A new city can be scary, new people can be even scarier. Finding your people at university will happen, even if its not straight away. You might find them on a night out, in your lecture, or in a society taster. Your flatmates don’t have to be your people and that’s okay. Arguing over the dishes? Messaging all the time to turn their music down at 1am? Forgetting your key on a night out and having to ask them to let you in? Nightmare flatmates can unfortunately be a ‘canon event’, despite all of your friends at university seemingly having the perfect flat friend group. Finding a way to cope with this can be hard, but here are a few tips to deal with the stress.
Remember that first year is only a temporary living situation, and that the city is filled with people on every corner waiting to be friends.
Make your living space your very own! When going into the kitchen or shared areas can bring some uncomfortable tension, making your room feel like a safe space can only do good. Get yourself a snack basket, some noise cancelling ear plugs, and some warm fairy lights and tuck yourself in for a cozy night at home. To stop the arguing over chores, you may have to succumb to the bin and washing rota – no one wants to do it, but someone has to do.
When it comes to making friends, your flatmates aren’t always going to be your friends for life, especially if you clash heads. Joining society’s will be your saving grace – staying busy doesn’t leave you much time to hang around in the flat. Joining a sports society occupies time for practice, exercise, and of course, every single Wednesday night. Or maybe join something academic like student media where you could be at the library writing articles or working on student radio or TV. Remember that first year is only a temporary living situation, and that the city is filled with people on every corner waiting to be friends.