Choosing A Second Year House

Most second year students decide to move out of halls and into houses for their subsequent years at university and there is usually a lot of choice when it comes to where you want to live.

We started to house hunt for our parents, the student houses were that nice...

CHOOSING THE RIGHT AREA. A lot of universities have an area where most of the second year students live, but this isn't the case with all unis. You will want to look at an area which already has a lot of students living in, that isn't too far away from campus and that is perhaps in an area you already know. Think about transport links or parking. Consider your price range and go from there.

CHOOSING TO RENT FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF FROM A PRIVATE LANDLORD. Some universities actually have student houses which you can rent directly from them. A university owned house is likely to be cheaper, and therefore within your price range, but is also usually less modern or as refurbished as other properties. Private landlords can come with risks but they also have benefits too. Although you will have to look for a house either online or through a lettings agent, which could come with fees, you are likely to get a more modern house.

HOUSES WITH NO SUMMER RENT. If you are able to find a house which doesn't have rent payable over the summer this could end up saving you a fair amount of money, you want to find a house with a nine month contract if this is the case. My housemates and I were lucky enough to find a house that was being renovated and refitted during the summer holidays, meaning we didn't have to pay summer rent and we would get new kitchens, bathrooms, furniture, etc. when we moved in! (This did prove to be a little bit of a disaster, but I'll post about that another time). Keep in mind that you don't get student loan payments over the summer months, but you may have to pay rent then.

BILLS INCLUDED. If you can find a house which has the household bills included in the rent this will save you a lot of hassle later on. The rent will obviously be more than a house which doesn't have bills included but could actually end up costing you less. You won't realise how much energy, internet or water you're using when you're in halls because you don't have to pay bills, they're usually included, but they can be pretty hefty and having them included in your rent will save you the worry of unexpected bills and ensures that the amounts are all split equally.

A REPUTABLE LETTINGS AGENT. We had quite a lot of difficulty when first looking at houses with a few lettings agents offering us the option of paying a 'holding fee' once we had decided on a house. Although there are perfectly honest lettings agents who let you do this the particular company we were dealing with turned out to be quite untrustworthy and we were glad we didn't go with them, or give them any money. Don't feel pressured into giving money over unless you are fully satisfied by what you are receiving, and what you are paying for. Sometimes agents try to put more pressure on you by emphasising how much interest they have had, or how little time you may have, although sometimes this may be true, don't allow it to force you to make a rash decision. If you start looking for houses early enough there will be plenty left with no need to rush or panic.

GET ADVICE FROM YOUR STUDENT UNION. If you are unsure on anything do go to your student union and ask them for help, that's what they're there for. They may be able to look over your house contract for you or provide a standard rental agreement contract for you to look over and compare with the contract you have been given to sign. They may be able to point you in the direction of a good lettings agent or help explain terminology that you don't understand.

And finally, don't panic. It's easy to start getting stressed out by your living arrangements for the next year. Whilst you're looking for a house you may see many others looking and the pressure of having to make a choice can be really hard. Make sure you keep up communication between your future housemates and everything will be fine. You want to enjoy searching for a house to live in, not be super stressed out!

Happy house hunting x

Choosing The Right Housemates

At a lot of universities you move out of halls at the end of your first year, and into a house for the remainder of your degree. This means leaving the flat that you shared throughout freshers and having to find a house to replace that flat. It also means that you have to make a decision about who you're going to live with. It's pretty scary stuff, but it's also really exciting.

The one thing we haven't worked out yet is how to get a nice photo of all of us.

Here are my dos and donts of second year housemates:

DO live with the same flatmates you had in first year if you all got along. It helps to live with someone that you've lived with before because you know one another's habits and what it is like living with one another. Even if you are bestest friends with someone, or get along with them, you don't know what your relationship with that person will be like when you're actually living with them.

DON'T live with someone you usually spend a lot of time with. If you end up living with someone you spend the majority of your time with you may find that you end up spending too much time with them, and that you don't get enough time for yourself. Although it can be useful to live with a coursemate (you can share books, discuss essays and help one another get up for lectures), you may end up feeling smothered because you cannot ever get away from that person.

DO live with people who you think are financially responsible. Finances and money are a big part of second year life. You may no longer have bills included in your rent, and therefore living with someone who you know will cough up money for bills is relieving. You don't want to be left in a situation where you're out of pocket because of someone else.

DON'T live with your boyfriend/girlfriend/significant other. Even if it's separate rooms. Just don't do it. I shouldn't even have to tell you but if something does happen which means that you are no longer together you will be living a life of misery tip toeing around them... You'll be living with your ex. It's a terrible idea, and your poor housemates will have to tip toe around you both too. Also, don't live with a couple.

DO live with people who have a similar sleeping pattern to you. This may sound weird but it's important. If you are someone who gets up really early and you're living with people who won't want to wake up until later you will have to tip toe around in the morning. Same if you are someone who likes to have really late nights, but your housemates don't share that, you will have to tip toe around at night.

DON'T panic. Don't make any rash decisions about who you're going to live with and end up in a house which isn't exactly ideal. As long as you are proactive and think carefully about whether living with certain people is a good idea or not, you should be fine. Don't rush into anything, think it through.

First Aid

There were quite a few times in my first year when people had a bit too much to drink and they needed looking after, but there were also other times were alcohol wasn't the problem and I had no idea how to help. After some quick googling and reading up on a few things I've got the low down.

PANIC ATTACKS: Panic attacks are part of the body's reaction to fear/excitement/stress and are a more common problem than you would first believe. When someone experiences a panic attack they can show a range of symptoms, these include: rapid or uncomfortable breathing, heightened heart rate, shaking and feeling faint. These symptoms usually last for between five to ten minutes, but can last longer, and leave the sufferer feeling panicked, as the name would suggest.

One way to help someone who is having a panic attack is to try and help them regain normal breathing. You can do this by making them breathe with you, you could start by breathing in for two seconds and out for two and then slowly increase this until they are breathing normally.

Another way to help is to reassure them. Keep calm and let them know that they are safe. Although what they are experiencing is scary, there is no danger, you will look after them and they will get through the attack.

Finally, ask them if there is anything they need or anything you can do for them. Don't assume that they need something, ask them. 

ALCOHOL POISONING: Sometimes alcohol can lead to someone becoming out of control of their own body and in situations like this they may need your help. If someone is vomiting, breathing irregularly, unconscious or conscious but not responding then they may be suffering from alcohol poisoning.

If someone is showing signs of alcohol poisoning, try to keep them awake and sitting up. Give them water to drink if they can and keep them warm. Stay with them and monitor their symptoms and how severe they are. If they have passed out then check their breathing and put them into the recovery position.

Don't leave them to just sleep it off or force them to vomit. Don't put them in a cold shower or allow them to drink anymore alcohol. 

If their symptoms are worsening or are not improving then seek help, and/or ring the emergency services.

DRINK SPIKING: If someone has put something into your drink that you were unaware of it could leave you in really dangerous situation. Symptoms of having your drink spiked include: loss of balance, blackouts, nausea, vomiting and blurred vision. 

If you are worried that yours, or someone elses, drink has been spiked find someone you trust such as a close friend, relative, medical professional or the police. Get them/yourself to a safe place but be wary of strangers and do not leave with someone you don't know. 

If you/they feel unwell then you/they need to be taken to A&E. Tell them that you think your/their drink has been spiked and arrange for friends/relatives to take you/them home and stay with you/them until the drugs have fully left your/their system.

Also, try and report it to the police as soon as possible, as most drugs leave the body within 72 hours of being taken.

AN OVERDOSE: An overdose occurs when someone takes more of a substance than is recommended for human consumption, this could be accidental or purposeful. Signs of an overdose include: empty pill packets or missing pills, vomiting, difficulty breathing, lack of coordination or unconsciousness. 

If you believe that someone has overdosed then try and find out what they took and how much, don't leave them on their own and monitor their symptoms. Call an ambulance straight away and don't let them drink or eat anything. Don't let them sleep, encourage them to throw up or try and put them under a shower.

If you're in doubt about any of these things you can ring the NHS direct on 111 to ask for advice, or if it is an emergency ring 999 immediately.

These situations all sound pretty scary but unfortunately they do happen and it's better to be prepared!

My University Room

Making your room your own at university is one of the best things you can do to help you settle in and to make you feel less homesick. As a second year student living in a house, I have more flexibility with the decoration of my room, and it's made me go a bit home-ware crazy.

The main theme of my room is the colour red. I happened to by some red & white polka dot heart bed sheets and then decided that everything else had to be red and white themed. 

 From left, clockwise:

POLAROIDS - I got lots of polaroid style photos printed online from square snaps (27 photos for £9.99) and I'm going to hang a piece of string on the wall and then clip them onto the string with these cute little heart pegs (£1.15 for a pack of 20).

BEDSHEETS - these striped sheets are from the IKEA DVALA range and cost only £20 for a double set.

LAMP - my lamp is also from IKEA. It's handy because it clips onto the shelves behind my bed and also has a bendy neck so I can point it in any direction I want. It was £10.

PINBOARD - so I may have slightly cheated in that the picture of the photo frame above isn't the one I ordered but it looks pretty similar. I got mine off ebay for £9.99.

My Second Year House

My five housemates & I have finally moved into our second year house, and whilst we were settling in I took some cheeky photos of the place to pop into a blog post (also to show to my Gran).

When we came to look at the house back in November, nearly a year ago now, it looked pretty different. One of the bedrooms was a smaller size, the kitchen was smaller and the bathrooms were in different places. Our landlord has chosen to renovate the house over the summer, for us to move in September. Unfortunately, there were major delays with the house that lead to it not being ready in time for our 15th September move in date, and we were put into temporary accommodation whilst they finished the house, which we moved in to on 8th October (it's a very long story).

However, now that we are moved in we are all so happy with our rooms, the house in general and that we actually have a house! 

Just to give you an idea of just how un-ready the house was when I came up to Birmingham on the date I was supposed to move in. That's the kitchen and the downstairs bathroom.

The house is now mostly finished, although there are some things which need tweaking and other things which still haven't been fitted.

This is one of our upstairs bathrooms.

Another upstairs bathroom - the one that I use.

The kitchen, with a tumblr drier which is still to be fitted into the utility room.

And the living room.

Overall, a pretty decent house, especially for students. The house has six bedrooms and three bathrooms, over three floors, and the big kitchen is perfect for all of us.

Referencing & Plagiarism

Referencing is probably the bane of every university student's life. I still don't really understand it. But there's pretty much no way around it, you will have to reference. Luckily for you I've figured out some tips & tricks to make those pages of sources a little easier to manage.

In any essay you write you must list the sources behind your ideas & quotes. You have to give credit to the original authors of these ideas in order to not get done for plagiarism (stealing their ideas). It's pretty scary to begin with actually, your university will probably put a lot of emphasis on how important it is to not plagiarise, and with good reason too. But don't be scared, referencing isn't quite as hard and confusing as it may seem when you have the internet on your side. 

Firstly, know your referencing system. There are a fair few and different universities & schools use different ones. The way in which you reference depends upon which system you are supposed to use. So it's pretty important that you know which style you are aiming for, you may even lose credit for using the wrong system. Being (basically) a joint honours student I had the lovely task of having to learn two different referencing systems - one for each school, so I learnt how to 'cheat' my way through pretty quickly.

Neil's toolbox is an online referencing generator which you can use to create bibliographies and references. Okay so you do still have to put in the hard work of finding all of the sources but you just have to enter the details about that source, such as the author's name or the book you got it from, into the Harvard Reference Generator, and it will produce the reference for you. Pretty handy if you're referencing lots of sources - it does, of course, only work if you are supposed to be using the Harvard system.

Another online referencing problem solver I found myself referring back to time & time again was the University of Leeds' library's guide to Harvard Referencing. This page lists all of the problems that you might come across whilst trying to reference, such as how to reference a DVD or what to do if there is more than two authors, and tells you how to rectify them. Again, this is probably only helpful if you are using the Harvard Referencing system - but I have had a look and they do seem to list other systems here, so you may find the one you are supposed to use.

The key thing to referencing is to make sure when you're researching for an essay that you keep hold of the information of that source, whether it be from a book or from a webpage. This will make it much easier to put in your references when you start writing your bibliography and save you desperately trying to figure out who said what.

Don't panic, universities put a lot of emphasis on plagiarism and whilst it is important it is also easy to avoid. Good luck & happy essay writing! xx

Break Ups

Something that I did find in the first few months of uni was that there were a lot of break ups. Distance, as well as a completely fresh start, took its toll on a lot of relationships. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't like everyone had split, but it was definitely something that I noticed. But luckily for all of you, if you are going through a break up, or you know people that are, I have the perfect advice and pointers which I've figured out from all of the struggles my friends and I experienced in our first year.

1. DONT GET MAD, OR EVEN. Sometimes when our feelings get hurt our first reaction is to act out and reciprocate that. Though I know the temptation out there is to hurt someone as much as they've hurt you, I've found that this just makes things much more messy. You may think that making them feel the same way they made you feel is a way to show them how wrong they've been, but what's more likely to happen is that you hurt yourself in the process and cause a whole lot of drama, which isn't needed.

2. DON'T TEXT THEM. Try to keep yourself busy, surround yourself with friends and give yourself less alone time than normal. This would be the perfect opportunity to join a new society or take up a new hobby. Instead of watching Netflix on your own, watch it with a flatmate. Being on your own gives you an excuse to over-think and dwell on things, it will lead to you not only feeling lonely but also over analysing everything, which will only drive you crazy. And whatever you do, don't contact them.

3. SOCIAL MEDIA WOES. To make it easier for yourself you may want to remove yourself from social media, or block/delete them from it. You don't want to end up posting cringey year 9-esque tweets about what could have been, and you don't want to find yourself being a creepy stalker. If it's rude to block or delete them just hide them from your newsfeed to prevent the temptation!

4. MATES BEFORE DATES. Friends are the perfect people to keep you happy, keep you distracted and to keep you from getting lonely. Don't rely on them, but make sure you that you keep them close. Ask them for advice if you need it, because they'll have your best interests at heart. Whether that's new university friends or your old friends from home.

5. STAY SOBER. Most freshers will be thinking I'm crazy telling you to not drink, but in my experience alcohol is likely to not help this situation. There is the temptation to go mad on a night out with your friends, but with alcohol being a depressant the likely outcome is that the night will end in tears. Tears, fighting or drunk dialling, all of which you want to avoid. Save yourself for a big night which you are really looking forward to, rather than just going out for the sake of it.

6. MORE FISH IN THE SEA. Ok, so it's probably a little bit early to start looking for someone else, but that doesn't mean that you can't check people out, right? After all, everyone moves at their own pace, and trust me, there will be a lot of eye-candy on campus. Enjoy single life, and the benefits it brings with it. Besides, now's the perfect time to get closer with that person from two blocks down that you were eyeing up the day you moved in. I'm not saying you have to find someone else straight away, but knowing that there are other great people out there is something that will help you to move on.

Finally, whilst there were lots of break ups there were an equal amount of new relationships or relationships that stayed strong. Don't think that because you're at University your relationship is doomed to fail, it's not the case at all.

Everyone is different, so even if something works for someone else it may not be the same case for you. If you do have any other good pieces of advice comment them below for people to read, and to everyone else, good luck! xx

(A big thanks to Jen for helping me edit this post and decide what to include!)