We all do nursing at uni – so we all live together. I also work as an auxiliary for the Trust doing agency work.

I lived next door last year with some girls from school. It was OK at the start but we are all just very different and I found it really hard because I was the only one on placement and they were going out every night. I love them all. But I didn’t get enough sleep…. We were first years at uni, so probably a lot more mad going out.

The furniture. It’s alright. It’s grand….. It’s just so everybody can see the TV.

We got a TV this year – there wasn’t one last year, so I’ve been staying in a lot more watching the TV. We turn the big light off and leave that light on and the TV  – for ambience.

This house is a lot better because we are all on the same course at uni – same days and everything. We all get along great and are on placement at the same time. S. is on placement now. She’s living from her own home so she’ll not be here for 6 weeks now.

There are 5 bedrooms. This is the living room, kitchen, one big bathroom and 1 toilet.

It is a wee bit mad sometimes living here…but it’s so handy for uni…

Over Halloween it was very noisy, like really terrible. I don’t like Halloween so I don’t go out or anything. It was crazy…. Next year is my final year at uni so I don’t know to live up or not…maybe.

I would do one or two night shifts a week and then I would go home on like a Friday morning or Saturday morning after work and come back on a Sunday evening.

Going home is great…. it’s just all your family.  I would go visiting everybody at the weekend at home. It’s always nice to see mummy…. I miss her, we are very close.

Home is somewhere you can relax. … go and do your own thing… get your own cup of tea…just chill out. It’s my mum – wherever she is.

We don’t have our own shelves in the fridge but we all have our own separate food cupboards. We’ve got a drinks cupboards there… cleaning stuff and we all just share the fridge. Last year our cooker didn’t even work for ages. It was terrible… and the washing machine broke too.

We don’t have house rules or rota for cleaning  – we probably should…. we don’t clean that much. Everyone just cleans up after themselves. We would clean up if we had people coming over for drinks or something –  just all muck in and do our own wee bit.

We split all the bills  – so it’s cheaper. There’s wi-fi, electric and heating that we all have to share.

Living here …it’s about having the company as well.

We’ve actually just run out of heating oil and just have to top it up. It hasn’t  been too bad – cold-wise – until this week. I have a wee heater in my room as well.

The uni library is not far away but sometimes I would do my own work at home, before I come up here – on a Saturday during the day or something. 

We were at the library last week because we had work to do. It’s just so handy. Our exams aren’t until the end of next year but we have work to hand in throughout the year which goes toward our grade.

I always bring cutlery from my home/ house. Just a knife and fork and spoon – I did this last year too.  I don’t always get to use it, but when I do I think… that’s mine, from my house. And then …just cups and glasses. There were a lot of pans and everything here.

We don’t cook together…. Sometimes we would but we are all on diets and things like that so we just have our own food. But sometimes we would have dinner together.

We got a slow cooker this year and we made a stew. But generally we make our own thing.

Last year I had one placement where I was 9-5 every day and another where I was 7.30-8.30 three days a week.  So, it just depends. I have 2 uniforms and when I come home I wash it.

I always make my food for the next day to bring in with me. Last year, when I was on wards, you had to bring your breakfast, lunch and dinner. So, I would bring a wee porridge you put hot water into… a stir fry for lunch, or maybe a salad, soup or something for dinner and then have something else when I come home.

Whenever you are on, like 3 days in a row, I find it quite hard. You weren’t getting home until 9pm and then you had to prepare all your food for the next day and shower and everything –  and get up at 6.30am the next morning.

Night shift is normally OK. I’m a really good sleeper. My room is really bright but I sleep fine. Mine is the biggest room, I think, in the house.  I could sleep in the middle of the day….

I brought all my clothes up. Most people wouldn’t if they are going home at the weekend but I’d be normally working, or just in my pyjamas. I’ve loads of stuff at home. Both rooms are bunged with stuff. My room at home is always a mess.

The only thing I didn’t bring is big bulky things or things I didn’t use every day. I’ve got a nice fleecy blanket upstairs…. but I’ve got one at home as well.

Last year, in my bedroom, we had carpet, and we’ve got wood now –  but it is a lot less cosy than last year. I’ve got a tapestry and I bought a cork board for photos. I’m just trying to make it a bit more homely because it was just a bare room.

We do facemasks and all some nights….  we do stuff like that. We watch Coronation Street together and watch things on Netflix. After uni we would all sit down have a cup of tea and see what we’re doing. 

We’ve all started the gym as well – though we’ve not been good the past 2 weeks…because  we are in uni at the moment.  All week I’m on 9am-2pm this week. ….  9am-5pm I usually come home in between breaks because it’s so close. I come home here for lunch or I bring my own food with me to save money. We don’t get student loans as nurses –  we get bursaries.

I got that wee table in a charity shop.  My friend’s granny gave me the wee candle and S. brought all the wee statues of Mary. I’ve got all my own wee things on it.

I want to go away when I graduate – to Australia. I think I want to do something like cancer nursing and try to go to the cancer centre and see if I like it.  In third year we get to pick one of our placements so I’m going to pick it…. and see how it goes.