Things you’ll have noticed if you moved to UoB from the countryside

It’s so noisy in Brum

There is no such thing as peace and quiet anymore. The peaceful sound of cows mooing and sheep bleating is a thing of the past. All you have is the sound of roads, sirens, parties, and drunk people.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the windows in your student halls or housing are so thin, the drunks might as well be having a party in your bedroom. It definitely doesn’t encourage you to maintain a healthy sleep pattern despite your mums constant nagging.

I miss you countryside

And it’s busy

Going out for a walk and not seeing anyone is no longer possible. Spend five minutes in the Bullring and you see more people than you would in a year in your local town back home. And don’t even consider going out on Black Friday…it’s like being stuck in a tube station at rush hour.

Even on a quiet day, there’s still too many people

No-one talks to you 

If you try to talk to a stranger in Birmingham you look like a creep but at home, if you don’t you look extremely rude and unfriendly.

Everything here is grey

Instead of being surrounded by fields, you are surrounded by roads and huge concrete buildings. Being able to look to the horizon without seeing a building, let alone another person, really is a thing of the past. In fact, it feels like you can look to the horizon without seeing any greenery.

The few designated green spaces really are a lifesaver. But you can forget about having them to yourself…as soon as the suns out, you’ll be struggling to find a seat on the grass, let alone a bench.

The weather is so dull 

Do seasons even exist in Birmingham? It always seems to be warm and barely ever snows. People never seem to believe you when you say your parents are snowed in back home…

On the rare occasion that it does snow, all hell breaks loose! The excitement for just one tiny shower of snow that doesn’t even cover the ground is unbelievable…

Everything is so close

30 minutes in the car to the nearest shop back home? Not in Birmingham… a five minute walk is more like it. While this might seem to be a good thing, when you’re not used to this luxury, it soon becomes a novelty habit to pop down to the shops multiple times a day whenever you fancy a snack. Something which has a negative effect on your health and bank balance…

Buses and taxi’s actually exist

And they will take you home! No more five mile walks to and from your nearest bus stop.

Takeaways are a thing

For once in your life you are actually in the area which they deliver too. Eating in the car outside the shop whenever you want a takeaway is no longer a necessity so that you can eat it warm.

In fact, once you hit the delight of Selly Oak in your second year, the takeaways are so close you could even walk there and back without it being too cold to eat!

Love a good old Cheeky Joe’s delivery

There are actually other cars on the roads

The thought of taking your driving test in Birmingham is incomprehensible. The trick of picking a time when there would be no one on the test route simply isn’t an option because the roads are never empty.

Even the thought of driving through Selly Oak is terrifying…and the regularly smashed up cars on the side of the roads aren’t much of a confidence booster either.

Oh, Selly

Wi-Fi exists, and it’s reliable

If you have Wi-Fi in the countryside you are one of the lucky ones, but even if you do, it is as unreliable as your ex-boyfriend. Wi-Fi all over campus that actually works (most of the time) is like magic…the only problem is, everyone else thinks you’re weird for thinking so.

If you thought ASK4 was bad, you have no idea how lucky you’ve been all your life.

No-one has heard of where you’re from

No longer does everyone in your village know everything about you; where you live, when you were born, the name of all your pets. The only place up North people here seem to know is Newcastle. Knowledge of the countryside is non-existent at best.