Being Stressed At University

Living in close proximity with other students for long periods of time provided its challenges.

At the end of October, beginning of November I was feeling overwhelmed with the amount of projects that were due in. How could so much be achieved in such a small amount of time with each deadline really close to each other.

This, amongst the lack of sleep I was having due to the noisiness in halls was starting to affect my coursework. It was only when I started to fall asleep in lectures and seminars did I realise I had to do something.

After discussing it with my parents, we agreed I would spend one night a week and the weekends at our flat in Southampton, which is only a short way away from the halls and the university.

During these nights, I was able to rest, catch up on my sleep, assignments and projects with the lowest amount of distractions possible.

Once this was decided we spoke to both my PA/carer and morning carer about the plan and then with further discussions my carer who only came in on mornings would now do the one night in the week when I stayed at the flat.

This would give my PA/carer some time off so she could spend time with her own family and rest. This would beneficial to both of us.

When I started staying at the flat, I started to feel better in myself and this showed in my work and concentration at university.

Though the nights in halls didn’t improve I felt I managed them better as I knew I had the night at the flat to look forward to which broke up the week.

I shared  both males and females sharing, so I hoped there wouldn’t be much bitchiness. But I was wrong.

Comments began to be made, they gradually became more poignant. Living on top of each other is bound to cause some arguments, unfortunately this happened to us.

Disagreements started off about the usage of food (cheese is very important!). Squabbles over who paid or who hadn’t paid for things or who hadn’t contributed to cleaning the communal areas.  Some people may find this a trivial matter but it is understandable and irritating when it keeps happening.

This soon progressed to snide comments about what people are saying to each other, which made situations worse. Then came more snide comments and opinions about other people and their choices whilst at university.

Some seemed more concerned with what others were doing in the flat and others relationships, when it wasn’t their business. At first the comments and opinions could be taken as friends being worried and purely taking an interest, however, it became more frequent and nasty.

This entire disagreement was going on, whilst I was being kept in my room for “protection” by my PA/carer. It’s not surprising that people started biting back by bringing up reckless and impulsive decisions that the other party had made.

The situation in the halls became quite nasty and divided people leading to more tension, not only with the girls involved but also with the other members of the flat.

With tensions running high and with coursework and projects mounting, there were a lot of emotional outbursts that emanated from different people in the halls that sadly started to affect the relationship that I had with my PA/carer.