Tips for Living with Flatmates
Many people foolishly go into university believing that their flatmates are going to be their best friends or soulmates but that is rarely the case. Whether it’s undergraduates matching with doctoral students, international students with masters students, or any of the other varieties of student there are, people don’t all grow up the same and many of them have different ways of living that would shock you. Some classic surprises include the noise, smell, appearance, and attitude of others. You may be lucky and get into a flat with that perfect group of kind, considerate, but still interesting friends, however these are a few ways of being able to cope if worse comes to worse.
Politeness
Simple yet so readily ignored. If someone is annoying they aren’t going to become less annoying if you start annoying them. Granted, don’t let them walk all over you because then they may continue to be annoying but this time more intensely so; but remember that they may have issues, whether mental or physical, that can limit their ability to behave in a way you would consider to be normal. Empathize before you hate, and even if they are just horrible people, feel sorry for their parents and friends that have to put up with them; it’s a better idea than causing an issue you will have to deal with for the rest of the year.
Create a Rota
Usually the university will help you with a kind of basic rota system that can help students know which day is their day to throw out the rubbish and clean the kitchen. Routinely, with the worst of humanity this rota gets ignored. Thankfully there are many ways of reporting that individual for negligence via the hall’s staff that will be milling around at an office somewhere in the building. I would say this is the one valid reason to snitch on some lazy moron not bothering to do his part in keeping the flat clean. Also if you have someone like this I’d recommend keeping your food supplies in your room, at least the valuable things that are likely to be used without you knowing (ketchup, salt, soy sauce).
Discuss Issues
The most easy way of solving an issue is having the guts to talk to the person about it. It may be difficult and awkward and they may not understand or might blame someone else but as long as you’ve gotten it out in the open if they are any sort of good person they will take that on board and try to improve. If that is too difficult for you then call a group meeting and refer to what you are annoyed about without pointing any fingers at anyone, act disappointed not annoyed, as people take on negative emotions better when it is seen to affect you poorly in a way in which they will feel bad about. Yelling, arguing, and being angry are sure fire ways to make sure that they will never care about your feelings enough for them to change how they are behaving, and that may seem a little annoying that you have to be on their good side for them to actually change their ways but that is the best option you have from the get go.
Don’t Worry
It’s only one year, the time flies by and you’ll soon realise that those problems were in the past. In second year many people choose to move into a house or flat with the friends they have made in their flat, society, or course so there are usually a better group of people you will be able to move in with next year. Of Course if you have to go back into halls that will mean you will go back into the lottery of flatmates but you may come out of it a lot better than you did before, if anything having bad flatmates are a great way for you to grow your own personality, at least for the short amount of time that you will be having to deal with them for.
