My experience living in a shared room in Glasney Village

This piece was written by Dance & Choreography BA (Hons) student Dorka about her experience living at our Glasney Village student accommodation.

Let’s be honest, I’m sure you have lots of questions about what it’s actually like to live in a shared room at uni and probably some concerns too! You may worry about what it’s like to have limited personal space, or to share with someone you don’t know. That is understandable as you wont know what it is like until you experience it yourself! To help, I’ll share my own experiences of sharing a room. Spoiler alert, I am going into my third year and I am still living with my roommate, so it was definitely a positive experience for me!

Sharing a room when you are first year student is by far the most amazing way to find a friend who will always be there for you. I don’t mean you will definitely become best friends for life, but simply having someone around who goes through the same thing and is available to talk to can save you a lot of time trying to finally bond with someone.

If it’s your first time living away from home and by yourself, it’s easy to feel a bit lonely sometimes. But in the shared room you will always have each other no matter how different you might be, it’s a bit like having a sibling. But let’s not forget the rest of your flatmates either who you’ll be sharing your kitchen with who will also be around. So, it’s not just your roommate that you will have around to spend time with. 

When it comes to privacy, both you and your roommate will get busy from the very beginning so, I can assure you that you will have loads of time on your own as well. I’d definitely recommend communicating and getting familiar with each other’s plans and timetables. That way, if you know when your roommate has classes or plans, you will know when you might have the room to yourself.

When sharing a room, I’d recommend a couple of gadgets that will help you to be considerate to each other. It’s a good idea to have earphones and some kind of desk light (or the torch function on your smartphone), for occasions when your roomie would like an early night but you still want to stay up. 

At the end of the day this whole room sharing experience is all about you both making it your own! You guys will just need to check in with each other from time to time and see if both of you are happy. Just be honest with each other, be considerate, communicate and make changes if anything comes up! But honestly, I never had anything to worry about when I was sharing. 

I have some amazing memories of sharing a room. One of my favourite things was chatting with my roomie just before we fell asleep. Another was watching movies from our own beds and if one of us fell asleep, the other had to explain all about how the story ended. 

I didn’t meet my roomie until I actually arrived and I was literally considering backing out of studying. I really do understand how scary this can feel but honestly, I’m so glad I was brave enough to give it a go! I hope you can see from my experience that as soon as things get going you will have the best fun! This is definitely something that is worth considering in addition to how much money you can save!