What I Wish I’d Known Before Living in a Student House
You think you know people… and then you live with them.
Oh, the joys of university, studying what you love and living with your best friends! How idealistic does that sound? Well, after almost three years of student living, I feel as if I have experienced it all when it comes to living with people. You only, truly know someone until the moment you share a house; and then ALL of their gross, strange habits become your living nightmare.
Along with my own experiences I’ve heard stories of cockroaches living in fridges, unattended heaters burning down houses and rooms trashed by disgruntled, drunk housemates. Here is an honest, unfiltered insight into student living — hopefully these laughable and cringe-worthy moments are relatable for some, and act as a warning for those about to move into student accommodation.
I wish I’d known that the soundtrack to my second year was going to be the incessant rocking of the wardrobe on my partition wall; and that my visual memory would be the artistic expression of old loo rolls scattered around the bathroom. Or, that I would be woken up every morning, 6am sharp, by my housemate’s heavy brick shoes on the wooden floorboards, seconds away from falling through the ceiling. Combined with the constant late-night swearing at Fortnite from the next room, echoing down the hallway, into the street — making it practically impossible to sleep.
I wish I’d known that when you’re on a budget you may become territorial and protective over your food, so when it starts to go missing, it is difficult to remain calm. You can forget about that nice sweet chilli sauce you’ve been gifted for Christmas. Once that sauce enters the fridge you may as well bid farewell to it, as the ferocious raptors will rapidly consume it, but hey, we are all friends, so that’s okay right? I never knew I could become so passive over a simple amenity like milk. Where shall I begin? It’s like my 4 pints of milk constantly have a leak. Within 24 hours I’m a pint down and I’ve only had a cup of coffee. I could call a plumber, but that would take a week as my letting agent would forget to give them my keys… BUT don’t worry, your housemates will insist it wasn’t them. Despite the cereal bowls stacking up, empty coffee mugs, and your milk being the only one in the fridge. I’ve resorted to drawing a line with a sharpie on my milk, seems petty right? Desperate times, desperate measures.
I wish I’d known that my time at university would disprove the myth that guys are messier than girls. I’ve lived with several messy people, but the girls have BY FAR been the worst. From cleaning muddy trainers in the kitchen sink, to leaving a bath smeared with fake tan, an orange line reminiscent of a running track. It’s like they have an allergy to bathroom cleaner, or a fear of hoovers or even cleanliness in general. I’ve been told I clean “too much” and must have cleared Tesco out of all of their bleach. I will always be permanently scarred from the mornings where I’d walk into the bathroom and have mistaken my housemate’s fake eyelashes for poisonous arachnids. I have concluded that girls aren’t exempt, in fact, they can be worse.
I wish I’d known how disgustingly dirty a kitchen could get within 24 hours. The overpowering stench of open, raw chicken in the fridge, festering in its juices, as bacteria is growing by the hour, contaminating everything in its path. Or the hob covered with slimy noodles along with the sticky, sauce-stained surfaces. How difficult is it to keep the kitchen relatively clean? Regardless of where I have lived, students cannot grasp or comprehend the concept of taking the bins out on-time. It’s like a challenge of how many bags they can stack in one place, and only until rats begin to scurry around month old Tops Pizza boxes, people realise something might need to be done.
