Everything you learn when you move into your new student house ‘just off Winton highstreet’

The transition of becoming a fully fledged adult comes in full force when you move into a student house. If you think being in first year means that you’re all grown up – you are so wrong.

You don’t know how to go about getting wifi for the house, you don’t know how to pay your gas and leccy bills (or what a meter reading is for that matter), and you have no idea how much you’ll miss how close halls is to town.

Here’s a few things that us non freshers are faced with when we wave goodbye to Landsdowne.

The bedroom issue

First year was a breeze, everyone had the same the room with the exact same dimensions and granny curtains *cough* Purbeck *cough*. But second year comes with the problem of designating who gets what room, what size bed, and whether it’s upstairs or down. The best way to do it is names in a hat – so no one can complain if they don’t get the room they wanted. But there will be one housemate that's fuming they didn't get the huge double bedroom upstairs.

Adapting to the freezing cold

In order to save on bills, heating becomes a luxury that’s only switched on when everyone is the same shade of blue as the More Buses. Your dressing gown is your best friend and is best paired with three or more jumpers underneath – you should probably invest in a hot water bottle and a good pair of slippers too.

Your oh-so-friendly estate agents and landlord aren’t so friendly anymore

When you get given your inventory the most important thing to do is go around the house and take note of every single scratch/mark/stain/crack you can find. If the handle on your drawers is wobbly, write it down, if your toilet runs longer than it should, make a note of it. Put all of these into an email to your landlord and estate agent, because if you don’t -you’ll be charged for it. I learnt the hard way, £220 short of my full deposit.

Your house isn’t actually as close to uni as you remember

When the estate agents were showing you around house to house in their car uni felt like it was literally next door. You’ll soon realise it’s at least a 20 minute walk, unless you’re one of the extremely fortunate people to have nabbed a house on Talbot Road. Getting the bus will start to add up (you don’t have that beloved bus pass anymore), so walking is your only option. At least walking helps your Cameo hangover.

And freshers- if you haven’t already, start looking at houses before the best ones are taken. For now though, enjoy the rest of first year while you can. Lap up the privilege of having all of Bournemouth on your doorstep and a hassle-free tenancy in halls. It'll be over before you know it.