Student Guide 2007 | NME.COM - Pub Quiz, City Guides and more...

Faris Rotter,
The Horrors

"I always find any situation involving money & friends difficult. There's always some discrepancy between people's expectations of what they're owed. I was sharing a flat with a couple of friends and we ended up having to leave the flat because one of my 'friends' skipped town because he couldn't pay the rent. Besides that, another friend of mine had a penchant for piano music. I like piano music. Properly bedded within a song. On its own, I find it galling. It drove me to distraction. My advice would be don't live with close friends. It's easier with strangers to create those boundaries that are necessary for proper day-to-day living."

Toby Kidd,
Hatcham Social

"When I was studying at Ealing College I didn't have proper digs - I stayed at the YMCA. It wasn't fun to stay at the YMCA, it was rubbish - there were a lot of students staying there, but because it seemed such a temporary place, everyone kept themselves to themselves. There were no cooking facilities, and I probably didn't make breakfast once the whole time I was there. My advice would be read about the MC5. I've picked up a book on them, and they had a very viking attitude to communal living. Their womenfolk used to cook and clean for them while they went out and, um, rocked. And then they'd come home and everyone would sleep together in one big hall."

David Thorpe,
Pete And The Pirates

"When I started university, I moved in with eight other guys and all of us refused to do any cleaning or washing. And really, this is the advice I need to impress upon you DON'T LIVE WITH JUST MEN. We were all single and never in any danger of having to invite a woman back, so we seemed to compete against each other not to do anything. I'd like to say I wasn't the messiest person n the house, but that'd probably be a lie. I went away at Christmas one year, and when I came back, they'd had to break my door down because I'd left some food in my room and cockroaches started streaming from underneath my door. I left the house not long after. And yes, the feeling was probably mutual."