Students seem to get bad press and treated with contempt by parts of society. We are stereotyped as unemployed, drinking, shagging, layabouts living on cigarettes, soup and beans on toast. In reality student life isn’t all parties, wild sex and drugs. I think many people have the misconception and confuse students with seventies rock bands or the images on TV.
It makes for more entertaining TV to portray “us students” as good for nothing party animals then watching students reading and researching in the library. Filming students working would be dull viewing. It’s better to have students dancing topless on tables.
In fact moving away from home, mingling with strangers in a strange city is all a bit frightening. You might need a beer to settle your nerves. However if getting drunk and mastering how to drift from bar to bar is your three year university plan then your balance of booze and work is one sided.
This is the image and label many people have of students and our university lifestyle. We’re all studying to be professional procrastinators to avoid real work.
The other day I was dressed in my suit and tie going to a job interview. I met a middle aged lady at the bus stop and she started up conversion about the weather and bus timetables. The small talk was going well until she asked what I did for a living seen as I was all smartly dressed up. My response was “I’m a student at the uni”.
Well that response seemed to cut the conversion short. The air felt a bit awkward as I could sense she was displeased with my answer. I’m not sure what she was expecting me to say but she didn’t seem happy that I was a student and not some hot shot businessman who unfortunately had to catch the bus because my Mercedes was in for a service.
I felt labelled and judged. One minute a high-flyer, the next a deadbeat who drinks ten pints a night, eats beans on toast five times a week and who just happens to be in a nice suit. While I have struggled budgeting with food and yes some meals have been beans on toast it doesn’t make me Jack the Ripper.
I wish I could party all night long and have sex in the nightclub toilet yet the reality of student life is very different to that seen in film and television.
I admit even my expectations of the student lifestyle were higher. I thought it would be a bit more like the experience you see on TV but after your rent, bills, food, transport costs, text books there’s not much money left to buy crack cocaine.
Of course I enjoy a beer. I’m not denying that. I enjoy the odd all night session of booze. Students need to work hard and play hard so we need a blowout once in a while.
On the other side of the fence I also enjoy a slower night out with the new girlfriend. When we go out I may even dress smart, share some fine wine and a meal that’s not beans on toast. When money’s tight we both enjoy a quiet night in together watching TV and listening to music. It’s almost perfect, if only she’d dance topless on the coffee table.
