 digits. When they awaken, they continue to shuffle about, barely acknowledging your existence.

Interaction is still possible, if only because they need to borrow or steal your notes for study.

6. The hunky werewolf

If you are lucky, at the very least, this roommate is a bit of eye candy. This gym-goer is ripped like a beast, the kind who eats meat raw and eggs right from the tray.

The space you are supposed to share is turned into a makeshift gym. The curtain rod is a pull-up bar and the shoe rack hosts dumbbells.

With every muscle bulging, you cannot help but wonder if performance drugs have a bit of responsibility here. But God forbid you from asking, for even the heavens can only do so much to save you from the sweaty socks of an annoyed werewolf.

It is quite the spectacle, however, when they are housed with the OCD robot.