Week 0: Moving and Settling In

Hello random readers! I may as well introduce myself considering this is the first post. There is a section somewhere on here with a few facts about myself but I can write more in here. I'm Vici Royle, I'm a Drama and Theatre Arts student at the University of Birmingham. I'm living a self catered flat Tennis Court (Centre Court, to be exact), which is part of the Vale student village. My family home is in Doncaster, near Sheffield, and I appear to be one of the very few northerners at the Uni. We're a rare breed. What else? As well as being clearly interested in theatre - acting, backstage stuff, theory and everything else to do with it - I like watching (not playing) ice hockey and I'm an utter Harry Potter nerd. In this here blog I'll be pretty much keeping track of what's going on in my life and how it feels to be a student living away from home (though my flat feels like a second home already) and facing up to proper adulthood.

And so onto the post! The week before moving to university was a bit hectic. I was sent a reading and equipment list which meant I had to buy two books (the complete works of William Shakespeare and a drama anthology) and some steel capped boots (the Drama course isn't just about acting, it also includes backstage work which includes building the set, props etc which requires safety equipment). I had a mini panic when I looked at the reading list because there were so many on the list. There were two must-haves, aforementioned, six 'essential reading' and a few more on general reading. I was advised that I didn't have to buy all of them and should just buy the must-haves and exploit the 2million+ volume library on campus. To buy all the essential and must-haves would've set me back over £100 so I was happy not to hand over so much money especially as being a student means this horrible thing called budgeting enters your life, which I will develop on later.

It took me two hours to drive to the university and I was still an hour early (I was allocated a time slot to move in). The atmosphere was incredible when I arrived. There was music blaring out of the TeCRA (Tennis Court Residents Association) office, a marquee to collect keys and Freshers Fest (I'll explain later) tickets as well as the internet CD and insurance. I'm in Block 21 which meant that I couldn't escape the blaring music (TeCRA office is just downstairs) but that didn't matter at all because it added to the excitement of moving in. Naturally I let my Mother sort out the kitchen stuff while I set up my PC and put my books away. The internet was very easy to set up and took only ten minutes and a restart. There were three options: free, £70 and expensive. I chose the free package and it's really good. I haven't yet tried to watch anything on the iPlayer or 4OD so that could be a good measure to see how awesome the internet is but I'm sure that won't be an issue at all.

My flatmates (there are six of us in my flat) arrived at staggered times with one arriving a day late because he couldn't make the allocated move in day, which wasn't a problem at all (though he did have to arrive before 8.30 to get his keys whereas my move in time was 12.30 - 13.30). There was a welcome meeting the whole of Tennis Court at 2.30pm so we had enough time to organise the important things in our rooms and the kitchen, to remember names and sit around in the lounge to chat. We all agree that we were really lucky with flatmates because we already feel like we've known each other for ages and act like a family. If there are any problems (cleaning, for example) then there's never an argument because we all understand that we have to look out for each other and make sure we're all happy to live together. We get along really well, too, so that helps. There are already a few in-jokes and lots of funny stories.

The girls and I made a few friends on the way to the welcome meeting who, we found out, were living in the block right next to us, so we've seen them alot all week. We actually class one of them as the extra flatmate because he spends so much time in our flat. It was really easy to make friends with random people here because most people are very social and like to knock on random doors to say hello and get to know everyone. Danny, one of my flatmates, has a mission to get to know the name of everyone in centre court by the end of the year. He's already off to a flying start.

After we all settled in on Sunday, we went down to Bar One at the Hub in the Vale for a drink. Unfortunately the frivolities were cut short when there was a fire alarm and we were all evacuated. We all went back to the flat to play a few card games and make the most of the first night, regardless.

Monday was the start of the Freshers Fest. This is a university organised festival that includes nights out almost every day of the week (not compulsory) as well as vouchers for one free admission at the cinema, one free game of bowling and one free comedy night at Jongleurs. There were various levels of the pack depending on what the individual wants to get involved in. I bought the Silver Package which included all the nights in FF as well as Calvin Harris for next Friday and the Freshers Ball, which was last night. The Gold Package also includes N-Dubz. The prices ranged from cheap to expensive. The most expensive (gold) was £65 plus postage/booking fee and the cheapest was just a Freshers Ball ticket at £20 plus postage/booking fee. There's also a comedy night with an actor from The Inbetweeners for £7. You could buy individual tickets for Calvin Harris, N-Dubz and the Freshers Ball if you so wished to. That was mainly for people who missed out on buying them online before arriving at University.

Wednesday wasn't a particularly nice start, for me, because I had to wake up at 7am after a late night to make sure I was down at the Selly Oak campus for 10am, it being a 45 minute walk away. The reason for this was an introduction lecture to the course. There was a Facebook group already set up for the people doing Drama at Birmingham so I posted a notice to say that anyone who wanted to walk down together should meet in the Centre Court courtyard. About ten people turned up, a few from other halls but mostly TC. We had a lovely walk down to the Selly Oak campus, together, chatting breeze on the way. After the introduction to all the staff and the basic structure of the course, we were given the name of our Personal Tutor and had a meeting with them where we were given our timetable. We had to work out which slots were ours because there were various groups. I have Thursday off, which is nice. I doubt I'll actually have it off compeltely though because I've been advised that for every hour of contact (a lecture, a seminar etc) I have to do five hours of reading. I have about eight hours, at a guess, of contact, per week.

This morning my student finance information arrived in the post (which was delivered directly to my flat) so I could embrace the lovely task of budgeting. I chose to organise a weekly budget. I'm getting the full tuition fee loan, which I won't see because it is paid directly to the University, the full maintenance loan (income assessed) and a non-repayable grant which means I'll be surviving on £80 a week, which is very comfortable. As well as that funding, I'll be getting two bursaries from the University which are paid in two installments in January and May, I believe. I'll comment on them when I get them because they're irrelevant at the moment. With the budget I'll be able to do a limited weekly shop, save some money for laundry (£2.20 for a wash, £1 for the dryer), have a few notes for entertainment and perhaps save some money for summer or birthdays/Christmas.

And with that I'm off to make myself some dinner and hang out with the flatmates who have arrived back from wherever they escaped to. I should be updating this blog once a week with the happenings of Birmingham so do come back every Saturday or Sunday to see what's going on in Flat 135.