Going to University….
Reading posts on the message-board from people about to start university has got me thinking back to September 1999 when I first arrived in Hull. Perhaps I am in a way slightly jealous!
When my parents and I arrived at Cleminson Hall we were ushered into a room where we were met by the warden, Dr. Ghazzali, an amazing man with a long beard who smoked a pipe – he promised me that the best room in the building was mine and I even had a sink of my own (after staying with my friend in Lincoln who had an en-suite this wasn’t such a novelty).
After unpacking I seem to remember tea and cakes with the parents and other students – how sophisticated! I was just eager for my parents to leave so I could do what I wanted. I remember finally saying goodbye and then wondering what I was supposed to do next, so of course I had a fag (these were my pre-Allen Carr days!)
Later in the day I was introduced to the washing machine by my new “friend” Charlotte:
Charlotte: This is a washing machine Mary.
Me: Yes, I am aware of what a washing machine looks like.
This friendship was short-lived and by the next day I had found new friends! My acquaintance with the washing machine was also short-lived. I said I knew what a washing machine looked like, not how to use one!
Stage 1 – Wear all clothes
Stage 2 – Go into Hull and buy a load of new underwear. Wear new underwear with dirty clothes on top.
Stage 3 – Take essential clothes on 400 miles round trip on the train to Essex for my mum to wash.
Stage 4 – Take the plunge and buy fabric softener, thinking that it’s very good value washing liquid.
Stage 5 – Spend 6 months washing clothes using only fabric softener. Clothes are not clean, but they smell nice!
The year is a blur of memories – many good, many not so good.
Ants in the food, the evil managers, the drying tokens, the dinnerladies/cleaners, the phone situation, the bidet, queueing for the bus in the freezing cold, the Greek students, watching Home & Away, clubbing, my friend Pete and I riding our mattresses down the stairs, watching films in Big jon’s room, Karaoke, the dinner queue, Kizmet takeaways…but the highlights were undoubtedly the many happy hours spent in the Railway pub where I first spoke to Al – after 4 months of ignoring him down my corridor!
My advice to new students (from personal experience):
* Enjoy the first year as it goes so quickly.
* Learn how to use a washing machine before you go.
* Don’t take things so seriously. The boyfriend/girlfriend you find in the first week is not likely to be the love of your life.
* Try not to eat too unhealthily – this is difficult if you are living in catered halls.
* Try and think about your future now (easy to say in hindsight), but when it comes to writing your CV and your only hobby for the past 3 years has been drinking, then it can be a problem!
* Stay safe and have fun! 
I never got a chance to thank Dr. Ghazzali for looking after me in the first year, and I will be eternally grateful for that. Rest in peace Ghazz.
5 Comments
Jennifer
September 13, 2006I went to uni as a fresher last yr and Mary’s right, it does fly by!
One: if in self catering, TAKE FOOD FOR THE FIRST 4 DAYS. Biccies and alcohol are good icebreakers ;)
Two: I had access to the landrette… Take 20p’s and save them for the washing machines, they don’t alsways take pound coins.
Three: HAVE FUN! :)
Lostsoul aka Jenny
Ali
September 13, 2006Mary,
You do make me smile sometimes…really its not that dificult to use a washing machine. Goodluck to all the people going off to uni! Im glad its not me for a good few years yet!!
**huggles**
p.s if anyone needs instructions on working a washing machine then ask meeee cos im a clever girlieeee!!
Ali xx
Anonymous
September 13, 2006luckily, I can do laundry and am almost all set for moving day =D
my university is having a freshers afternoon tea thing, which parents can attend (dont thnk I get to go so cant keep an eye on my parents =/ ) so my parents and sister are attending that after I move into my room
sadly, I am living in catered halls, but the food doesnt actually look all that bad so there should be some healthy stuff for me =D
Thanks, its a useful guide
Anonymous
September 13, 2006Laundry can be hard sometimes, I usually leave all my laundry when I go on long trips for my parents to clean when I get home. The closest things I have had to going to a university is staying in a camp in the middle of no where cali for a 3 months on a missionary base while my parents where out. I guess its kinda the same thing o.0 =D
sarah
September 12, 2006Ah yes, university, so long ago now. I started right after the 9/11 attacks so everyone was still pretty astounded by the turn in the world’s events.
I remember arriving to an empty house, just waiting for everyone to arrive. Really excited of course, but really nervous. And there was none of that tea and cakes with the parents! Mine had already disappeared, and the parents of the next person that arrived seemed to just drop her on the doorstep with some bags and dash off. The first thing we did together was crack open the vodka, find a male neighbour and sit out on our patio. Thus all the following arrivals were met with the three of us, pretty merry and smoking away, half empty bottles of spirits surrounding us… not sure we made the parents feel that easy about leaving their loved ones in our hands!
It is so easy to get nostalgic about university, it was such a defining period in my life, and every year was so different from the last one. Nothing will ever resemble my first year, living away from home for the first time, being thrown into a group of people with whom you have to form bonds similar to some kind of surrogate family. And being able to get away with doing pretty much whatever you like, whether that is going to all the student nights out and drinking alcopops until you worry your tongue will be permanently blue/yellow/green/whatever other colour drink was on offer, or finding new and inventive ways to wind up your neighbours (stealing their sandwich toaster and taking it on a retirement trip round Cambridge and London/turning everything in the kitchen upside down, including the pan thats still sitting on the hob since dinner/toasting all the slices of bread in a loaf and putting it all back in the packet…)
Ah for those carefree days again! Now I just settle for tricking people into eating Seville Oranges (like lemons masquerading as a tasty satsuma) or opening all the windows after my sister has shut them… From student straight to housewife in so many ways :)