The Negatives Of Living In Halls

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 😉 

My Titanic Connection.

It hit me today that I haven’t fully explained my connection to the Titanic, even though I’ve told you all I’ve been on television and radio about it (more on that later). So, with the centenary of the ship setting sail today, and the centenary of the sinking on Sunday, I think it’s time I explained my personal connection to the Titanic.

For most people, their connection begins a hundred years ago, when their ancestors set sail on the Titanic on its fated maiden voyage. For me, it’s slightly different. I don’t have a familial connection to the ship – my story starts over ten years ago at my Nan’s house. She had the James Cameron film “Titanic” on video, and whenever we went to stay at her house, I’d sit and watch it, sometimes twice, at night. The story itself was rather lost on me – I was only six years old and didn’t really understand the romance between Jack and Rose, but the historical side interested me. I’d already decided, by this point, that I wanted to be a historian (of course, that isn’t my aspiration anymore, but I was fairly set on it at the time), so I devoured any information about the Titanic that I could find. I remember badgering my Mom for a book at a school book fair one year, called “My Story: Voyage on the Great Titanic”. She was convinced that I only wanted it for the little blue necklace that came with it, but in all honesty, I wanted to read the book. I absolutely loved it, and I think I only took it off my bookshelf last year, having read it many times.

I noticed, even that first time when I watched the film, that there was a character who did something very brave, and he had a Welsh accent, although I didn’t think much of it at the time. As time progressed, I kept watching it at my Nan’s house, and eventually my curiosity got the better of me, and I went on the internet and looked up the Welshman whom I’d seen rescuing another character in the film. I had no idea of his connection to my local area of Wales, but I was interested nonetheless. Still,  I found that he was Fifth Officer Harold Godfrey Lowe, and although he had been born in Eglwys Rhos, he spent some of his childhood in Barmouth, the nearest town to my village, just down the coast. I was only eleven, and although I was very interested, I still didn’t think much of it.

Two years ago, I was in a local cafe when I heard a man talking about the Titanic, and a man from Barmouth who had been on it, with my dad. I joined in the conversation, and we got talking about how it was surprising that there was nothing in Barmouth to commemorate Harold Lowe – so, when I went home, I wrote a letter to a local newspaper and started a facebook campaign, and it all started from there. Two years later, a plaque to him has been unveiled today in Deganwy, the town to which he eventually retired and where his grandson now lives, and a plaque will be unveiled this Sunday, the product of two years of this campaign, at the harbour in Barmouth. I feel immensely proud to have been a part of the campaign, but more than that, I am pleased that he’ll finally be commemorated in Barmouth and people will learn about him for years to come.

So, that’s basically what this campaign has all been about. The newspaper articles, the radio, the television – it’s all been leading up to this Sunday, but it doesn’t end on Sunday – the plaque will mean that, for decades to come, there will be a lasting memorial to the local hero many people didn’t know about until recently. You can find the television programme I filmed for last year, “Titanic With Len Goodman”, on BBC iPlayer, and I am on Episode Two.