Alongside the lectures, the new friends, the notorious fresher’s flu and those famous bubble-gum trebs, living at Newcastle, like at any university, comes hand-in-hand with responsibilities of the adult kind.
No matter how long you eat super-noodles for or how many times you take your washing home to the parents, one day it will be time to face ‘adulting’ at university whether you like it or not. So yes, that means washing your bedsheets, making a ‘proper’ meal (as your Mum might say) and taking out the overflowing bin that no housemate wants to go near.
Your university journey may have started with the pros of drinking on a school night and 'being independent' but when it comes down to the basics, your Mum won’t be there to hold your hand and iron your clothes (although we wish she was).
Some students are adults without realising and are experts with a slow cooker whilst the rest of us are constantly puzzled at all the adult tasks we didn’t’ even know existed.
You ask yourself, ‘is a diet of pot noodles and potato waffles really that bad?’ or at two months in, ‘can I leave my bedsheets another week?’ You may just want to give up, fake an absence form on S3P and run back home to your parents but the whole ‘adult’ lifestyle will only be waiting for you to return.
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And sorry to break it to you, but whether it be in university halls or in your second house in West Jesmond, the tasks of adulthood will never leave you as a student. Although you learnt from your university halls that tea-towels don’t clean themselves and that there isn’t little fairies who come and empty your bins at night, your house or flat will still be lacking adult-ness even in your third year here at Newcastle. Even the experienced third year student will indulge in the easiness of a pot noodle from time to time or shrink a new t-shirt after years of supposed ‘adulting’.
But it’s not just the davinci code of gas, electricity and kitchen appliances which needs an ‘adult’ brain. How about when you’ve realised you’ve spent all your student loan on Sinner’s trebles by week 6 of the university calendar? The second loan doesn’t come in till January and you’ve still got Christmas presents to buy and academic books to fund. Getting a part-time job and managing your finances is another area of adulthood which is really overlooked at university. If you have a part-time job, balance a decent social life and manage your studies then ‘honey you’re doing great’. After all, getting this balance right is super difficult when you have the tendency to end up in Soho every night of the week.
Whether it's housing issues, finance issues or just general struggles, ‘adulting’ at university comes and smacks you in the face, whether you’re prepared or not. And congratulations if you have your ‘adult’ self together at university. But for those who don’t know how to use a washing machine, who can’t figure out the shower settings or arrives to lectures in pyjama bottoms, don’t worry, everyone’s in the same sinking ship. So next time you ask yourself, ‘why is adulting so hard?’ chances are the guy sat next to you in today’s lecture has asked the exact same.