There are some of us who have been lucky, our first term in halls has been good to us; our flatmates are suddenly like family; we found we missed them dearly over Christmas and we wonder how we ever functioned without them. It’s the first week back and we feel like we never left, the recycling needs emptying, the bins are full, the kitchens a disgrace , no one can be bothered to wash a pan yet. It’s a new year and we’re told this is the time to start house hunting for our second year. For some first years deciding who to live with will be easy, no question about it, its obvious that you and your flatmates were meant to be, your all the best of friends, there’s probably four or five of you and plenty of houses on the market to cater for your needs, everyone’s happy and easily suited – the perfect scenario. However, there are others who haven’t been so lucky particularly us northerner’s who’ve had to put up with cocky Londoners – can we really take any more? I think I’m joking… although it is likely that many of us cannot wait to see the back of some of the idiots we’ve been forced to live with, those who never wash up and put dirty plates back into their cupboards or fail to wash their muddy rugby kit and continue to wear it, bathing in their own sweat and filth.
Anyway, the way I see it, the best way to decide who to live with is to take a ‘what’s in it for me?’ approach when sizing up your flatmates for the finest options. We’re selfish beings and we accept it, we need to ensure that number 1 is taken care of before we worry about any other poor souls. I heard from a friend at Newcastle University that house hunting was cut throat, it was
done before Christmas and the students were apparently fine with ‘leaving people out’ in order to snap up the best houses on the market, leaving casualties along the way. Obviously, in York we’re much more civilised and I
understand it that there are more student lets available in York than there are students! And so, there shouldn’t be a mad panic… unless you spend the night surfing the net and find your perfect house… a cottage with a garden and flowers and… I digress…
So, how do we decide whether we want to live single sex next year or mixed? I guess, in a sexist manner that a female only household will be cleaner than a male one, yes there may be tidy boys out there but from experience it would seem that girls are much more likely to vacuum and wash their belongings.
However, is a clean house what’s most important? Would we prefer to live in a house where there is a constant party, drinking games played every night and house music played till dawn? Take a look at your future housemates – do you really want to live with the one that’s constantly lago/drunk? Maybe… the best thing to do is choose a nice mix, one person to cook, one to clean, one known to have a laugh so that then, you, can sit on your lazy behind and do sweet nothing except enjoy yourself!