We didn't have the best of luck with our University houses. Something about having to look for one for 7 of us, outside interference, thinking we'd left it too late, and it being the horrible task of only one person (thankfully not me - both grateful and guilty for that, it should have been a collaborative effort) meant that we never seemed to have nice places to live. Our first house (second year) was an actual shit hole. Every room had mould, the shower broke in January leaving all seven of us to use the one in the (mouldy) cupboard under the stairs, and our landlord was so terrible it became a year long joke ("Good deals" - ha). This year's house, while still pretty terrible by general living standards,
was thankfully a big step up.
We didn't have house keys, just room keys and a 5 digit code to get in to the front of the house.
There was a room behind the kitchen that I dubbed the "fly room" after an infestation of flies in there right before we all moved in. According to the landlord, it was supposed to be a dining room. That would make the big wooden table more sensible, and would explain the chairs that spent more time outside than in there. We used it mainly for storing our bin bags, and sporadic games of Cups or beer pong if someone was brave enough to clean it.
Just off the fly room was the room with the washing machine, tumble dryer, and a sink (?). The wash room was a tip for the whole year. Left over washing boxes/bottles, forgotten washing and just an absolute ton of that fluff that comes from tumble dryers made it a room you didn't linger in. Plus the door was horribly heavy and would slam something terrible.
From my bedroom I could see the misused garden table - we seemed to have a habit of using tables as bin storage. There's the fire pit just by the fence, with some of the table chairs around it. You can just see the railing on the 'balcony' which I'm pretty sure we were told not to use but obviously we all ignored it. I could count the number of times I was up there on my hands (still more than I went to the beach) but I don't think I'll ever forget the view on a sunny day (the view of the Mumbles is so pretty from Swansea). The little windowed building is the garage. That was home to the unexplained broken car, the blue paint that was walked through the house, and a random Tesco trolley. It was where a (once) random guy slept after our first house party, surprising all of us by walking into the living room at 2pm the next day. It was where bike thieves stole Tom and Meryn's bike but for some reason left mine, despite it being propped up right by the door. The window in the top right of the photo is the shower room (there was no toilet in there, that was next door). That shower is one of the main things I'm going to miss about that house. Although none of us realised how dirty it was, despite showering in it every day. It wasn't until Soph and Samuel told me, and the comparison after Tom cleaned it, that I saw just how grim it had been (oops).
The bottom right window is the kitchen. Not a lot of fond memories of that room. Well, until the second half of the year and it became the place Tom and I cooked in together (we've done that for the last two years but it's way more fun as a couple). I definitely won't miss how grossly dirty it was, and how messy, all of the bloody time. I don't think anything would have stopped those counter tops turning cloths brown and I would have to shower each time I cleaned the hob because ew. I will miss the dorky dancing that happened while Tom and I were waiting for our food to cook though.
Aaah, my room.
I've been really lucky with my rooms in both of the houses we've had. I think my preference for smaller rooms has helped. It's kept them warmer in the winter months, and helps make them feel cosy. Plus I've had minimal mould issues which is always a bonus.
The layout of my room was originally completely different. The bed was in the gap, the wardrobe was where my photo wall was, the desk was by my window, and the chests were all where my bed is in these photos. Changing it all around when I moved in was such a funny experience. Poor Lottie ended up squished against the door by the mattress!
As the sun started rising earlier, I quickly learnt that my blinds needed to be facing upwards unless I wanted a 6am wake up call with an entirely too-bright bedroom. I also discovered that I can't change a double bed easily on my own, Tom's degree in engineering did not allow him to correctly assemble a desk chair, and my poor door stop was no match for the weight of my bedroom door.
The photos on my wall made a huge difference after I put them all up. It was the first thing I took down when I started packing as well, and the week I had without them was really strange. The bare wall just made my room seem so much emptier!
I much much much prefer how this space looks without the bed in it. It became my little 'getting ready' area. The drawers on the left had that really handy mirror that you could open up. I kept it like that all year.
I put up all of the tickets, cards and certificates I'd gained over the year on that wall. I could see it from my desk and it was fun looking over it all as I was getting something from my wardrobe.
The top of the wardrobe was clearly the best place to keep mine and Tom's food stash. I did have a Tesco bag in my wardrobe that housed our crisps and miscellaneous sweets, but the fruit and biscuits all went up on top. You can see the bag on prunes in that photo and I think you should know that you must never let Tom eat those with you. He becomes the world's smelliest person after eating some of them. It's awful!
I thought it was such a weird fixture before we moved in but really, having a sink in my room fast became one of my favourite things about this house. It was so convenient! I could get a drink, brush my teeth, wash my face, all without leaving my room! My deodorants and perfumes are all on the shelf next to it, along with the mirror that came with my room (I've been more than lucky in terms of furniture these last two years), and of course the canvas I painted at Meryn and Anna's last house!
Photos (as you can probably tell) are a really big part of a room for me. Actually, a really big part of life. There's absolutely nothing I loved more than looking at old photos of myself and my family when I was little, and especially now that I'm grown up and can appreciate them more. That love translated into a love of taking photos of absolutely everything (#VainLife) and then filling up whatever space I'm in with those photos. The ones above my desk are my favourites, with a quote card that changed (aptly) half way through the year. The one in the photo reads: "Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly..." And of course, Tom's poster of him winning his first race is pride of place above it all.
That poor beanbag on the floor was never used. That is one major impulse buy that just spent it's time getting in the way. (It's now a foot rest in my bedroom at home). The chest of drawers next to it are quite literally the best University buy I made before first year. They have been so handy! Obviously Netflix is on (The Office paused and ready for Tom to bring up our food). You can see all of my unused textbooks on my book shelf! There's £300+ I'll never get back... And speaking of rubbish, my two bins - the wicker one was my recycling bin and 9 times out of 10 there was more stuff on the floor surrounding the bin than there was piled up in it.
My desk! Used more for eating than for work, but still one of my favourite set ups of my rooms so far. You've got my timetable (of all the lectures I definitely made it to all of the time); my calendar (I lived my life by this thing); my "21" filled with sweet birthday messages; my biscuit jar (if you put Rich Tea in there Tom doesn't clean it out in seconds); my flower pot; some essential books; the one-line-a-day book I got from Meryn; and the memo pad that's too nice to use up! Plus you can just see my towel hanging up on what probably wasn't meant to be a towel hanger, but spent the year being used for that anyway.
*****
It was surprising, packing up and moving out. I expected it to both take longer and feel sadder.
Instead, it took two trips and two hours to move everything out and to clean the room from top to bottom. I didn't cry, and I didn't really feel too sad to be leaving.
It's funny. I loved my room, Tom's room, and the memories I have of being in that house but I won't miss it at all. By the time my Dad arrived with the boxes and suitcases, I was ready to leave. Ready to get on with it, and move on to the next adventure.
That was mainly the feeling I had throughout the whole week or so leading up to leaving - excitement for what's coming next.
******
Saying that though, it was still weird seeing my room empty.
I didn't move everything back to it's original place in the end, but I sort of did a best-of-both-worlds shift around: I left the bed in the better position, but sort of put everything else back in a weird, this-is-a-rented-room position.
I left my soap and a nice white stain next to my bed (a result of cider and desperate cleaning efforts involving baking soda, vinegar, and some terrible carpet cleaner from Tesco).
And of course, the traditional locking the door picture.
Notice the terrible bookcase behind me. It was filled/topped with junk - I still have no idea who's it was - but Benj and I spruced it up slightly by covering most of it with a Welsh flag (Welshie corner!).
****
And that's that! My last ever University house is empty and ready for the next lot of students to move in.
While I'm not that sad (possibly because it still hasn't properly sunk in, and because student living is gross), it does feel weird to think I won't be going through the moving in process again in September, and that I won't be living in a student house again. For all it's down sides, I have loved the last three years.
I would make some wonderful play on the whole locking the door/saying goodbye/locking this part of my life, but I'm not that good so instead I'll just finish with a simple goodbye.
3 Bryn-y-Mor Crescent... thank you.
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