When I arrived just before 9:30am it was raining so hard. There were already people waiting in line inside a nearby building, soaked through. I saw a board saying "Accommodation" next to the queue so I assumed that I should wait in line. It wasn't that long, maybe about 20 people.
However, within the space of around ten minutes, that grew to around 50. With the space of 20 minutes, that grew to 100.
In this time, the guy who had so eagerly welcomed us all at the open day a few months ago wasn't so welcoming this time. He seemed frustrated and impatient with everyone which annoyed me, considering it was his responsibility to make sure we all got accommodation as the University could not offer me any. It was his responsibility to make sure we know what other options we had available.
He asked everyone if he could have people's attention around 9:40am and he said that at Chester's sister campus, Warrington, there were available beds there. He said that we could go and look at them and be allocated a bed there and commute from Warrington to Chester and then when a room became available at Chester campus, we'd move back. He said that if anyone was interested in doing that, make their way over to the two students waiting to talk to people about it.
This sounded like a great idea and I wanted to enquire further about it. However, I was already in the queue for private accommodation and I was unsure whether I should leave the queue and speak to them. The queue was now huge and I was almost at the front, but I knew that if I left the Warrington idea then maybe the rooms will get filled. I decided to chance it and left the queue to find out more.
The two students told me more. I only had one real question and that was how far away is Warrington campus from Chester. She said 40 minutes via minibus. Fuck that.
That pretty much ruled out me living at Warrington campus for a few months. I'm not travelling 40 minutes to Uni every morning and having to have a set time to come back. I want to live either on campus or nearby. I thanked them for their help and said I'd look in the private sector instead. I return to the end of the queue, which was now out the door. Ugh.
During all of this queuing, it was obvious that no one actually had that much of an idea why they were queueing. Neither did I. I didn't know what was at the beginning of it. I didn't know how this would help me find somewhere to live. How strange that people just instinctively start queuing even if they don't know what it's for?
It took a good 40-50 minutes to discover what exactly was at the end of this queue and all it was was an updated list of private sector accommodation. That's it. There was also a student on hand to answer any questions, but that really was it. If I just wanted to go look at the accommodation, all I had to do was pick up a map and go. I had no need to wait! Ugh.
During waiting, a landlady started talking to some of the queue saying she had three rooms available to anyone who wanted them. I said I was interested and put my name down to go and view it at 11am.
By now it was around 10:20am. Around 8 people stood in front of me. The frustrated/impatient guy returned again and started talking to someone in front of me. I listened in to what he had to say, since the information he was giving was actually useful, yet he wasn't telling the whole group of 100+ people.
The guy he was talking to was queueing up for his daughter and wanted to know what the two options besides the private sector were. There was the Warrington campus option and the temporary room option. I was under the assumption that the temporary room option was for people who wanted to live in shared accommodation for a few weeks just to make friends and get a feel for the Uni. I was only partially right.
The guy said that these rooms were large rooms, designed to hold two people. These rooms would be temporary until they could find single room accommodation for each of the people living in them. He said that finding a room would take about 4-6 weeks. This sounded like a great idea. I wanted to find out more.
Thankfully and finally, a woman came along with copies of the map and a list of properties. I took one and left the queue for a second time and began queuing up in the temporary accommodation queue instead. This queue had been pretty empty all morning and I could have just gone in it at any time had that guy just explained things better. I mean, there wasn't even any information on the board at the start of the queue, just "Accommodation" in large letters with an arrow pointing to the queue. It would have been much easier if someone had just written it on the board.
By the time I got to the front of the temporary accommodation queue, it was just past 11am. I had been keeping an eye on the time because I had wanted to go and see that house that the landlady had been talking about.
It was my turn to inquire. I invited the people standing behind me to sit down with me, since the guy behind the desk was only going to tell them the same information and I'm sure they were just as tired of queuing as I was.
To put it simply, this is what temporary accommodation entails:
Two people in one bedroom
�10.50 per night (�75 a week)
Free breakfast, lunch and dinner
Move into single accommodation within 4-6 weeks
I was up for that.
I will happily sacrifice my privacy for two months if it means I get to live on campus for the rest of the year in my own room.
�10.50 is pretty expensive though for a shared room, don't you think? And they're hardly 'free' meals when you're paying �75 a week. However, I don't mind too much.
The guy said that single rooms will be allocated by drawing names randomly so it's fair. I asked how many shared rooms are there. He said 26. So, that's 52 people who need single rooms. 52 people who will be randomly ordered and selected. Please please don't let me be number 52. Anywhere in the top ten would be great.
He said he'd send me more details about it on Monday.
With my accommodation apparantly suddenly sorted at least for the next two months, it wasn't worth going to view any properties. I couldn't sign up for any if I'm going to have a place at Uni. I just hope that at the end of the two months, they DO actually have a room for me and they're not going to say "Oh sorry, no room, you have to go get one in the private sector now" at which point all rooms will be taken and I'll have a fucking hard time finding one.
I'm trying hard to look at the positives of sharing a bedroom with someone. For one, it'll give me a chance (albeit a forced one) to make a new friend. Someone to talk to. Someone who is in the same situation as me and someone who is getting to know the Uni at the same pace as I am. It may turn out to be a great thing.
The downside is, as I say, the loss of privacy. I mean just little things like getting undressed or using the computer late at night when the other person might want to sleep. You know, things like that. You can't really do what you want when you've got someone sleeping a few metres away from you. And yes, I'm thinking about masturbation too!
As I said though, I am willing to deal with it if at the end of it I have a room. It'll be worth it. Hopefully.
By the time I had finished talking to the guy at the desk, it was about 11:20am and I headed off the campus to go back to the station. It was raining so so hard and I was very wet. I thought if I just carried on walking up the road, I could hail a cab to take me to the station but no cabs were about. I could only just about see out of my glasses too.
I had never been to Chester via the train so even though I was now walking back to it in its general direction, I wasn't really sure where I was going.
I called Hannah as I was walking. I wanted to see if she would like me to stop at her station so we could meet up for a bit. I have to go past her station anyway and she only lives a two minute walk away. Unfortunately, she said no because she was in her sister's house which is miles away. I was disappointed, but not too much.
I got lost twice. I had to ask people for directions. After about 25 minutes of walking, I found the station. To put that in perspective, it only took five minutes to get to the Uni in a cab.
I suppose it was a bit of wet sightseeing.
Just before the train arrived, I decided to buy some "instant hot chocolate" from a vending machine. Not the type where it gets poured into a plastic cup, but I assumed one where you shake it and it heats up. I was curious to see how it works more than anything. �1.40 it cost, which is pretty expensive for a drink!
I got it out of the bottom of the machine and realised it was awfully light for something that supposedly contained liquid. As I sat down on the train and opened it up, I found no sign of water or hot chocolate, but powder. Chocolate powder. And that's it. Two or three teaspoons of chocolate powder in the bottom of a plastic cup.
I had just paid �1.40 for this. What the fuck?
WHO in their right mind would want to buy this? I bought it because it said "Instant Hot Chocolate". I had assumed that meant it was just that - instant. As in nothing else needed. I mean you're buying it out of a vending machine. Where the HELL are you going to get water and a kettle from!
What a waste of money. I'm going to email Nestle (the producers of it) and ask what the hell where they thinking when they approved this.
After a 40 minute journey on the train, I arrived back in Kirkby. I decided to walk into the town centre and buy some needed shopping and then I went home where I decided to sleep for a few hours.
So, that was my day in Chester. A very short day, actually. Much shorter than I had expected and a much different result than I had expected. I went searching for a house to live in, but now I'm in line for a shared room with someone and possibly a single room on campus.
The next two months are going to be...difficult.
