I would definitely get a place on my own if I were you because you do not have a job worked out yet..you don't want to be in a financial situation with a lease etc. and a commitment to a roommate, I presume, and you don't know where you will be working..it could be far far away from where you signed the lease. If something inexpensive and temporary came up that was safe and not much else, I would take it until I got a job. And I would not be buying a car for a while so it would need to be near buses etc. I would keep the friend as a friend and not yoke up with her. mg