Nine things only Northerners at Bristol Uni can relate to

News flash: Tea can be a drink AND a meal

3 years ago

Bristol is a city so far away from the North that not many of us Northerners tend to dust off our mining boots and make the treacherous journey on those run-down Northern Rail trains down south for university.

Inevitably, those who do will face a particular kind of culture shock that stays with you all the way through your degree. Especially having to accept the fact that Southerners never eat “tea”, only “dinner”.

Whilst I won’t deny I love Bristol and all my Southern friends, there are so things Southerners will just never understand, no matter how much they try.

1. The Language Barrier

The amount of times I’ve asked my housemates to turn the big light on for them to look at me with a blank stare as if I’m crazy, when the big light is obviously the main light in the living room! Tea is another highly contested word, it can be both a drink AND a meal.

2. A constant identity crisis every time you go back and forth between home and uni

At home I’m told I’ve become far too posh, but when I go back to uni people can’t stop commenting on how unique my Northern accent is. The style is very different too. Skinny jeans haven’t been seen anywhere on campus for the past five years, and so any Depop finds often get a few stares back home.

3. People saying that the furthest up north that they have been is Birmingham

Just because it’s a few hours’ drive away up north from Surrey does not mean it’s in the North. It’s not a case of not having been to the North that disturbs me, but rather the fact that I have been put into the same category as a city like Birmingham (which is in the Midlands).

4. People taking their coats with them on a night out

This was the thing that shocked me the most when I first got to Bristol, the fact that if its colder than 10 degrees on a night out, it’s time to get the North Face out.

Back home you would just always have to drink so much that you didn’t feel the temperature anymore, which probably explains why Northerners tend to handle their drink better too.

5. People saying that it is rougher up North or not as nice

The North obviously has some pretty bad stereotypes from TV and films, but it’s not all like it has been described in Billy Elliot. Contrary to what some may believe (and trust me, I’ve been asked some pretty unbelievable questions), we don’t all live in mining pits, and just like the South, most of it is actually really nice.

6. Finding common ground with every Northerner that you meet

It’s always a bit of a novelty meeting someone who’s also from the same part of the country as you, but nothing gets Northerners going quite like finding someone else who they can complain about the extortionate price of a pint and share their sarcastic humour with.

7. People not understanding why you would leave the North in the first place

When I first left to Bristol my family bought me an Angel of the North tea-towel, despite the fact that I was quite clearly not going to Newcastle Uni.

Maybe it was so that I didn’t forget my Northern roots, or maybe it was to taunt me every time I spent £8.50 on a double on a night out at what could have been. Either way, you tend to get some funny reactions as people don’t understand why you’d ever want to leave.

8. Rugby is so much more popular than football

In the North, supporting rugby over football is far more popular if you’re posh. However, in Bristol everyone loves rugby and to be honest, if the Six Nations is another excuse to go to the pub, then I’m not complaining.

9. Northern Society

The Northern Society wouldn’t be acceptable for any other part of the country. Imagine a Western society, or dare I say it a Surrey society for example, it just doesn’t work.

But us Northerners stick together and what could be better than Northern socials created purely with the purpose of celebrating the way we pronounce words like bath and grass.