Out with the roommates, in with the people you don't live with but know from somewhere anyway.

So when you're making new friends or even dating somebody (haha, I'm a huge expert!), you go out a few times before getting comfortable and/or broke enough to do something in with the person/people. Instead of going out and spending money you hang out at their place or yours. Watch a movie, show off cooking skills (or lack thereof), talk one on one without balancing your friends or theirs or annoying people at a bar. It's nice. (Especially if there's cuddling.)

When you're roommates with somebody you're staying in with them first. You might cook together a few times or have coffee and chat about your lives. You don't really want the person you're sharing space with to know too much about you, but they're going to know different things than a regular acquaintance would.

They're going to know a whole lot more if/when you go out with them.

My most recent roommate is a couple of years older than me. She's from the midwest and like me has experience teaching abroad. Her Spanish is worse than mine. She's a better cook than I am and didn't eat meat for five years. A stylish, but not intimidating dresser.

My most recent roommate out and about on the town is a smoker, half of a recently broken-up couple, a loser of her phone in the cab, a friendly funny chatty drinker, and doesn't really know our address yet.

So far my other roommates are great, but I'm happy to have a one closer to my age and one who shares a country/occupation. It was actually a really weird small-world moment when we first met. Lots of stuff like this happened in Prague but it's a much smaller community. I'd met a guy getting his TEFL now a couple of weeks ago, and as she's a TEFL instructor he's one of her students. Something somewhere around here is meant to be. Or something.