The five types of housemates you might come across
Living with total strangers can be a weird and wonderful experience. Inevitably, you’ll all have different personalities, interests and lifestyles. Here are some of the types of flatmates you might encounter during your time in halls of residence:
The sporty one
Their kitchen cupboards are stocked with protein powder. They make querulous looking green smoothies for breakfast and keep count of their ‘macros’ and ‘micros’ (what does that even mean?!) They’re off to the gym even if they’ve been out till 4am the night before and are probably training for some form of marathon. Their sports club becomes their entire personality and they’re always chatting to you about their training, competitions and social events. They’re happy to answer any questions you might have and are always encouraging you to start a sport. They’re always friendly and enthusiastic, even if you don’t have a clue what they’re on about half of the time!
The clean freak
“It’s your turn to take the bins out”, or “did you leave dishes next to the sink?” Sound familiar? It’s safe to say these flatmates don’t have much chill. They won’t hesitate to call you out on the flat group chat and may even scold you in person! They insist on having a cleaning rota of who’s taking out the bins and doing the dishes. Admittedly, they are a bit unrealistic to expect uni kitchens to be the cleanest places in the world. They do have a point though – dealing with mess every so often prevents it building up and sharing tasks equally can prevent fallouts with your flatmates. These flatmates are also very good at reporting anything that need fixing and making sure everything is in order before the dreaded flat inspections!
The partygoer
Otherwise known as the nocturnal flatmate. They emerge in their pyjamas for ‘breakfast’ at 1pm, extremely hungover. They vow they’ll never go out again, yet somehow summon up the energy for ‘just a few drinks’ that night (we all know what that really means…) You hear them clattering through the door in the early hours of the morning most days. And the few times they don’t go out, they turn into amateur DJs, playing music for the whole night. They’re very sociable and nice to chat to, but you feel like you don’t know them very well because they keep strange hours. It just means on the occasions you do see them you’ve got a lot to catch up on! If you do fall out with them, here is some advice on what to do.
The fun, but useless flatmate
They’re a lovely person, but a total liability. They’ve set the fire alarm off several times and almost caused the whole place to burn down. They don’t really know how to cook, but give it a good go anyway. They might have a go-to-dish which they eat every night, such as pesto pasta. Either that or they’ve resorted to getting takeaways all the time. They totally forget to clean their rooms and take the bins out, although it’s not deliberate. They’ve either managed to shrink their clothes or dye them a different colour in an attempt to figure out Circuit Laundry. They’re often on the receiving end of flat jokes, but laugh it off. They have a happy-go-lucky personality and are really nice flatmates, but should remain supervised at all times!
The one who has their life together
They get up at a set time every day. They have a morning routine. They meal prep. They’re on top of their uni work. And they make it look easy. These are the flatmates who are basically already adults and have it all figured out. They are whizzes in the kitchen, always cooking up something which smells and looks amazing (and makes you feel guilty about getting your 3rd takeaway of the week). They are great in a crisis and know exactly how to help. On top of all this, they still find time to socialise and relax. They are what most people imagine the ideal student life to look like and resemble a lot of the ‘study with me’ or ‘day in the life of a student’ vlogs on YouTube. Just remember that someone’s life can look superficially perfect and be very different in reality, so check up on them every so often to make sure they’re alright!
Still deciding who to live with? Check out this blog.
Conclusion:
Prepare for your uni flat to be a totally mixed bag of people! Everyone is different, but certain people you know might fall loosely into some of these categories. You may have already encountered all of these types of flatmates, or some more than others. Each person definitely has their own quirks which you quickly discover when living together. However, these can be celebrated and laughed at, as long as you all figure out how to be good flatmates and live together in harmony.
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