Returning volunteer, Christopher Leroux, talks about why he wishes he’d moved out of halls after first year.
Some of you may remember me writing a similar article to this back in September. I was praising living in Halls and why it was one of the best things that happened to me in First Year. Well, let me tell you that whilst it was amazing in first year, it is not if you are a second year.
First year is great; you meet loads of new people and have loads of Hall spirit, you experience Freshers and you feel part of this amazing community. You leave for summer feeling great and wanting to go back to Halls because you think that living in Halls next year will be exactly the same and you’ll have an even greater time because it’s not new.
Let me tell you, what a fool I was…
Since coming back in September, whilst being in my room in Hall I haven’t had a full nights’ sleep. I have been randomly woken up by other people, whether that be them going to the toilet in the middle of the night, or coming back from a night out, not being quite tired enough, so deciding to have an after party in the kitchen at 3am. There is never a boring night in Halls.
Not only do you have to deal with silly freshers making noise and being drunk, but you also have to clean up after them. The kitchen is a kitchen, not the dancefloor of Echoes.
Throughout this all you start telling yourself that it’s only the beginning of the year and it will calm down. This is just wrong, and telling yourself this will give you false hope. What’s worse is that second year counts, and you have to actually care about getting up for those pesky 9ams.
Furthermore, you lose a lot of your Hall spirit in second year because it’s not the same Hall you were in as a fresher; with each new year comes a new cohort of freshers that changes the dynamic of the Hall.
I can understand why so many second years go on placement afterwards; it’s not for work experience, it’s to get a full nights sleep and not have to worry about being woken up.
Don’t get me wrong, I still love Halls, and have made some amazing memories here, but I won’t be staying longer than I have to. I very much look forward to moving into my house come July, where I can sit down in my bedroom and hear absolutely nothing. How perfect that would be…
Featured image by: Omeiza Haruna
