Today, I'll be discussing my experience living in student halls and my excitement with my new halls. And it is exciting. I moved into student halls on Saturday and I have a good feeling about this year. It doesn't feel like my other two halls, where I have had a few bad experiences.  It feels like a proper flat (apartment), I mean it actually has a washing machine! And I will be with a friend. All good things.

Moving Into Student Halls

Originally posted September 2017

No more shrunk clothes by faulty, industry-sized machines in the student laundrette.

In my other two student halls, the laundrette was outside. This was fun if you had just done your laundry and it decided to rain for the next three hours! Your dried clothes get soaked as you run from the laundrette back into your room (unless you decide to risk the chance of students emptying the machine and leaving it on a pile of other clothes that have also been removed from the machines).  It felt more like a place you'd be staying for only a short time, like emergency accommodation, and you never know who you would end up with.

Already, this one change made it feel more welcoming. Plus we had a living room with a TV licence pre-paid. It was more homely, more natural than the halls I was previously used to.

Previous experience

The last two years, my experience in student halls has been anything but peaceful. The classic, every student experience of rotting food that is 2-5 weeks old before the offending flatmate decides to clean it up, noise levels that kept you awake before a lecture and all your food going missing when you return from a week at home. You can get a real mix of hall managers too, just like private renting.

My halls this year is much better. As I said, it has it's own living room, rather than the common rooms you get at other student halls. Perfect for an introvert like myself. My flatmate and I are already planning on binge watching Netflix together.  We both have our own bathroom too, which is great.

The best thing for me is that I am living with a friend, who is also a coursemate of mine, so it's just the two of us rather than the standard 4-6 strangers you usually end up with at the standard halls. Now I understand why these halls are almost a 1/3 more in price. Well worth it if you ask me.

Best thing is, as my friend and I know each other and we are also the only people staying at these halls, neither of us have to worry about food going missing or someone taking our equipment into their room. It's great.

We're on the case

There are a few issues that we have discovered like there are no shelves (that are reachable) in the kitchen, the living room storage heaters are bust and I have no draws for my stationary or underwear in my bedroom.  However, we are in the process of getting this sorted and I have a better feeling about my experience in student halls this year.

An Update

Lizzie and I have had a fantastic year together. We did binge watch a lot of tv, including Jessica Jones, Crazy Ex-girlfriend, Buffy and Broadchurch. We did have an infestation problem of flies at one point which was not very pleasant but we coped and managed to get rid of them all... No idea where they came from as they appeared not long after we moved in.

My flatmate learned how messy I am... which is very! We also managed to work out how to get both our disabilities to co-operate so that we both could get things done, which was great and also quite funny. Especially if you read what happened when we tried to get a lid off a jar of Dominos Dip.

We also had a few maintenance problems but we did get them fixed and it was relatively quick. The shelves were finally put in and we had a new fridge freezer with a large freezer (as I barely use chilled stuff because of preparation issues).

BBC doesn't think we have a TV licence.

We were also told by the BBC that we didn't have a valid licence. A TV licence is required in the UK if you watch live TV or catch-up services. But we did have a licence. So, after telling them several times, we ignored the letters.

The letters came throughout the year with threats of visits, fines, courts. But as we knew we hadn't done anything wrong and told the BBC on several times, we eventually decided we'd deal with it if they came. They never did.

Memories

I feel that my money was definitely well spent this year and I think Lizzie and I have made some memories that we are going to cherish. I mean... There is a point where attacking a nest of flies with a hoover together becomes a memory, right?

For my masters, I am living with another friend and her family rather than student halls, so for the 4 years of my study, I have never stayed in the same place twice! Ah well, at least I can say halls have been an adventure.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post and it hasn't made you nervous about moving into student halls.

~Shannon~

PS: my flatmate has their own blog too.

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