University: My First Year

Early in 2015, after taking a gap year, I received five unconditional offers to study at university. After much deliberation I ended up accepting my place at Manchester Metropolitan University, studying Inclusive Education & Disability Studies. Obviously as I'm from Northern Ireland, I had to make the decision of where to live in Manchester and thanks to getting virtually no money from Student Finance (cheers pals) - I ended up in the cheapest halls aka Cavendish Halls.

Halls get a bad rep, and from my experience I can kind of see why. Although they are very sociable and there's always someone to talk to, when you have an exam at 9:30am and the fire alarm goes off at 5am, causing the ENTIRE six floors to evacuate... it isn't ideal.

Cavendish itself has its own structural problems, such as the single-glazed windows (that often leak) and the mold on the ceilings. However, it IS due a refurbishment at the end of this academic year.

I mean, halls is an experience to say the least and I probably would recommend them - however I wouldn't advise you go to such a cheap/old one if you want the BEST experience.

Commuting can be a nightmare too though, I know several people who often couldn't make it in to lectures due to delays or strikes and often after uni they missed their train - bit of a nightmare and a waste of money. At least you have all your grant & loan to yourself, after travel obviously. If you're really into the nightlife and want to meet countless new people, I'd DEFINITELY advise halls - but if drunk people (such as myself) aren't your cup of tea, I would definitely suggest either a studio flat - if you have an arm and a leg to spend or just commute and meet people through societies.

Looking back on it though, I don't think there's much I would change about my first year. I met some amazing girls on my course, and of course if I went to a different hall I wouldn't have met my boyfriend. Living in halls gives you the independence that your 16 year old self craved so badly, but be warned: your parents won't be there to look after you when you're ill and certainly won't be able to do your cooking, washing or cleaning! It takes a while to get used to and you may think you'd miss home and your family a lot, but often you find yourself too busy going out or hungover to even think about them that often. When you do go home over the holidays or at the weekend, you'll always have someone there to greet you with open arms and home cooked dinners (which is a welcome change after your 8th takeaway in a week!).

When I moved to Manchester it was my first time overseas EVER, I had quite bad anxiety and hardly ever went out, I wouldn't even go to the shop in fear of something awful happening or people judging me. I wasn't in a good place and didn't have many friends, in fact the only friend I had was my friend from Twitter - Faye. No one had that much faith in me being able to stick it out and stay over in Manchester, but I did - I stuck it out and I had so much fun in halls and shared so many memories with great people. I said "yes" to so many more opportunities and opened my eyes to the world outside, and I actually really enjoyed it! I met my boyfriend and he's made me the happiest I've ever been, I really do feel lucky. I've discovered who I am as a person and I can't wait to find out and learn more about myself in the next years to come.

Manchester, you've been amazing - I'll see you again in September for more craic.

Have you ever lived in halls? What was the best/worst thing about it? Leave a comment & let me know!