The DRA Struggle (As an Extrovert)

The August before starting my first year at St Andrews, I very dramatically posted on my private Instagram: ‘my life is over’. This scared my friends as they thought that I had gotten my acceptance to the University revoked. In reality, I was just reacting to being allocated to DRA.

I might have been dramatic with my verbiage but I sympathise with my past self. She wasn’t wrong. I found my way out of its confines, spending most of my time with close friends at JBH or Uni Hall. Yet, I truly believe DRA stripped me of a proper first year university experience, and I know there are plenty of people who feel the same. 

Credit: University of St Andrews.

I opted for a shared room and shared bathroom in my accommodation application. I also study English, which means all of my classes are handily on the complete opposite side of town. This makes me think there may be no rhyme or reason to the form.

Who knows? Maybe it’s the fact that I admitted I am capable of being an early bird when needs must. God forbid a girl wants a social life but can also be responsible enough to show up to class on time.

Controversially, I don’t think the long walks to class are the biggest issue. I don’t mind a walk to unwind before turning on my brain in the morning. For STEM students, the walk isn’t too long.

The distance is only a problem when it comes to figuring out your social life. If DRA had a sense of togetherness or pride in the way that Uni Hall does, then maybe we would enjoy ourselves in our little village out of town. DRA, however, is no more than a place to sleep. It is not a home, nor a community. 

Credit: Google Maps.

The first real struggle for me was finding an academic family. The halls in town have older residents and proud alumni who will happily introduce themselves and take you under their wing. While being in a hall in town does not predetermine the family you will be in, it certainly opens up options or makes it easier to find one. I have heard stories of academic parents breaking into rooms in Mac to wake up their children, flip their mattresses, and drag them right out for Raisin celebrations, giving them no choice but to have fun.

When I did finally find a family, staying in touch with them proved difficult because we did not live close to each other. On the day of, I had to wake myself up at 4am to drag myself to a random house on the opposite side of town, at which point I had lost all my enthusiasm. I got driven back to DRA after breakfast and didn’t even do the scavenger hunt because everyone else in my family lacked the excitement to follow through with all the traditions. This is because we did not establish a friendship before Raisin Sunday.

Raisin is meant to be a group activity and it is such a shame that DRA can take away the joy in one of the most important traditions at St Andrews. My advice would be to get to know your family as well as possible before Raisin Weekend as this will make for a more fun and memorable experience.

By the time May Dip came around, I had made enough friends in town to have a lovely time just like everyone else, but even then, I had to go back to Mac later in the week to pick up my stuff from my friend’s room.

Credit: University of St Andrews.

Some may say: ‘Oh, but you get an en-suite!’ Yeah. One you have to keep squeaky clean to an unreasonably high standard, if you wish to avoid constantly failing your room inspections — which they will wake you up at 8am to do.

The main issue is that there is a serious lack of camaraderie in DRA as it lacks functional social spaces. The living rooms don’t count. Five people is not enough to socially satisfy anyone, unless you’re best friends with every one of your flatmates.

I didn’t hate mine but we still hardly bumped into each other in the living room. Chances are we were never all home at the same time. It’s just not the same as being friendly with several hall-mates and knocking on one another’s doors to hang out whenever you’re bored. There were no shared experiences or random encounters because there was always the option to keep to oneself.

I am now friends with people I met elsewhere in second year, who literally lived in my building (Forbes) all that time, but I had no idea that they did. That’s probably because they were also out and about, avoiding DRA.  

Credit: University of St Andrews.

The mealtime hours are too long for everyone to show up to them at the same time, and people usually left each other alone or didn’t show up due to the poor quality of the food. I will say the breakfast tasted decent; however, it is ironic that the hall itself knows it is so undesirable to be at, that they don’t even offer lunch on weekdays.

There were no active hall-wide pres, nor were there other ways to meet random people. The ‘bar’ that they promote on the University’s website is rarely open and there was absolutely no energy there even when it was. There were some pres in the more social buildings (like mine), but those became boring and/or cliquey very quickly. 

It’s hard to remember that you’re not alone and that everyone else is also eager to meet new people. Making friends thus takes a vigorous effort which should not be required of first years, who are already dealing with all the hardships living alone/abroad (likely) for the first time in their lives.

If everyone in the hall agreed to get over the embarrassment of hanging out in the common areas, then maybe it would have been fine. The problem was, however, that most (other than the ping-pong fanatics) thought themselves above it. So we all ended up living our own little lives, spread out from one another.

I would start my days at 9am, stay in town until it was dinner time (or sometimes later), never having the chance to recharge in the comfort of my own space in between classes or other commitments. I stored some belongings in the library lockers but that’s no replacement for a room in town. I’d carry an insanely heavy bag every day because I had to bring everything I could possibly need for whatever the day might bring.

Unless you’re a great micromanager, you’ll end up carrying books you won’t even need for your studies that day, or clothes for an event you’ll end up not attending. There is no such thing as going home to drop off and pick things up, or to have a quick snack, or to do some more studying.

It is impossible to enjoy spontaneity because you need a heads up before any hangout, so you have enough time to change and make it back into town. I often found myself getting ready hours before my friends, just to make it to their rooms to pre, at which point, they had only begun putting on their makeup or choosing their outfits. It was just exhausting. 

Oh, by the way, you have to walk the equivalent of two to five city blocks to get to the laundry rooms. There are also no elevators, and I lived on the top floor so that was always an unwanted workout! I couldn’t go into town to do anything while waiting for my laundry, so I’d have to spend one day per week doing nothing but chores. I also locked myself out of my flat several times due to the three layers of security to get into my room.

Credit: X - St Andrews Accomm SVS.

The only two benefits are the proximity to the gym and that you get to sober up on that walk home after a night out. Even then, Uni Hall is closer to the gym and offers the seclusion from town that people might claim to be a bright side to DRA — not to mention that it has prettier grounds.

There should be University-run buses to and from town all day, not just at night. I know there are the public buses which we can ride for free with our Young Scot cards, but I’m sorry, I did not sign up for such a commute. The lack of buses to classes (especially in the morning) discourages good attendance. There should at least be one straight to Younger Hall, since it is so far and so many first-year lectures are held there.

Since the solitude of life at DRA is such a specific preference, I don’t see why people who do not desire that (like myself) should be forced to live there; or why people who are into that, should be forced into the social stress of living in the halls in town. There are more than enough introverts (or people who value personal space and alone time) that would happily opt to live there.

I know this because I’ve met plenty of people who complain about living in the likes of Sallies or Uni Hall because of all the constant noise and the horrors of sharing a bathroom. To those warriors that braved one of the very few shared rooms in DRA, I seriously applaud you. However, that is a very small risk. I believe that, like Andrew Melville, DRA should have an option to be selected directly on the accommodation application form.

Credit: Google Maps.

All this to say, I wish all first-year extroverts who have been assigned to DRA, the best of luck. I promise you will find ‘your people’, just like all of us survivors have. Your ‘people’ may even be fellow DRA victims, but you’ll probably meet them at a pub. 

P.S. I will give in to say DRA ball is the best hall ball by far, due to the sheer number of attendees. They serve free gelato and food (reparations). However, it is ironic that it is held in Sallies Quad.