The Start of Student Life

Matthew Farrell
Oct 17, 2016
2 min read

As I approached my halls and home for the next year, still bitter after not receiving any of my ‘accommodation choices’, I was expecting no more than a dilapidated, decrepit prison-like confinement. Although it matched my premature assumptions in many capacities (I soon discovered my cupboard was graffitied with ‘ket boy’), it had its benefits in other departments. The fact that it’s catered means less cooking, less washing up, proper meals but… significantly earlier mornings if I want to make breakfast, I mean, 7-9 AM?!?!?! Freshers week involves consuming nonsensical amounts of beer before subsequently becoming sick of its taste. Whilst my futile bid to be the first ever uni student not to ask “where are you from?’ and ‘what you studying?’ within the first exchanges of meeting someone was inevitably in vain in an attempt to eradicate some awkwardness and actually make conversation. In spite of being typically antisocial, I have actually managed to make a few friends at uni so far, whether that be through a game of FIFA, being forced to do shots or through a mutual love of Tame Impala. The first few weeks have been a bit of a blur whilst, simultaneously, it feeling as though I’ve been living in Liverpool for an eternity.

Discovering that clothes don’t just magically appear in your room freshly washed and that cupboards don’t constantly get re-stocked when your parents aren’t there is difficult to accept, leaving me wondering just why is life so cruel. In the same vein, 9am lectures make you mystify at how waking up at 7 for school was once deemed the norm. The lectures themselves have conjured a wide variety of responses from myself, from involuntarily taking a nap whilst fervently learning about housing legislation in the 19th century, to engaging in some stimulating philosophical theories on reality.

After handing over my email seemingly thousands of times and getting far too many free dominos at freshers fair on welcome week, one society I did end up joining was Band Society, the facilities, freedom and the opportunity to meet like-minded people has been one of my highlights of uni so far. But fire drills waking you up? Surprisingly, not quite as enjoyable. Overall, learning to stand on your own two feet can be quite fun and I’m looking forward to seeing what next weekend has in store for me, yet alone the next 3 years! I have to stand in the rain in Snowdonia all day!