Another Real University

Hello!

About six months ago, maybe longer, I wrote a blog post about what university was really like (HERE - you should probably read this before reading anymore of this post), from a current students perspective. Well, since then, I have moved into a new flat, I live with new people and my view has changed a bit. 

I still think people are given the completely wrong image going into university for the first time - Freshers week is exactly how it sounds: great but messy. Other than that, everything's different after that first week. Obviously I'm in my second year now, so things are different for me just in light of that. I'm living with different people to last year who are also in their second/third years, so we're all a bit more mature and focused this year... just a bit though!

I love my flatmates this year. Let me just put that point out there. Last year, I got dealt a rather horrible hand of flatmates that consisted of a lot of bitchy girls and a guy who liked to hoover at four 'o' clock in the morning whilst playing extremely rubbish music at ungodly hours. This year I stayed in university halls but moved flats with one of my flatmates from last year (one of the nice ones) moving to the same block as me... if that makes sense. As in, I'm on the same campus but I moved to a different flat in a different block that was especially for returners (second years and above) and everyone in the flat is so nice; it's a massive shock to the system after last year. 

So let's have a run down of this years flatmates: The guy who's kind of old-fashioned but unbelievably kind - he came and retrieved a daddy-long-legs from my room at 5am one day because my friend and I were freaking out (I don't do creepy-crawlies! Complete aside here but did you know daddy long legs would be the most poisonous insect if they had the brain to use the poison? Nope? There's something to terrify you further then!). Anyway, back to flatmates; then there's the one I'm going to refer to as the musician because he is an amazing guitar player, like seriously - wow, and no he didn't pay me to say that! There's the loveliest Londoner you will ever meet as well as her being the one who exaggerates everything she's already exaggerated but it just makes her even funnier. There's the kind of quiet girl but has one hell of a partying streak in her (not that that's a bad thing). There's the guy I can't actually tell you anything about because the only word he's ever said to me, and most other people in the flat, is "hi". I can't forget the dude who I've never seen in anything but pyjamas and, finally, there's the quiet guy of the flat who is probably one of the loveliest people I've ever come across in life.

Added to my flatmates this year is the one guy I got on with really well in my flat last year - he lives in the flat below me, along with a girl I've grown really close to this year; the amount of deep talks we have at stupid times in the morning are ridiculous, but also great at the same time. I say she lives in the flat below me but the majority of the time she lives up here and occasionally goes to sleep in her bed downstairs - she's probably slept on my floor more times than her bed!

So out of my eight flatmates this year, I can't say I actually don't get on with any of them and I definitely don't dislike any of them. There are obviously a couple who I don't know extremely well for one reason or another but I'm pretty sure that if I knew them better they'd probably be really nice.

The weird thing about my flat this year is how I'd go out of my way for most of them and vice versa. Whereas, last year, nobody wanted to help anyone (aside from the guy who's still here this year - let's pretend he wasn't a part of the flat last year) because they were too busy trying to be better than each other and it's that kind of bitchiness I hate, so I'm glad there doesn't seem to be any of that this year.

I've mentioned in many previous posts that I don't generally drink much and I mentioned in the other post that I didn't go out much because I never wanted to. Wow, how that has changed this year. I think I've been out more times since the end of September than I've ever been out - which probably has a lot to do with my flatmates, because they're all genuinely nice people; I feel safer and I know I'll have a good time without them walking off and leaving me or anything like that (which, on one of the few occasions that I did go out last year, I experienced that - it wasn't nice). I'm still of the opinion that if you don't want to go out or you don't want to drink you shouldn't though. I've maybe started doing more of both this year but only because I know I'm safe, I'm going to enjoy it and I know my limits. But there have been plenty of occasions where other people have been going out and asked me if I was coming and I've said no because I haven't felt up for it or I simply couldn't be bothered.

Not going to lie, the whole lecture/seminar side of life hasn't changed much since last year; I still think the same things. Very few of them are genuinely interesting for the whole two hours or however long they last but you should probably still make sure you go to them - especially if it's a year that actually counts towards your final degree...

I still miss home a lot and I have been back a few times since I got here but it's not as bad as last year and I think that's simply down to the fact that I have some great friends this year and we're like a little family away from home. It's super cute. We even take turns in cooking etc. so we don't have to each cook every night - we have this thing figured out! I still live the furthest away out of everyone in my flat but that was pretty much inevitable, it's not too bad though, after doing them for over a year, I've gotten used to the long train journeys!

So this is the new kind of university that I've discovered this year. It's still not everything people make it out to be when you hear about it in sixth form and college but if it starts off bad, it can get better :)

There's still a bit of this year to go, seen as when I wrote about this last year it was near the end of the final term and I'm only just nearing the end of my first one when I'm writing this, but this has been a better start to my second year than I ever could have imagined.  

A few of my favourite pictures with my flatmates (and friends) so
far this year :)

Katie x

Story Time!

Hello!

I thought I'd be brave today (just like yesterday's post, HERE, said I should be) and share a story with you that I wrote a little while ago in a creative writing workshop. It's only a very short one and we had to write it in both first and third person, so here is the third person version but I can always post the first person one later to give you a bit more insight, if you want! I have also expanded on the story since then, so there is a bit more to it now but this is the original, short version. Let me know what you think, I'm open to criticism too, just make it constructive, pretty please!

Bang, Bang.

The noise echoed through the tiny, corner shop, making it all the way to the small staff room at the back where Rose sat, staring into her steaming cup of coffee, her hands wrapped around it to absorb the heat. Her head slowly lifted up a minute after the loud bang, a frown spreading across her pale face. She sat for thirty or so seconds longer, staring at the door expectantly, but nothing happened. Resigned, she stood up and, slowly, headed for the door, the plimsolls on her feet dragging across the old, carpeted floor. She pulled the heavy fire door, the strain showing on her face from the weight of it, heaving out a big sigh as she let it swing shut, her cup of coffee still sitting half empty on the edge of the table where it was left.

She walked through the short hallway to the shop floor and stopped. She stood in the middle of the aisle staring at the visibly open cash desk. You could see the slight tremble in her hands as they hung, limply by her sides and the hairs at the nape of her neck were all stood up on edge, alert.

There was another resounding thud that resonated through the small shop, coming from behind where Rose was stood. Her eyes closed momentarily and her previously heavy breathes came to a halt. It was several minutes before she reopened her eyes again and gained her composure. Slowly, her body started to turn, her clumsy feet turning a second later. The movement stirred the resting dust bunnies, letting them mix and swirl in the air before finding somewhere new to hide; somewhere safer. As she stood staring at what had been behind her only a minute ago her breath got lost in her throat, caught on her terror. Less than a couple of centimetres away from her face was a gun, a calloused finger resting on the trigger.