I remember the car journey down. On one hand it was too long. I just wanted to be there and avoid the waiting... but on the other it was too short, as the nervous part of me wanted to put off arriving for as long as I could. My halls were in the Glen Eyre complex and I arrived with my Dad to find it bathed in glorious sunshine. In fact, I remember that the whole of October that year had amazing weather – I began to think that it never rained in Southampton!
The view out of my kitchen window in Glen Eyre.
I collected my keys from reception and was guided to my room by a Fresher Rep. It is here that my first story of university begins. After being given my keys, I had somehow managed to misread my room number as 334, instead of 343, which led me the neighbouring flat of the one I was supposed to go to. This wouldn’t have caused any confusion if the key hadn’t have worked in the ‘wrong’ door – it seemed that whoever was responsible for the keys had made the exact same mistake I had!
The only way I knew that this wasn’t the correct room, was that I was greeted with someone else’s belongings! Later I found out that the first person I spoke to in my halls - a passing ‘Hi’ in the corridor - was the owner of that room! His name was Ian and he had indeed been given my key originally!
Once I had found the correct room (and more importantly, the correct flat) I began to unpack my suitcases and become familiar with my surroundings. I had kept my door open with a doorstop so I could meet anyone who went past. It wasn’t long before I heard some music coming down the hallway: a Foo Fighters song. I was very happy to be living with a fellow lover of rock music! The music belonged to a guy called Andy, who happened to be a Physicist also. I was relieved that I had already met someone on my course who I got along with – it made me much more confident about the induction activities planned for the week ahead.
Throughout the day I went on to meet all my other flatmates. The three girls had already moved in earlier on in the day and were sitting in the kitchen, getting to know each other. They consisted of two Environmental Scientists, Katie and Hayley, and a Psychologist, Livi, who were all equally welcoming and eager to talk. Our final flatmate, who we had only seen in passing as his parents had taken him out to the city centre, was called Marcus, who, like me, played guitar. It seemed I couldn’t have asked for better flatmates!
In fact we got on so well that Andy, Ian and Marcus became my housemates for the duration of our four years at university!
The four of us (and another future housemate) in our first week at University.
At last year’s Grad Ball we had finally learnt how to dress smartly!
The four of us celebrating the end of our finals at Thorpe Park, and the end of four years of living together.
In the evening we attended the Freshers’ Welcome Party. By this point I was already loving university life and over the course of the next week I got to know a lot more people from my halls, my course and the societies that I joined.
My main worry heading to university was whether or not I could make new friends, but because of the Fresher Reps that help out during the day and the numerous events that take place in the following couple of weeks, making friends had never been so easy.
This is coming from someone who, before University, was very shy indeed!
James
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