October 15, 2013, by Ollie

From Halls to Houses

Year on year a mass migration comparative only to the wildebeest trekking through the East African plains occurs. The migration being students leaving halls and moving into rented accommodation. I myself went on this migration this year going from Newark, Jubilee to Lenton, The Big Wide World.

In real terms it’s just a small walk but in University life it’s a marathon. The change between living in halls and living in rented accommodation is a big change, it starts very early on during first year with the choosing of a house and housemates. I’m sure I’ve spoken about that before so I won’t go on about the many houses you trawl around looking for the perfect one where you can envision yourself living for the next year (at least).

I’m going to jump in straight from the moment I walked into my new house and the problems you have to overcome. I guess they are more like challenges, especially if it’s your first time experiencing renting accommodation. I’m talking bills, food and furnishing. The student lifestyle is a constant struggle between trying to save money but still get by well. Bills, food and furnishing are three things that go directly against that philosophy.

Yet here I am a few weeks on and surviving well. The accounts have been set-up, the internet package chosen and installed, the central heating regime disputed but eventually agreed upon, the fridge not full of junk food and the furnishings quite certainly more than adequate. University is not just an education in a subject it is an education in life and becoming independent and this, certainly for me, has been a major step, a right of passage so to speak. I hope at the end of the year I can look back at this moment just as I did after finishing first year when I looked back at when I started and I’ll continue to see a huge increase in my life skills.

 

As a final thought during my time in Nottingham the public image of Lenton seems to be potrayed as bad one. That the local council supposedly wants students out, that students are awful people and disrespectful neighbours and should be kept in halls where they can be controlled. Very rarely has there been much credit to the claims but they are claims that always seem to pop up. If true, these thoughts are shockingly narrow-minded. For what would Nottingham be without its rich variety of students and graduates and what they end up giving back to the city in terms of culture, status and prospective employment opportunities. Nottingham having two well-established Universities is testament to the success of students here and those that potentially oppose our being should possibly look at the bigger image.

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