By Claudia Dupé, Third Year, English
The Croft Magazine // There are lots of changes when moving into your first student rental property, both good and bad. Claudia Dupé tells you what to expect from your second year house.
So you’ve flown the nest (again), waved goodbye to halls and moved into your house. Sure, student accommodation serves a purpose, but having a more homely place to live with people you’ve actually chosen to live with is a wonderful thing. A house provides you with liberties that weren’t available to you before, however there are also a few more responsibilities.
Cleaning
Cleaning inspections are a thing of the past, which means standards now depend solely on the cleanliness of you and your housemates - I hope you chose wisely. Generally, the kitchen will be a borderline biohazard, with the hob being covered in a thick layer of grease that even Mr Muscle can’t hack, and the sink still clogged with last month’s takeaway leftovers.
The rose-tinted lens through which you chose your house will soon fade as your quirky Redland flat falls into a constant state of disrepair, resulting in your landlord becoming your most frequent phone contact.
Oh and almost forgot (ironically), don’t forget the bins! Otherwise the kitchen and front garden will soon become a wasteland of takeaway boxes and empty cans. This will probably attract you a few new housemates: mice. Once you see a mouse in the kitchen you’ll probably wish that cleaning rota your housemate wrote at the start of the year was still tacked neatly to the fridge.
Communal space
Your living room is a sacred space which will soon be (if it isn’t already) covered in bunting and fairy lights. Your sofas may not be the comfiest, but cushions and blankets can work miracles. Movie nights and binge-watching TV shows will be a weekly, if not daily, occurrence.
The living room is a place of many possibilities: relaxing, eating, drinking tea, drinking alcohol, passing out after a long day at uni or a long night at Lounge. But naturally, the living room and/or kitchen will also be a hotspot for messy house parties; making you feel like an underaged teen again, minus the WKD’s but not the angry neighbours.
A second family
Over the course of the next year, you and your housemates will often resemble an imperfect, dysfunctional modern family. This family will be complete with unresolved passive aggressive arguments, which often stem from petty issues such as cleaning debates and irritating living habits.
But mostly you will put up with each other’s annoying ways for the greater good. A ‘head of the family’ will also emerge; a leader who bravely takes charge of bills and other formalities such as complaining to the landlord, much to everyone else’s relief. And at the end of it all, hopefully no one will need a divorce.
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