Class of 2015: Your best (and worst) memories of Elms Village

Summer is half finished. You’ve spent your time stumbling around Europe with a backpack which weighs more than you do and a sense of freedom which only comes from surviving off only McDonald’s for a month. You remember your first year fondly: the twenty minute pilgrimage to class from your room in torrential rain, the heartbreak when you realise you’ve locked yourself, out, those showers.

It’s easy to complain about the Village, the security team, the location, but really, it gave you some of your most memorable freshers highs and lows. So as you start preparing for the onslaught of next year’s tributes, reminisce fondly with the highlights from some of this year’s Elms’ residents.

Sycamore 10 resident Phil Taylor recalls his time in Elms as being an eye-opening experience. He said: “My year was a mixture of terrible cooking, big decisions and a non-existent sleep pattern. I’ve got so many memories from my time there, some a little hazier than others, but I wouldn’t change a thing.

“The first few nights are probably up there with my favourite moments, especially the pub crawl. It was the first week in halls and understandably awkward between us all. Until the alcohol started. Four pubs in and we were forced to abandon proceedings at 11.30 to carry my flatmate home, but we were all too drunk to get back into Elms so had to sleep in reception on the sofas.”

It may have quietened down after the initial Freshers Week hype, but Elms still provided us with enough drama to warrant a visit to the Treehouse for a de-briefing over free tea. Whether it was the discovery of the table bucket list, weekly renditions of Sex on Fire along Ash Avenue at 3am, and the naked sprint to reception by one Elms resident who later returned wearing a bin bag, there was enough to cheer up even the most sleep-deprived medic.

Cheeky

The infamous Rowan bucket list

Even for those who didn’t live in the exclusive village, the lure of alcohol and heating could tempt even the most hardened of Holylands veterans back to Elms for a night. Cailean Dolan, regularly made the pilgrimage back to Elms to escape from the hills of Stranmillis.

He said: “I ended up spending huge amounts of time around Elm’s despite living in the real world, whether it was due to pre-drinking with fellow students for the fourth time in a short week or getting thrashed in a pool game in the treehouse, to stumbling across a male stripper celebrating someone’s birthday in their kitchen (photographic evidence of this event is particularly hard to come by).

“Obviously there is a risk of ending up on a floor of sociopaths or recluses, but the majority of the buildings seemed to remain friendly despite the minor disasters of having twelve labelled milks to floor incest. Rest assured, if you go to Elms, you’re sure to find a group of people who still appreciate you when you’re drunk and recreating the dance moves from the Lean On video. Yet again.”

Before

During

After

Ellie Worsfold, a History fresher living in Oak 5, says the mystical Village is more than pre-drinks and having to sneak people in: “I lived with someone who left their door unlocked while he was away. My friend had her room covered in pasta and a sofa moved into her shower when she did that, so I knew I had to do something original to take advantage of the situation. Obviously the ideas of moving everything out of his room or filling his room with cups of water were considered, but we decided a Nicholas Cage photo treasure hunt wouldn’t leave him sleeping in the corridors.”

With Elms made up of over fourty houses and catering for all walks of life, it’s not hard to find a group you can spend all day recovering with. Ash 1’s Anish Tandon says: “My flat was quiet living so I spent a lot of my time with my friends in their kitchens. There are some parts of my time in Elms which are a bit hazy, probably to do with the challenges of downing a bottle of Sourz in one sitting or a pint of Guinness in five seconds. Some of the best times I had in Elms involved just sitting in the kitchens talking shite with a big group of people. We’d take advantage of people leaving their rooms unlocked, I’m still waiting for my friend to get me back after the last time I destroyed his room.”

Anish says holiday milestones are some of the most important parts of life in Elms: “We had a big thing for St Patrick’s Day with lots of beer pong and it all got a bit much for one of my mates who passed out at midday. We did start drinking from breakfast, so having mac & cheese with a Carlsberg for breakfast must have just been too much for him.”

Elms Village is seen as a passage from your teenage life to adulthood, combining over two thousand teenagers in one place for the best nine months of their lives. Daniel Duddy, a biomedical sciences first year living in Ash 6, considers his decision to live in halls rather than in a privately rented property as one of the best decisions he’s ever made. He says: “My flat always had people in from all the different houses which is something I’ll really miss next year, it won’t be the same as being able to walk into the kitchen and find so many people there! It’s amazing how many people you can fit in those kitchens. Ours got a little trashed a few times, with a huge penis on the ceiling and rooms being wrecked if they were left unlocked, but I can’t recommend Elms enough as a way to start off your university career.”

Namaste

We’ll be seeing you Elms.