Editor’s note: Guest writer Eric brings in a list of 6 housemates from Hell he lived with in his two years at University. He spent the last six months studying on an Erasmus in Lisbon and will be sharing plenty of the life lessons this experience gave him over the next few months. Do these remind you of anybody? How many housemates from hell have you lived with?
It’s been two years since the beginning of my degree. I’ve lived in three different student homes now, two back home in Koln, and a shared flat during my Erasmus in Lisbon. With this experience in student accommodation, I really have lived with quite a few characters. I thought I was the only one – but a lot of the people I’ve met have lived with people who were exactly the same. So I decided to make a little list of the 6 weirdest housemates from hell I’ve lived with.
Housemates from Hell # 6 : The lonely hermit
This one will spend entire days indoors. You never see the hermits. You’re not even sure they’re alive. After three months, you start to think you should probably call the firemen or something. Suddenly, you bump into them making tea in the middle of the night. And that’s the last sighting you’ll have of them.
BONUS POINTS: buy a safari hat and some binoculars, camp outside the hermit’s room, try to understand his habits. This may require you to sign up some friends into the project, so you can take turns.
Housemates from Hell # 5 : The amateur musician
They say there’s one in every student apartment. Mine was a terrible bassist. Is it me or do they practice at the most random hours of the day? He’d play from way late into the night (4am or later!) on weekdays to ridiculously early in the morning on weekends.
BONUS POINTS: wait until exam season or essay deadlines get closer. The musician plays more often and louder to relief some of his stress – try not to let it increase yours.
Housemates from Hell # 4 : The fridge hoarder
Goes to the supermarket and buys everything he can see. Always asks for doggy-bags at the end of the meal. Everything goes into the fridge. Nothing ever comes out. After a couple of months I already had a couple of hours pencilled in my agenda every Saturday for removing anything in advanced stages of putrefaction from the fridge.
BONUS POINTS: compensate living with a fridge hoarder by finding a fridge thief (see below!). Take bets.
Housemates from Hell # 3 : The fridge thief
This kitchen anarchist does not believe in private property. If she can see it, she will eat it. That Ben & Jerry’s you were saving for a special moment isn’t safe any more. Nothing is. Consider buying a mini-fridge you can plug in your room.
BONUS POINTS: that moment when you realise the fridge thief isn’t even somebody you live with, but that neighbour that keeps turning up.
Housemates from Hell # 2 : The angry gamer
I love a good game of drunken PES, Street Fighter or on Halo multiplayer bloodbaths as much as any other guy in my class. But living with the angry German kid can be a little disturbing. Perfectly nice, quiet, shy boys and girls can transform into people with some serious anger management issues the moment they turn on the XBOX.
BONUS POINTS: living with two or three gamers in the same house. Just watch as the insults become more and more ridiculous.
Housemates from Hell #1 : The master chef
I used the title sarcastically. The master chef isn’t Gordon Ramsay, but he’ll turn your house into Hell’s Kitchen. Is it really possible to end up with ketchup on the ceiling with a ready-cooked Lasagna? Yes, it is. You spend hours cleaning the kitchen, leave the house for half an hour, and find a mountain of dirty dishes where the sink used to be.
BONUS POINTS: if eating chips by himself he can use seven dishes and three cups, wait until he invites friends over.
This is just a list of six people, from the 20+ I’ve shared student homes with – so far. But with your help, I’m sure we can make this list up to 666 housemates from hell! Can we? Send in any suggestions to the comment section V below! V
Thanks for reading this post! We hope to see you soon, coming back for more.
Did you enjoy our article? Just drop us a line in the comment section below to let us know you did. And remember! If you need to find University housing in London, Lisbon or Madrid, you’ll find the student home you’re looking for on Uniplaces.com. Make sure you remember us when you’re going on Erasmus!
(second) Editor’s note: We always recommend you try to keep on the best term with all your housemates and remember that we’ve all got a little “house sharing devil” inside of us. For a quick guide on how to survive sharing student accommodation, Maria wrote the extra-useful “survival guide to living with other students!“