University Accomodation

16

@Raheem_w

Get a cleaning rota organised as soon as possible/ ground rules about the kitchen e.g. cleaning the stove after cooking and items that everyone is happy to share e.g. salt, oil, butter etc...

Oluwatosin – 2nd year student – University of Huddersfield

(edited 11 months ago)

Reply 4

OP

Original post by StudentRoost Rep

Hi there,
I'd say it entirely depends on who you end up living with and whether your personalities click. For example, I didn't mind my my flatmates in my first year but I became better friends with my second and third year flatmates. I'd recommend communicating how you feel if any issues arise and establishing boundaries when you move in.

Hope this helps!

- Sophie

thanks a lot sophie, much appreciated, establishing boundaries seems a must.

Reply 5

OP

Original post by University of Huddersfield

@Raheem_w

Get a cleaning rota organised as soon as possible/ ground rules about the kitchen e.g. cleaning the stove after cooking and items that everyone is happy to share e.g. salt, oil, butter etc...

Oluwatosin – 2nd year student – University of Huddersfield

thanks a lot

Reply 6

OP

University of Sunderland Student Ambassador

Original post by okayykayy

personally, i didn’t get on with my flatmates at all and i didn’t speak to them for almost the entirety of first year. they were loud, excluded me and would always have people over, because of this i didn’t use the kitchen at all, and used it maybe at most 10 times the whole year. i know a lot of people don’t experience things like this and it’s very unlikely you’ll get a flat like mine, but that was my own experience

it must be very unlucky in your situation then, but i guess whats best to do is respect everyone and hopefully get along with one another, setting boundaries etc.., thanks for sharing your experience.

Reply 7

Original post by Raheem_w

i will be going to university this september, i would like to know what is everyones experience, living with complete strangers?, cooking on a daily basis? time management ...?etc...

Hello,
It's great to hear you'll be starting university in September. Every person's experience living with complete strangers in university housing will be unique, depending on their personality, cultural background, and the specific circumstances of their living situation. I believe I can tell you about my experience because I am living in student accommodation. Because I am an international student, I have met many people from various countries. I live with students from various parts of the world. So it's a lot of fun.
Living with strangers can be a difficult experience because we must adjust to different living habits, personalities, and communication styles. Interacting was easier for me because we all spoke English, even though our native languages were different. Some students may find it easy to connect with and form strong bonds with their roommates, whereas others may struggle to establish a rapport. Cooking on a daily basis can be a new and challenging experience for many students, including myself, who have never lived independently before. We need to learn how to make meal plan and budget, shop for groceries, and make nourishing meals on a limited funds.
Based on my own experience, I believe in order to balance social obligations, household duties, and academic obligations while living in university accommodation, one needs to have good time management skills. I honestly found it difficult at first, but with time, I developed a routine and effectively prioritized my time to ensure that I was meeting my academic and personal goals. Conflicts can arise at your housing because you are living with strangers. Conflicts over household chores, noise levels, and personal boundaries can occasionally arise. In order to handle these situations and we should maintain a positive living environment; we may need to develop effective communication and conflict resolution skills.
In general, living with strangers while attending a university can be a challenging but gratifying experience that aids in the development of critical life skills and broadens our horizons.
I hope this is helpful.
Kind regards,
Mrunali Kalbhor,
University of Sunderland Student ambassador

Original post by Raheem_w

i will be going to university this september, i would like to know what is everyones experience, living with complete strangers?, cooking on a daily basis? time management ...?etc...

Hey there @Raheem_w !
My personal experience with university halls differs depending on which year we're talking about. In first year, unfortunately I didn't get on with my flatmates. Although sadly this is quite common, I didn't want to let this ruin my first year experience and went out of my way to make friends with other people in the accommodation. In semester one, I was mostly eating ready meals and pot noodles which I quickly realised wasn't the healthiest and it was actually making me feel quite ill. Since I came back from Christmas, I started cooking for myself properly and have carried this on into second year as well. I also went out of my way to make friends with people on my course and all in all I had a good first year.

Since I didn't make a solid group of friends until second semester, everyone already had their housing sorted and I had to go back into student halls for second year. I ended up with a flat full of people in either second or third year and all similar age to me which worked out really well and I've had a much better experience this time around. We're all social and we enjoy going out as well as nights in. Sometimes we cook together and sometimes we do things separately which is really good because we've found a good balance. In both of my student accommodations, it's been pretty easy in the sense that there's lots of things going on socially and overall living is pretty easy with amenities close by and reception always collecting parcels for you. There will be good and bad points to university but that's just part of the experience. For example, you could really get along with your flatmates but not with your coursemates which is the complete opposite to me. It's all about luck I suppose.

In terms of time management, I never had issue with this in first year as it seemed everyone always had a lot more work to do than me so I was doing extra so i wasn't bored. In second year, I got a part-time job and it has been more difficult to manage my time with university work to do as well but once you get into the swing of it it's definitely worth doing. I've been there for two months and made some lifelong friends which is really helpful because not all of them go to university so I get to meet people who already live in the city and know where's good to go. It also means I don't just have to rely on my student loan for things I want to do in my spare time, as I usually need the majority of it for my rent.

Hope this helped! I'm sure you'll have an amazing time...
Lucy - Digital Student Ambassador SHU

Original post by Raheem_w

i will be going to university this september, i would like to know what is everyones experience, living with complete strangers?, cooking on a daily basis? time management ...?etc...

Hi @Raheem_w

I would be happy to tell you a little bit more about my university experience. It is worth considering however that everyone has a different experience at university but I am happy to tell you about what I have personally found :smile:

I have found that living with complete strangers can of course be challenging. Depending on how many people you are living with, it may well be that you don't get on with every person you live with, as, as you say, you are living with complete strangers. As it is so random who you are living with, it is likely that you will have a complete mix of people and hopefully will have people who you get on with. In my first year, I lived in a flat of 8 students. I found that a lot of people kind of kept themselves to themselves and some people had better friends in other groups such as societies and course friends, which is completely fair and to be expected. In the flat there was round 4 people in my flat who I really got on with and I got a flat in town with my First year flatmates for Second year as well as Third year. I would recommend going in to it with the expectation that you're not going to be best friends with everyone you live with and that is so okay :smile:

Just be yourself and be nice to your flatmates and I am sure you will get on just fine.

I won't lie the experience of living with complete strangers is very nerve raking and can be challenging at times. It can be really tricky and frustrating when people are messy and don't clean up after themselves. My advice would be to take this with a pinch of salt and try your best to be as tolerant as possible. I have found cooking on a daily basis to be a little bit of a challenge (I'm not the most accomplished chef), but this is defiantly something that you get used to and get better at over time. I have found that you get into a groove with shopping cooking meals which are enjoyable, healthy and fill you up. I would recommend beans on toast, pasta and chilli as amazing cheap and healthy-ish meals that I personally enjoy :smile:

Time management is something that I have got extremely good at at university. Being at university is incredibly independent. You are completely responsible for managing your own time, attending lectures and completing independent study. I think university is a great opportunity to develop this skill. It can be stressful though as university is so independent, if you don't attend lectures or do the work you can easily get yourself into stressful situations where you have a lot of work to do. If you are proactive and work hard and plan your time out well it is defiantly manageable!

I hope this is helpful!

Katie - Second year Educational Psychology student

Reply 10

OP

Uni of Southampton Students

Original post by EdgeHillStudents

Hi @Raheem_w

I would be happy to tell you a little bit more about my university experience. It is worth considering however that everyone has a different experience at university but I am happy to tell you about what I have personally found :smile:

I have found that living with complete strangers can of course be challenging. Depending on how many people you are living with, it may well be that you don't get on with every person you live with, as, as you say, you are living with complete strangers. As it is so random who you are living with, it is likely that you will have a complete mix of people and hopefully will have people who you get on with. In my first year, I lived in a flat of 8 students. I found that a lot of people kind of kept themselves to themselves and some people had better friends in other groups such as societies and course friends, which is completely fair and to be expected. In the flat there was round 4 people in my flat who I really got on with and I got a flat in town with my First year flatmates for Second year as well as Third year. I would recommend going in to it with the expectation that you're not going to be best friends with everyone you live with and that is so okay :smile:

Just be yourself and be nice to your flatmates and I am sure you will get on just fine.

I won't lie the experience of living with complete strangers is very nerve raking and can be challenging at times. It can be really tricky and frustrating when people are messy and don't clean up after themselves. My advice would be to take this with a pinch of salt and try your best to be as tolerant as possible. I have found cooking on a daily basis to be a little bit of a challenge (I'm not the most accomplished chef), but this is defiantly something that you get used to and get better at over time. I have found that you get into a groove with shopping cooking meals which are enjoyable, healthy and fill you up. I would recommend beans on toast, pasta and chilli as amazing cheap and healthy-ish meals that I personally enjoy :smile:

Time management is something that I have got extremely good at at university. Being at university is incredibly independent. You are completely responsible for managing your own time, attending lectures and completing independent study. I think university is a great opportunity to develop this skill. It can be stressful though as university is so independent, if you don't attend lectures or do the work you can easily get yourself into stressful situations where you have a lot of work to do. If you are proactive and work hard and plan your time out well it is defiantly manageable!

I hope this is helpful!

Katie - Second year Educational Psychology student

Your response is greatly appreciated, thanks Katie and Good luck for the rest of your time at Uni!

Reply 11

University of Sunderland Student Ambassador

15

Original post by Raheem_w

i will be going to university this september, i would like to know what is everyones experience, living with complete strangers?, cooking on a daily basis? time management ...?etc...

Hi @Raheem_w

I started uni in 2020, so my first year was impacted significantly by the Coronavirus pandemic. However, this did mean that I was spending more time in my flat and ultimately with my flatmates. We were a group of 6, 3 boys and 3 girls and we all got on really well! We would often eat dinner together, go for days and nights out and go on the weekly food shops together. We are all still friends now in our third year.

The space of the accommodation meant I didn't feel that we were on top of each other, we all had our own cupboard space and shared the fridge and freezer space well. In terms of cooking with the oven and stove, we would have to take it in turns sometimes but this was really manageable.

If you have any other questions, please ask!

Jasmine (an Official University of Southampton Rep) :smile:

Reply 12