In my first year, I lived in my university\u2019s halls. By chance, I was allocated in a flat with 5 guys \u2013 one of whom was a foreign student, we didn\u2019t see much of him, so he didn\u2019t really count. Having grown up with only sisters, I didn\u2019t realise quite how messy boys could be.<\/p>\n
When there was an issue, we could air it to each other, blow off the steam and move on. Although, ultimately, I was looking forward to the prospect of living with my female friends in the second year, when I moved into shared accommodation with the people I got to choose. However, as I head into my third year, here are a few things I\u2019ve learnt about the realities of shared accommodation…<\/p>\n
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I grew up hearing horror stories from my friends about their brother\u2019s sub-standard living conditions, and I certainly experienced it first-hand living in halls. That said, I was unprepared for the harsh truth that women are capable of creating and living in the kind of mess any boy would be proud to call their own.<\/p>\n
Ok, I appreciate that I am something of a neat-freak. Massive disclaimer: I don\u2019t expect everyone to live to my standards, though that said there is nothing more disheartening than coming home from a day of lectures to find your shared accommodation\u2019s kitchen, which you had cleaned just that morning, to be in a (somehow) worse state than before you attacked it armed with rubber gloves and disinfectant.<\/p>\n
I was always grateful I never had to see the flatmates\u2019 en-suites in first year. However, shared accommodation means a shared bathroom. And if I thought the kitchen could be bad, there\u2019s nothing that can prepare me for the bathroom. I somehow feel dirtier whilst I\u2019m in the shower than before I have one.<\/p>\n
This is a massive learning curve anyone will experience when living in shared accommodation, whether at uni, in a house share or when travelling. Compromise is key to a happy household (cringey but true) and in my experience, you\u2019re only going to get as much as you give.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m the sort of person who can only watch a horror film in the dead of night, with the volume up loud so the jump scares really do their worst (I\u2019m probably a sadist, I know). However, my horror film-induced screaming doesn\u2019t go down well when your flatmates have a 9am lecture. The same goes for any screaming, including those coming from the bedroom. In regards to that kind of disturbance, consider alternating your date nights so that you spend as many time at their\u2019s as they spend at your\u2019s \u2013 the walls in student flats are never famously thick.<\/p>\n
When I moved in with the girls in second year, it was a natural choice for me to move in with the girls I became really close friends within first year. As a five, we were really close, yet it took me longer than I expected to realise we weren\u2019t spending much time together at all. Living with someone, you assume you\u2019re spending time with them just because you eat your breakfast in the morning, or pass each other in the afternoon as you make your 4pm cup of tea. It took me half a year to realise I wasn\u2019t actually spending quality time with these girls, and our friendship was suffering because of it. In turn, discussing touchy shared accommodation issues was more high-strung because at times, it would be the only communication we really got.<\/p>\n
After this realisation, I made a point of spending quality time with my housemates, so that we went back to being friends who live together rather than housemates who resent each others\u2019 questionable cleanliness standards. Whether this is a weekly film night worked around each others\u2019 timetables, or a fortnightly pub quiz together, the whole shared accommodation will be thankful for it.<\/p>\n
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In my first year, I lived in my university\u2019s halls. By chance, I was allocated in a flat with 5 guys \u2013 one of whom was a foreign student, we didn\u2019t see much of him, so he didn\u2019t really count. Having grown up with only sisters, I didn\u2019t realise quite how messy boys could be.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25685,"featured_media":150098,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":true},"categories":[1794],"tags":[9311,23147,8374,23148,8215,23149,23150,23151],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-150097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life-in-halls","tag-flat","tag-flat-share","tag-flatmates","tag-house-share","tag-housemates","tag-private-accommodation","tag-private-accomodation","tag-uni-halls"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n