Check

Wow, it’s been over a week since I last posted. Things have started moving now. In my head I’ve made a check list of everything that needs sorting before September. The first thing is to get all the forms filled in. And believe me, there are a lot of forms. CRB forms, Health check forms, student finance forms. And within the next month, I believe there will be a lot of posting of copies of exam certificates and more ID stuff for the university. I am definitely going to be developing a highly sophisticated filing system*

Yesterday I went to view housing. My university offers accommodation for first year Undergrad and Postgrad students on any course except PGCE. I think it’s because the PGCE year runs on a slightly different timetable from the rest of the university. Anyway, I found a few properties through various websites; but after viewing I had such a weird decision to make. One house was social and friendly and clean; the other (I’ll call it ‘the flat’), was more isolated/self-contained, and more expensive. Here’s the dilemma:

     I’m moving to a city where I don’t yet know anyone, so in order to meet people I could live in a shared house with current Postgrad students (not PGCE-ers). It’s a social house, they cook and eat together, have summer BBQs, have mates around all the time. It’d be a great way to build a small base of people I know.
      However, I’ll be at uni/placement for most of the day and then doing prep work when I get home. I’ve already decided to take one day a week off, which I’ll use to explore the city, and things that interest me. So wherever I live, I’ll just be eating, sleeping and locked away preparing/studying.

I’ve opted for ‘the flat’. I think living in the social house will be awkward, just because I’m going to be treating accommodation more like a hotel than a home. I won’t really be mingling in the house. Plus, I’ll meet people through the course. On the downside, 'the flat' is up three flights of narrow stairs (no lift), so getting all my stuff up them will be interesting.

Since making my decision and signing on the dotted line (literally), I’ve been researching the area some more. Turns out ‘the flat’ is in the Cosmopolitan Quarter of the city. I am very excited to move there now. It is surrounded by bistros, local produce restaurants, bakeries. It’s a got a really good feel to it. But I guess I’ll just have to wait and see if it actually lives up to my expectations.

So: Accommodation? Check.

* This will, inevitably, involve colour coding.