With the big move to university and for many students a move to college, residential or shared living, a quick scan of 'freshers checklist' online reveals a giddying list of all the 'must have' essential items to set up 'home away from home'.
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/content.php?r=15855-what-to-take-to-university-checklist
I've got the order wrong in that 35 years on from University, just this year I have taken up digs in a University College. As chaplain to a University of Melbourne College, I have moved into a flat which is not only in the college, but within the administration block. And not only in the administration block, but ABOVE the Master's Office!
The minute I step outside my flat door I face a door to a tutorial room which I go through as a short cut along a corridor of student rooms to my chaplaincy office and chapel at the end of a second floor corridor.
Getting used to 'gilded cage' living took some adjustments. As an 18 year old, college living is excitement on steroids. As a 53 year old, well I just wish I was 18!
The year has provided musings and reflections upon 'home' and what creates home for young people. I have the great privilege of making home amongst young people and sharing in the everydayness of community life.
Home is ham in Old English and has the broader meaning of communal living together with ideas of dwelling, estate, village, hamlet. Some synonyms of the word home are: central, familiar, family, household, local, native, at ease, at rest, in one's element, in the bosom.
It's easy to see from where came the proverb home is where the heart is.
And where the heart is, there is comfort!
The comforts of home, students recreate in their new rooms and that could include any or all of the following:
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/content.php?r=15855-what-to-take-to-university-checklist
I've got the order wrong in that 35 years on from University, just this year I have taken up digs in a University College. As chaplain to a University of Melbourne College, I have moved into a flat which is not only in the college, but within the administration block. And not only in the administration block, but ABOVE the Master's Office!
The minute I step outside my flat door I face a door to a tutorial room which I go through as a short cut along a corridor of student rooms to my chaplaincy office and chapel at the end of a second floor corridor.
Getting used to 'gilded cage' living took some adjustments. As an 18 year old, college living is excitement on steroids. As a 53 year old, well I just wish I was 18!
The year has provided musings and reflections upon 'home' and what creates home for young people. I have the great privilege of making home amongst young people and sharing in the everydayness of community life.
Home is ham in Old English and has the broader meaning of communal living together with ideas of dwelling, estate, village, hamlet. Some synonyms of the word home are: central, familiar, family, household, local, native, at ease, at rest, in one's element, in the bosom.
It's easy to see from where came the proverb home is where the heart is.
And where the heart is, there is comfort!
The comforts of home, students recreate in their new rooms and that could include any or all of the following:
- teddies and soft toys
- crochetted and knitted rugs
- lots of cushions
- cuttings growing in jars
- LP's and turntables
- tins of milo and packets of BBQ shapes
- film and music posters
- fairy lights
- wall collaged with photos of family and friends
- loved childhood books
Somehow everything has changed in the past 35 years - and nothing has changed - as I see bedrooms looking just like mine did as an 18 year old.
Chaplaincy can offer easy fun inclusive creative activities for Freshers to help provide a comfy home away from home. As you offer these activities you get to know freshers and become part of the important new family in their home away from home as they transition to University.
This is a nifty link with lots of fab and fun ideas for the student room
http://www.independent.co.uk/student/student-life/accommodation/student-accommodation-10-cheap-ways-to-decorate-your-room-at-university-a6677151.html
or...
This is a nifty link with lots of fab and fun ideas for the student room
http://www.independent.co.uk/student/student-life/accommodation/student-accommodation-10-cheap-ways-to-decorate-your-room-at-university-a6677151.html
or...
Here's an idea - make cosy cushions!
All you need is a sewing machine, some fabrics, thread, scissors and either a cushion insert or stuffing.
 |
| Adrian makes a Cushion! |
No comments:
Post a Comment