In Halls

Gap Year Gang

"Oh my God hi!" she exclaimed, stumbling to a halt. "You're in room 2? That's awesome, I'm in room 3, we'll be neighbours!"

She was shorter than me and curvier, with hair that was longer and blonder than mine. Her energy left me immediately nonplussed and I haltingly explained that I'd been giving a guy called Ed a hand with something.

"He said he was going to get a nap now though," I added as she raised her hand to knock on his door, uncertain whether he would want to be disturbed just moments after kicking me out. "Something about flying in from Guatemala this morning or something."

"Oh seriously? He must be sooo jetlagged. I flew back from my gap year in Thailand a week ago just to make sure I would be ready for Freshers Week."

I reminded myself that I both needed, and wanted, to get to know these people and get along with them for the year. So even though I experienced a generalised sinking sensation when she announced her gap year experience, I forced myself to smile enthusiastically.

"Thailand? That sounds amazing! How long were you there for?"

"Six months, I was doing this amazing volunteering programme there in this nature reserve, it was so beautiful..."

She was interrupted by her own parents arriving upstairs with several shiny grey plastic suitcases. The corridor suddenly felt very overcrowded and I said I'd leave her to get sorted, pushing open my door.

"Oh – I'm really sorry, what was your name again?" I asked as I backed into my room.

"Tara," she said, waving her parents past. "It's so cool to finally be meeting each other!"

"I'm Ellen," I told her, "I'll catch you later."

I shut the door, and pulled out the towel wedge. Room 1 is no longer open for business, I thought, kneeling on the floor and throwing my face and arms down on the bed. Of course my flat was going to be full of confident, attractive, well-travelled students. Of course. Of course I was going to be the boring, average one. I didn't know what kind of flatmates I'd been expecting, but so far neither Ed nor Tara had met my expectations. Ed probably had the right idea about napping today away, though. Tiredness soaked from me into the bed and I wondered why I'd been so desperate to leave home so early to get here first thing. Having a family breakfast at home wouldn't have been so bad. I could have come up this evening. Heck, I could have come up next week. Actual lectures wouldn't start until the self-proclaimed mayhem of Freshers was over. I could leave now, and come back just in time for my first real class.

I twisted my head to the side and surveyed the chaos in the room. No neat Tara-style suitcases here. Old cardboard boxes sporting various logos, taken from my old job as the most pathetic leaving gift ever, mingled on the floor with canvas bags of things thrown together last night when I'd achieved a complete state of packing-related panic. All my bras and underwear were in a heap on the floor from when I'd been looking for my bedsheets. I wondered if Ed or Tara had seen them. More fantastic details to the first impressions I'd been making on both of them.

Forcing myself to sit up, I pulled out my phone.

You moved in yet? I sent to Sophie. She saw it straight away and sent back a picture of herself grinning in a group of three others with a massive takeaway bag in the middle.

Having lunch with my new homies, you? As always, her message was peppered with emojis.

They look cool. Just met two of mine so far. Enjoy your lunch then xx

Lunch. Sophie had a point. I straightened myself up, checking the mirror in the en suite for any outward signs of my recent face-down-in-the-duvet antics and headed along to the kitchen again. Cooking felt like too much of an effort when I hadn't yet unearthed my utensils, so I used someone else's knife to slice a banana onto some toast. I was washing the knife when flatmate number three walked in, carrying a plastic shopping bag and a large jar of dried chillies.

"Hey," I said. Casual, relaxed. There had to be at least one flatmate I would just get along with like a normal human, and this guy had a decent person vibe going on. He reminded me a bit of my brother. It helped that by now, the kitchen felt like a familiar space.

"Hey," he said. He looked friendly, in a large hoody and cargo pants. "I'm Christopher."

"I'm Ellen. Nice chillies." I gestured to his jar, which he was putting next to the spice rack.

"Thanks. I brought them back from Nepal."

I took a deep breath.

"Nepal? That sounds amazing, how long were you there for?"

Hi again!

For those of you not from the UK, most kids go to some kind of college after school for age 16-17, then university starts at 18, or 19 for those who take a year out. This is a pretty popular option for middle-to-upper class kids and there are certain destinations that are renowned "Gap Yah" haunts. Like Ellen, on my first day in halls I found myself surrounded by people who had all been to the same beaches in Thailand.