The Luxuries of a first year student!
The thought of getting out of that crowded, noisy and scruffy place which I actually found to have a strong resemblance to a European hostel, was one of my main concerns at the beginning of my first year at university. This delightful place was the one and only Carnatic Halls; a place for the Greenbank rejects or the people who were unfortunately too late to get anywhere else. This was me, a young naive fresher who got thrown headfirst into what I could at first only describe as Hell. Take away the luxuries of home life; Sky TV, peace and quiet and not forgetting a fridge full of food that I didn’t have to pay for! But getting over my distress and self pity, I did actually gain a love for that chaotic place, and realised that for a Student it wasn’t actually that bad.
I’m not going to lie and say that it looked inviting or by any means luxurious, but what it offered was by all means a form of luxury for us ‘poor students’. My parents couldn’t believe it when I told them that I had a cleaner in my halls, as you see back in their day the University ‘digs’ (which they called them) were shockingly unhygienic and wouldn’t even pass for a homeless shelter now. Everyday the cleaner would mop the floors, clean the bathroom and kitchen and even occasionally wash our dishes, although she wasn’t supposed to. I certainly don’t get a cleaner at home; even my mum makes me clean up after myself. So Carnatic definitely did have its advantages.
I would like to say that I lived the proper student life living off super noodles and beans, but I didn’t and instead indulged in Carnatic’s finest cuisines. Well maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, but it was certainly better food than I would have eaten if I was left up to my own devices. There was a variety of foods on offer from Italian to Chinese, and it didn’t taste half bad either. Thursday’s dinner was my favourite though, as a roast was on offer; a dish that I’m sure would not have been on the menu for those self catering students. All I had to do was queue up, chose what I wanted to eat and bon appetit!
Now that my Carnatic time is over, I find myself living in a house with no cleaner and no ready made meals (except the extremely tasty ones I pop in the microwave for two minutes!) I’m not living in squalor or anything of the sort, but I do miss the odd luxury that Carnatic did provide. These luxuries are without doubt what helped make my first year easy and probably kept me staying relatively healthy. It especially helped me cope with my eventful nightlife and alcohol consumption, which is generally the case for most students living at Carnatic isn’t it!
Hannah Blackburn
© 2008-2010. LSMEDIA is written, designed and produced independently by the students of the University of Liverpool.
Comments
What's so chaotic about it?
Well the breaking of windows and glass doors, the huge snowball fights, the food fights outside the blocks at 3 in the morning, the constant noise, the water fights in the halls and in your room and the fact that if you leave your door unlocked your room will get trashed and matress removed! So from my experience it was pretty chaotic!
Post new comment