Uni Life - Living with strangers in student accommodation

To be honest, everyone I've spoken to has a completely different experience of living in student accommodation, even the people I live with. So this is really only my side of it. I live with 4 other people in a ground floor flat with ensuites and a shared kitchen/living room bit.

Before I came to uni I was really nervous about living with people that I didn’t know at all. But it really wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be. After the drunken/hung-over mess that is fresher’s week, you get to know your flat mates quite quickly. At the University of Lincoln they set up Facebook pages for each court in accommodation so everyone can find who they will be living with. Three of us found each other and spoke a bit before moving in, which made it slightly less awkward.

I was also expecting it to be a lot louder than it is. Our flat is the smallest that I know of and it seems to make a big difference having five people rather than six. It’s sometimes really quiet and everyone hides in their rooms until dinner. So it can get quite lonely. But other days it can be really social and we watch films together etc. It’s a strange mixture of either everyone's together, or no one wants to talk to each other.

I feel like in our flat mess is quite a big issue. None of us ever want to wash up so it usually builds up until someone gives in (as you can see from the photo above). You must try and avoid this problem as early as possible, within a few days of moving in, establish washing up rules or some sort of rota.

I remember when I first walked into my room at uni and my mum said “it looks like a prison cell” with shock on her face. But that was when it was bare, and now I've filled it with Hello Kitties, posters, fairy lights etc, it looks a lot better. So I would recommend that you bring as many personal possessions as you can with you. Sometimes you’ll want somewhere to be alone and you don’t want to be sitting in a room that resembles a prison cell.

Sophie x

ps. feel free to comment with any suggestions of other bits of uni life you want me to write about