Sharing a Room at John’s, 2024-25

Arts and Culture Editor Christian O’Brien details his own experience of sharing a room in his first year.

Unlike the majority of those reading, of whom I presume were given that ever so daunting task of choosing your preferred room allocations a few months prior to the start of term, I wished to be given a shared, rather than a single, room. Now, I am sure you must have a great deal of questions (what could compel you to want to share a room with some stranger? have you gone insane? et cetera), though as I approach my second year in Durham, I have few regrets about my choice.

Perhaps the most pressing issue I was concerned with was space – any double bassist would tell you that they often envy flute players, who store and carry their instruments as easily as they do their phone. Luckily, having chosen a shared room I was granted a surprising amount of storage in my room overlooking the chapel, and more than enough for all my boundless possessions. Another major concern of mine was the cost, and a saving of £500 just for sharing a room seemed like a brilliant idea, which put into perspective is just over 140 pints at the bar. As such, when I received the email informing me of my shared room allocation on a windy Summer’s afternoon on the coast of Normandy, I was more than content.

I was put in touch with my roommate shortly before arriving in Durham, and had the opportunity to add him on Instagram and get to know eachother before we were to devote months of our lives in the same room. I had prepared myself for the possibility of being paired up with some nocturnal video game addict or party-mad rugby lad (horror stories had been related to me by wary teachers, friends and family for months prior), but since I had informed the College of my obviously amazing character and personality this was not the case at all. Rather, I was allocated a room with a chemist, who would turn out to be a great friend during my time here in Durham.

As with most things in life, there are the pros and cons of sharing a room; one of the former was the fact that I had someone to navigate the frightening-yet-exciting events of Freshers’ Week with, which proves to reduce the stress and turmoil of those first few weeks by a considerable margin. Another was the fact that I had a surprising amount of privacy, since my schedule as a classicist and musician differed greatly from my roommate’s, so oftentimes I would have the room entirely to myself for hours (and vice versa). Shared rooms tend to be somewhat more picturesque as well, with ours overlooking the LRC and Chapel on the Bailey, though unluckily for me my roommate had the desk overlooking this scene. Also, the increased size meant that it was a great room to have friends over or to have pres in, a luxury for some whose single rooms can get quite cramped when adding more than one or two people in.

However, there are some downsides to sharing a room. One glaringly obvious con is the fact that you don’t really get much personal space, which can make life hard at times when you are recovering from a stressful day of frantic last-minute summative writing, or a rather heavy night accompanied with multiple bottles of mid-shelf Tesco’s Finest at a formal. This close proximity also means you are at an increased risk of developing the same attack of Freshers’ Flu as your roommate. If there is one thing I can recommend to help ease the symptoms of a cold or nasty hangover, the multicoloured ‘Cold and Flu’ pills often found forgotten about at the back of the medicine cabinet is your best friend.

Another issue is if (and a large emphasis on if) you do not get along with your roommate, and whilst John’s tends to do a good job of making sure that you will at least be amiable, there can be problems. However, there are always solutions, with the worst case scenario being that you might get your room changed – though my incredibly trustworthy sources say that 97% of roommates remain friendly with eachother.

As I conclude this hopefully useful piece on sharing a room, I do want to say that whilst no-one really wants to have a roommate, I found it incredible how quickly I got used to sharing a space with someone else, and by the time you head back down home on the train or however you may return at the end of Michaelmas term, having your own bedroom to yourself feels just that bit lonelier. At the end of the day, it’s not the end of the world, and look on the bright side – who knows, perhaps they’ll become one of your closest friends throughout your three or four years in Durham!

Photo Credit: Lucas Woodward