Here are all the struggles of being a Cov local and a Cov student

Coventry: The home of Lady Godiva, a pretty big cathedral and a top 15 ranked uni. Let’s not forget to mention… locals.

Most of you will remember the first day you moved into your flat in halls, you were still an unsuspecting child compared to the adult-ish person you are now. You were moving to a new city and you were ready to take Cov by the horns. But some of us never experienced that move. Weird huh?

Every Coventry kid at Cov Uni has been confronted about our hometown more than we care to admit and I’m here to give you the lowdown on what that struggle is really like:

So where are you from then?

This question will fill us with dread every time we meet somebody new, nearly always in smokers at Kasbah. It gets worse the longer you’ve been at uni too.

I can tell you from personal experience that when you say you’re from Coventry you’ll be greeted with a strange look, half bemusement half disgust, and nine times out of 10 they’ll tell you: “You don’t seem like you’re from Coventry though”. To be honest I don’t really know what that should mean.

Another side to this question is being told: “You don’t sound like you’re from Cov”. I cannot provide you with any other answer than "??????"

How am I supposed to sound? We don’t really have much of an accent, please stop expecting us to sound like we’re from Birmingham. Entirely different place mate.

The headband really brought Quids to life that night

Why didn’t you move away for uni

Do you people really think we haven’t thought it through? Like: "Oh shit, thanks random guy from smokers I met three minutes ago, I hadn't even considered that I could have gone to a uni outside of my hometown."

Look, Coventry is ranked 13th in the Guardian University guide (we don't talk about the other league tables, shhh). That's pretty good for a former poly, and it's constantly improving. We chose to come here for the exact same reasons you did, a Coventry University degree holds good value.

Living at home means we don’t have to pay rent, do our washing or cook dinner every night. Plus, you can spend your student loan at the Earl of Mercia knowing you're actually spending the loan instead your overdraft. It’s the one thing that isn’t a ‘struggle’ as such, until your mum begins to supervise how much you've been going out and how little of your coursework you've written. That's no fun at all.

Rent money? What rent money?

You’re either Northern or Southern, the Midlands doesn’t exist

Guess what ladies and gentlemen, Coventry is slap bang in the middle of the country, literally. We are midlanders through and through and we are neither from up north or down south, we’re just happy we can get a train to London within an hour and Birmingham International Airport has cheap flight deals. Sheffield is up north, London is down south, and we were not born anywhere near either one. We are midlanders and we exist.

Spot the Midlander lol

Term time vs Holidays

Literally the biggest emotional dilemma ever experienced. You love your uni friends to the ends of the earth, and the exact same goes for your friends from home, so why do you hate it so much when term finishes and everyone goes.

You legit feel guilty when you go to the local spoons at Christmas with mates and think: “I wish my favourite course mate was still here”. Summer at uni is so great having all that time away from deadlines and lectures but goddammit why do you all go for so long, it’s boring without you!

Only students who are also locals realise just how many of us students there actually are. Gosford Street is basically empty between June and September, no word of a lie.

Feel like pure shit just want my gals back x

You attend the two same clubs all year round

It's as boring as it sounds, Empire legit doesn’t exist as soon as term finishes and BOOM Tuesdays are a thing of the past during the holidays. Meaning the only consistent club nights are Colly (what is really called) Mondays and a standard Friday night, and last summer there wasn’t even that because Kasbah had a refurb. Thank goodness for JJ's.

So that feeling everyone else gets when they can’t wait to go to their fave hometown club isn’t shared by any Coventry born student. We live and breathe for the nights when someone actually wants to trek out to Birmingham.

All in all, being a student in Coventry after having already lived here isn't quite so bad, in fact I probably have way more free time not getting lost constantly and knowing all the inside hacks to living cheaply (Ivy House on a Monday is so cost effective). However I do really really envy that I don't get to live with my friends, and all the joy that brings. The grass is always greener, I guess.