I’m at university, living in halls on-campus, and so far it’s been pretty good – my flatmates are great, I get on with all of them, the prices aren’t too bad – I’m paying £102 a week for an en-suite room which is quite big, in accommodation that only opened in 2009, and we have leather sofas and a flatscreen TV in the lounge/kitchen, so it’s not a bad price either. However, there are some downsides – some of them funny, some of them not-so-much.
– Today, there is a sign in the window of the launderette saying that it is “closed until further notice” because there are no lights in there. Call me crazy, but I don’t remember needing lights to wash clothes – not in a room with big windows, in the daytime.
– It gets bloody noisy. We’ve had an email today informing us that the noise levels have reached unacceptable levels (bolded AND underlined!) and that those responsible will be punished if it isn’t sorted out. Alright, it’s uni, people are going to party and make noise – but at 4 in the morning? Sometimes even I consider complaining (I haven’t… yet!).
– In comparison to some places, it can be fairly expensive – me and my fiance are sharing a room next year in a private house, which we’re moving into along with two friends from my course, and for both of us to share a double room with en-suite toilet, all bills included, internet, all kitchen equipment etc – £130. That’s just £65 each a week. Compare it to the single room I’m renting now for £102, and it does seem like a lot.
– Food going missing. Personally, this hasn’t been a major issue for me, with the exception of one garlic baguette that disappeared on the evening I was really looking forwards to having some garlic bread, which was a bit irritating. All my flatmates are lovely people so we haven’t had issues, but in other flats I’ve heard of ice cream, milk, bread etc – and even kitchen utensils! – going missing.
– Cleanliness. There must be something about university rooms that make them really difficult to keep clean; it took me ages to get mine tidy and I’m praying it’ll stay this way, but I’m not holding my breath. I really like having a tidy room, it just seems really difficult to get it to stay tidy. I’m not sure why – it’s a big room and I have plenty of storage space.
– The other cleanliness issue – chores. Whilst some flats have actually gone so far as to create rotas – more about those in a minute -, we’ve done the opposite and just kind of said “we’ll tidy when it needs tidying”. Which is all well and good in theory, you know, but when the bin is overflowing and the recycling needs to go out and no-one’s doing it, it gets a little mad. I think we’ve sorted the washing up issue out. I think.
– The people you live with. I’ve been quite lucky in that I live with nice, normal people – all around the same age, all quite genuine people – different courses, different interests, but no-one seems to really hate each other. However, there have been other flats where people really do hate each other and can’t stand to live with each other, so people have been moving out left, right and center.
– Having an organisation freak. Again, I’ve been lucky enough to avoid this, but as well as a cleaning rota, some people have set up COOKING rotas. As in, there are specified nights where one person cooks for the whole flat. Now that is something I couldn’t abide with – what happens if you don’t like what’s being cooked, or you just fancy making something quick and easy but it’s your night to cook and people want something posh? I don’t think cooking rotas can ever really work.
Despite all this, I would suggest to any first year, whatever uni they’re thinking of attending, to stay in halls for their first year. I’m having a great time, I love living here and I will miss it when I move out in June – although living in halls has helped me to make friends and feel like I’m part of a community, as well as being a nice introduction to living independently. Being right next door to the student bar has helped a little bit too 😉
the life of a moomin 