The first post will focus on making your university room feel homely and adding your personal touches to it!
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So here it is, my beautiful university room shortly after moving in last September (if only it had stayed this pristine all year!)
The basic furniture, desk chair, desk lamp and bin were provided in my room but the rest I gathered together over the course of my gap year! :)
The big patchwork blanket you can see on my bed was something that I did not plan on taking as it was a surprise that was given to me by friends and family members (who had each knitted a square and then my mum and aunty lovingly sewed them all together) but it turned into one of my most precious items and was a great talking point for when I invited friends round to my room for the first time :) So if you can get your hands on (or make!) a quilt/blanket to cover your bed then I would definitely recommend it!
The cushions proved themselves to be invaluable as they meant that I could turn my bed into a sofa when friends came round to watch a DVD or study as my bed backed against a wall.
Another thing I was pleased I had taken was the zebra canvas, as although I couldn't hang it on the walls, it rested nicely against the wall and filled up some of the vast blank white space I was presented with on move in day! My birdcage bedside lamp also provided a nice alternative to the harsh main lights that my room had which frequently gave me headaches and the alarm clock was extremely useful (especially for 9am lectures!) On my bedside table I also kept one of my favourite photographs of me and boyfriend.
The rug made my room feel more personal as the carpet in my room was very corporate and reminded me almost of the type of carpets that were in my primary school.
On my desk I had an array of stationery including pens and post it notes as well as a printer which turned out to be much more economical than using the university facilities and saved me the half hour walk each way to print something out (often in freezing rain, well I do go to university in Wales!). I also took books to help fill up my shelves and I had momentos from my travels to fill up my noticeboard and hide the big empty grey space.
Although we weren't allowed posters if we affixed them with blue tak, we were able to use white tak and so several posters and photographs gradually made themselves onto my walls during the course of the year.
As my birthday was 2 days before I moved into university, I took all of my birthday cards with me to help ease the homesickness! I also got a few good luck cards so they obviously came too (I have such nice friends and family)
Other things that I highly recommend you take with you to university are slightly more boring things such as extension leads, coat hangers, flip flops for communal showers and something to lug your beauty products to the showers and back with you. I also had a sink in my room so in my first week I bought an undersink storage unit to keep all of my toiletries in as there were sadly no shelves close to my sink! Storage boxes that can go on top of wardrobes and under beds will also be invaluable during your time at university- especially in halls!
I was lucky to have a reasonably big room at university and even I struggled to fit most of my possessions in there so a word of caution- pack wisely and as lightly as you can xoxo
