There comes a point where asking your flatmates if they want to go to the pub starts to feel like you’re a desperate ex begging to see them again. You live together. Surely you see enough of each other? Except, do you actually?
By second, third, and fourth year, nights out and pub trips become something we do to “catch-up” with our course friends, society friends, sports friends, or that one person you met in fresher’s week walking to Why Not Wednesday that you have inexplicably kept in your life. Before you know it, you’ve dedicated so much time to catching up with everyone else that you need to schedule a catch-up with the people you share a kitchen with. Because seeing your flatmates isn’t necessarily spending time with your flatmates; seeing each other half asleep while waiting for the kettle to boil before a 9am lecture, waiting for the number 9 bus before parting ways for different lectures, or discovering someone has been home when you notice their gym bag has mysteriously appeared in the hallway.
The solution? Start with your flat’s interior. Make your flat somewhere you want to spend time in. Decorating doesn’t mean spending lots of money on cushions and prints. Have a crafts evening! Paper chains are cheap, cute, and crucially provide an excuse for a wine night. You could also introduce a weekly flat dinner. Take a trip to Nicholson Street Lidl if you dare and find something you all want. Make it a Fajita Friday, Sunday Roast, Pasta Monday, whatever! The important thing is that everyone has a job. One person buys, one cooks, and one washes up, and rotate each week. Suddenly nobody can “accidently” disappear when the dishes need doing.
And then there is television. Seasonal depression may be looming, but luckily, we are in prime TV season. The Traitors. Bake Off. Pick a weekly show and make it a flat ritual. The Bake Off is great as it is only on once a week, and if you are feeling ambitious, you could all bake something for the viewing. I think it’s such a wholesome idea. If you don’t have a TV, a cheap projector is not only very chic, but a worthy investment.
Take it beyond the flat! Edinburgh University’s Societies truly are one of the greatest gifts. Why? They provide us with ceilidhs! This is arguably something you have to tick off whilst at university here, and going with your flatmates is a must. Get dressed up, have pres, and dance all night. Better yet, it’s something that is usually planned in advance, so you and your flatmates can work your studying around it rather than using studying as an excuse not to go.
And when you have more time, get out of Edinburgh. We are ridiculously lucky to have the Highlands on our doorstep, but you don’t need to organise a three-day camping expedition. One of my favourite days was spent with my flatmates in North Berwick. Take the 30-minute train. Get a coffee, go for a walk, grab something from the Lobster Shack, and if the sun makes a rare appearance, go for a swim, and maybe grab gelato from Alandas (yes, they have one there!). It’s beautiful, easy, and frankly, it’s worthy of its own Instagram post.
The point isn’t to organise your entire social life around your flatmates. But because they feel like family, it’s easy to forget to make time for them. After all, a flat isn’t just where you live, it’s the people you share it with that make it home.
Photo supplied Leah Souter for The Student
