Wish I'd been told (Halls Of Residence in general)

Member Name: Sean-K

Product:	Halls Of Residence in general
Date:	20/08/02 (277 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Uni is great

Disadvantages: When its over your old

++++ ROOM ++++
99 times outta a 100 students will walk into their new home for a year and think 'F**k me what a s**thole' and upon glancing into their parents eyes they will get the 'I know its a bloody dump but theres no way your not moving out of my house' look. But its not that bad you can actually turn your room into something nice, somethuing you can call home and strangely something you may even miss (*sob* 7F2 *sob*). This is a list of things that I wish I'd been given b4 i went to uni, that way I'd have a decent room from the word go.

1. Buy loads of posters, take pictures of mates, or if you don't have any just wander round town taking pictures of strangers. You need loads of stuff to cover the dirty, dingy nicotine coloured looking walls. You will also need a large amount of Blue Tac, dont bother getting the cheap crap stuff its crap.

2. Get yourself a couple of nice lamps or lights that shine up the wall, anything thats not the hospital coridoor style light you'll already have. Stick 60 or 40 Watt bulbs in that way its not too bright, ideal for chilling out or getting smashed. Also for some reason when the rooms darker its just nicer, maybe the darkness compliments the lovely decor.

3. Buy a large plug splitter, or even two. The tight gits know you dont have to pay any electricity bills so they dont want you using vast amounts of power so I doubt you'll have more then 2 plugs. But with mobile chargers, lamps, tvs, video players, PCs and all the other crap students seem to own 2 plugs is not enough.

4. Have a PC full of MP3s or a HIFI which is louder then the people who will be living above below or to either side of you. with a load of CDs/MDs/tapes because you will listen to a lot more music. Ideally louder then the people who will be living above below or to either side of you. I mean what else do you have to do.

5. Bring your own Duvet and Pillows. The uni ones have
probably been thrown up on, pissed on and numerous amounts of times and are made out of the itchyest crap known to man. They are just nasty ok. Bring a load of Spare covers aswell that way you dont have to wash them too often and you can just bring all the dirty coveres back to mummy. Bring a few extra pillows so you can turn your bed into a sofa kinda thing.

6. Try to have a PC or a TV with a Video, its not always possible to use other peoples and you can always watch/play what you want.

7. Bring a small rug to stick on the floor. The carpets are horrible usually and if not you can just stick it under your bed.

8. Have a box with Aspirin, cough medicine and all that kinda stuff as you will catch freshers flu at least once, even if you do avoid dirty girls/boys. Have a few condoms in there aswell coz you never know (however these are given out like sweeties over the first few weeks)

9. Have a bottle opener and a few glasses. If you forget this its not the end of the world however as both these things can easily be stolen from bars. Pint glasses are the best as they fit a can of beer nicely inside them. When you get to uni its a good idea to bring a few beers/girly drinks as its a good icebreaker to have a beer at 11 am with the people you'll be living with for the next year at least.

10. Bring a few random things from you room at home. Like a board game or your old lego or last years subscription to FHM. These kind of things make your room a bit more unique and you will end up at one time or other playing/reading them. Its also nice to have a few books, if nothing else you can use them to balance the ariel for your TV on.

++++ MEETING PEOPLE ++++

Its a nasty shock when your parents leave if your not over confident knowing you know noone. Its easy to sit in your room twiddling your thumbs hoping someone will come talk to you but there is a good chance that most of the others in your coridoor are
doing the same thing. Be stupidly over confident. Walk over to complete strangers and introduce yourself. Just say 'Hi my names _ _ _ _ _. hopefully they'll tell you theirs and thats it you can start talking. most difficult part is breaking the ice. Bring them into your room for a beer. Talk about all the usual crap you dont really want to know but we feel we must talk about before we make friends. Like Where they come from, their course, their family, music taste bla bla bla. Then go get pissed with them. You'll find in the morning its easy to talk to them after a good drinking session. Make sure you get drinks in, if people think your generous, even if your not, it will take a lot of being a tight git before they change their mind and vice versa. Don't stay in any nights in freshers week, go out every night, sleep all day to get over hangovers but get out. You find half the people you say hello to in uni you meet in freshers week.

++++ THINGS NOT 2 FORGET THAT PEOPLE FORGET ++++

Mobile Charger (Shaver charger)
Deodorant
Wallet
Plug adaptor
Bed linnen
Pens
Bag
Blue Tac
Uni registration stuff

At the end of the day people are going to annoy you to death by repeating the following words:- 'Remember everyones in the same boat as you, they are all just as scared of meeting new people'. Just remember that you are going to meet a far larger diverse group of people and your going to have the best time of your life. Don't get stressed just lay back and have a F**kin brilliant time.

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