From my experience moving into student accommodation in Sheffield, this is where your university life really begins. It’s the first time you’re truly on your own – responsible for your own meals, mess, and spiders! Dealing with a massive eight-legged beast without my dad there was hell. Everyone’s experience in student accommodation is different; it’s not always picture-perfect. I arrived in September thinking halls would be wholesome flat dinners, but it was more like stolen sponges and passive-aggressive whiteboard messages. And that’s okay! I’ve learnt a lot – mainly how to live with strangers and cook in a terrible oven. This is what living in student accommodation looked like for me.
1. Not every flatmate will be your best friend – and that’s okay!
The summer leading up to university, I had romanticised visions of an atmosphere something akin to a sitcom. I’d imagine moving into the kitchen, bumping into my new flatmate and then we’d be best friends for ever and ever. That wasn’t exactly the case for me; someone stole, used, and destroyed my Dishmatic. It’s nothing personal, just life. When you’re randomly thrown into a flat with complete strangers from different places, with different routines, habits, and ideas, you’re not always going to bond.
But here’s the thing: even though I didn’t get along with most of them, I got lucky with one. After my first night there, lonely and scared, the next day someone new moved in. I met a girl I connected with instantly, and she’s now one of my best friends. Sometimes I sit and think about how, if I hadn’t ended up in that exact flat, in one random accommodation out of all the ones Sheffield offers, we never would’ve met. She never would’ve dragged me out to a Freshers Street Rave that I shudder to think about, and we never would’ve met the amazing friends we have now.
So, if your flat isn’t perfect, don’t panic. University throws endless opportunities to meet new people – through societies, lectures, mutual friends, nights out, and, in other people’s cases, their kitchen. Halls may not be where you find all your best friends, but it can still be the start of something great.
2. Your kitchen doesn’t have to be a biohazard
Watching TikToks about student accommodation led me to believe that my kitchen was going to be an unliveable pit of mould, damp, and full bin bags scattered around the place. Whilst this is the reality for some people, it does not have to be the case.
My flat definitely had its horrible moments – mysterious smells that led me to eat in my bedroom, and that one flatmate who would leave their dishes out for a week. The myth has slight truth to it, but it doesn’t have to be completely dreadful. If even a bit of effort is put in, it can be liveable. It doesn’t need to be spotless; just wiping away your crumbs after eating and not leaving dirty plates out long enough for them to grow their own ecosystem makes it liveable. Accountability is the key to a semi-clean kitchen, even if it means leaving snarky whiteboard messages because you’re too scared of confrontation in the group chat. The kitchen only becomes a wreck if everyone gives up. Even if a few people care, it makes a huge difference.
Plus, there’s something so satisfying about cooking your terrible pasta in a kitchen that doesn’t smell like something is dead in the bins.
So no, not every student flat is doomed to be gross. Don’t be afraid to say something when things get too grim, and don’t believe that an unliveable kitchen is a ‘canon event’.
3. Noise is not optional
As someone who worked as an accommodation tour guide, one of the most common questions people asked me was, “It’s not too noisy, is it?” I could’ve said, “No, of course not, it’s perfectly peaceful,” but that would’ve been a huge lie. It really depends on where you live. Are you near the designated ‘party flat’? A busy street? Noise is inevitable. It’s a massive building full of rowdy students living alone for the first time, it’s not going to be silent.
In my flat, I ended up on the same floor as the one that was constantly flooding the accommodation group chat with invites to ‘pres’ and blasting music until four in the morning. And as annoying as this was, it is unavoidable. I know people all over Sheffield, in a variety of different student accommodations, dealing with the exact same thing. It is normal for there to be a bit of noise. You will hear music and you will hear a door slam whenever your flatmate goes for a midnight snack.
Someone will always be pre-drinking on a Sunday evening, aggressively shouting as they run down the corridors, or slamming doors because they forget they’re fire safety and heavy.
At first, the noise drove me mental. But after a while, it just became part of the background, and there is a kind of comfort in knowing that there are people up, all living different lives, doing their own thing.
Though, noise-cancelling headphones did become my God-sent saviour.
4. Having your own space
As someone who shared a bedroom with her sister from ages two to eighteen, moving into my own bedroom for the first time was a dream come true. However, you’ve got to prepare yourself: your room will 100% look like a prison cell when you get there. It won’t be beautifully decorated like on the open days, or in the student accommodation brochures – it’ll look dull and gloomy, and you might hate it.
But the fun part is decorating. I could not wait! Making the space my own really helped with the homesickness because I was so focused on sticking to the nice décor and theme I’d manifested on my Pinterest boards. I made a room I felt comfortable and safe in, even though I was a little bit frightened of all the wild new things going on all around me.
Having an en-suite bathroom was also a dream, especially when it came to fresher’s flu, which is very real and don’t listen to anyone who says otherwise.
Living in student accommodation isn’t always easy. Sometimes it’s noisy, messy and awkward. It can involve overflowing bins and more whiteboard arguments than actual conversation. But it’s also where you learn to live on your own, and figure things out for yourself.
You might not get along with every flatmate, and you’ll definitely have a bit of rage when that one flatmate who claimed not to be a partier, blasts music all through the night. But through it all, you’ll grow, adapt, and maybe, if you’re lucky, you’ll meet a friend who makes it all worthwhile.
