Why housing at Uni is a nightmare

University is meant to be really fun, right? Right! There's the legal drinking (and smoking if you succumb to nicotine like a cat on catnip), the clubbing, the great new friends and the absolute independance that comes from leaving the parents safely tucked away at home.

What they forget to tell you about are the bad bits. Trying to get up for 9am lectures, the sheer mountain of extra work (ok, sometimes it's a mountain, especially if you leave it to the last minute)and the housing.

My housing, in particular has indeed been a nightmare. When I first went to uni, I decided it would be much more cost effective if I stayed (with my sister) in my mum's friend's house. This was possibly the worst decision I have ever made. Not only was the woman a control freak who liked her house to look like it hadn't been lived in and us to do all the hard work, but it was at least a 20 minute bus journey away from the town centre, where the Uni (and any glimpse of a social life) is.

Next were the halls. They at least were a step up from the constricting world of the suburbs. However, sharing your kitchen with nine other (mostly) disgusting human beings who don't bother to wash up made me almost want to move back. And the noise. If I had a driving lesson in the morning, you could guarantee I would be knackered for it.

The guy next door playing his music till 11, sometimes 12. The drunken people loudly echoing the most annoying sound in existence (the traffic lights right outside my window). Oh, and not forgetting the girl down the corridor with the HUGEST mouth I have ever heard coming in after a night out. Thank god that year is over.

This coming year I am sharing a house with a truly great girl, her male friend and her boyfriend. Believe me, it will be so, so good. The only thing is sorting out the house in the first place!

I never knew true independance would be so hard, not only on your mind but on your money as well. In one meeting, I gave over £300, which seriously dented my finances. I won't even be in the place though the summer and yet I will be paying the monthly rent (with much remorse on the waste of good money). And then there are the meetings, luckily not too hard on my poor brain, where I get confused over how to split the bills and how much money I'll be needing.

So yes, housing at Uni is a nightmare, but hopefully there's a light at the end of the tunnel. At least next time I try for a house, I'll know exactly what I'm doing.