Seven things to look forward to if you’re an Edi student moving from the countryside

Noise being the main shock to the system


Unlike all you London city-slickers (I’m looking at you, Russell Group uni attendees), some of us haven’t had the world on our doorstep in our years before uni – living in a rural county is hard! Us country mice have to start off somewhere – the big wide world can be overwhelming – so I’ve put together a list of things to look forward to when you pack your bags for the big smoke.

1.Uber

I never knew happiness until I downloaded the Uber app. The idea of simply clicking a few buttons and getting quickly taken to wherever you like is mindblowing and overwhelming at first, but can become addictive (so beware). Say goodbye to the days of waiting an hour for a village bus, and hello to ultimate laziness when it’s raining, or when you’re drunk and can’t be bothered to walk home – but surely this is the exact purpose of Uber?

2. Deliveroo/Uber Eats

Jumping on the Uber train is any and all food delivery services. Any country bumpkin will know that options are limited when you’re out in the sticks – if you’re lucky, you’ll have an Indian or Chinese takeaway that delivers to your postcode, or worst case scenario, you’re driving half an hour for a Maccies or cheeky korma. There’s no ‘ooh I don’t fancy cooking tonight’ when you live in the middle of nowhere – every takeaway is meticulously planned and organized to a T, otherwise, it’ll be beans on toast for dinner.  So if you’re moving to a big city uni, look forward to the hungover takeaways as a key stable of uni culture.

3. Clubs!

The big one – debatably what uni is all about…nightlife. Now, this is not to say that people from the countryside don’t go clubbing, but rarely is there an actual choice between what club to go to. Typically its either the one club in your nearest large town or maybe even a city if you’re lucky (the characterisation of ‘city’ is very loose, just because it has a cathedral does not mean there is anything interesting to do there), and even then it’s likely expensive, far away and generally rubbish.

Breaking news though, it is actually possible for more than one club to exist in a city or town, and at uni, you will probably get an actual choice of where to go – huzzah! Finally, you won’t be forced to listen to the same ‘cheesy tunes’ playlist every Saturday or end up stuck sitting next to a racist old man at the pub.

4. Being able to walk/use public transport 

Walking is actually one of the quite nice things about country living, but often it does not get you anywhere useful, plus walking through fields to get to a shop can become mind-numbingly boring. When you’re living in a uni town/city however you can actually walk to and from interesting and cool places without having to wear a pair of wellies! Think of the possibilities – cinemas, pubs, restaurants, shops, and maybe even the uni library (that might be a bit of a stretch). Even just getting the bus in a city is better – you don’t have to wait in a manky old bus shelter that was probably built in the 1940s for a bus that comes once every 2 hours – big win.

5. Shops

Gone are the days of having to shop exclusively at charity shops and the nearest Topshop or Primark (and by nearest, I mean within an hour’s drive) – say hello to shopping centres, ASOS delivery, and a plethora of options to buy clothes, shoes, and furniture from. Actually diverse sizing and style options? Yes please.

Shoutout to the industrial revolution – you may have destroyed rural communities but at least I have multiple options when I’m trying to find a mass-produced fast-fashion neon mesh crop top to wear to a Wednesday sports club night!

6. Diversity

Now, this does depend on which city you end up in, but for the most part, cities tend to be more diverse in race, opinion, culture, and class than villages. Look forward to meeting like-minded people, and enjoy feeling significantly less judgment when you say something ‘woke’ at the pub. Even meeting people that have diverse taste in music and fashion is something to be grateful for – the world is your catwalk, and that catwalk is no longer just the longest aisle at your local big Tesco.

7. Airports

Rouge one but trust me, you will be grateful for this if you live far from an airport – when the Ryanair sale starts and your flatmate asks you if you want to go to Paris for the weekend for £19.99 you will especially be grateful – not only will your flights be cheap, but you probably won’t have to book a taxi a week in advance or ask your dad to really nicely please please drive you two hours to an airport. Going on cheap holidays has never been so easy, and when your friends start going on years abroad you’ll especially be happy about this. Certainly beats the chaos of a family holiday where you have to drive 4 hours to even get on a plane.

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