What My Room Says About Me - A Response To The Guardian

Apparently, it's the 'Generation Y' takeover at the Guardian this week and as part of this they've taken a few photos of student's rooms and asked them to explain what it says about their cultural interests. Thus, in response I thought I'd do a version of this with a few photos of my room and give people a little look inside where the magic (by which I mean blog posts and general musings on life) takes place. While the original Guardian article promises an analysis of what their rooms say about their cultural interests but ultimately amounts to just a few lines on what is there (apparently culture is now little more than show & tell), I'll put a little reflective analysis in at the end.

The room has been shuffled around since I moved in, the original layout saw the desk in the far corner, separate to the wardrobe and my piano out of shot against the radiator, with the bed shifted 90 degrees. While it was alright, my ridiculous amount of books has led to me needing more space aside from the desk, so a quick shift around has opened up the floor space leading into the room and made the whole thing a much roomier affair. The previously standing bookcase from home now perches atop the piano with the bookcase and chest of drawers combined to make a larger desk area (still covered in notes and books sadly).

The chaotic hubbub of posters, books and CD's is all relatively well ordered, at least in my mind. The art, done my girlfriend nestles on top of piles of books ordered by subject, while the piles of papers are at least slightly divided by subject! It's probably true to say that the decoration of your room is representative of wider cultural interests, even if I've now cleared away a couple of previously festering beer cans from the window sill! The club night posters from my favourite nights sit alongside a white t-shirt from my first ever Sailing Social whilst stack of GRRM's Game of Thrones books support a teetering stack of second hand CD's. It's by far the cosiest room that I've had at university, the fluffy rug and massive black cushions brought from home and meaning the bed can be a massive sofa too!

I'd like to believe that this decoration highlights something of my cultural interests beyond merely showing things I like however. My writing, often far too verbose and meandering, despite a common purpose comes across in the organised chaos of the piles and decorations. The music is a constant fixture that binds things together, the art an outward expression above the internalised literature! It's a very geeky room, but unashamedly so! It's a room I'm proud to call mine!