Edinburgh Student accommodation
Where to live?
Whether you are a fresher or an exchange student, deciding where to live for your first year at the amazing Edinburgh University can be a difficult choice. I should know, almost half way through my first semester here, I believe I have gained enough knowledge on the array of options Edinburgh accommodation has to offer.
Firstly, yes it really does matter if you are a fresher or a one semester/one year exchange student. Why? If you are a fresher ready to embark on your university path, then you are here for the long run, the friends you make are your ‘friends for life’ and trust me, you don’t want to make the wrong choice. i promise all my writing is honest, I am a kind open minded person (if I do say so myself) and I do actually want all you new pieces of fresh meat to make the best possible choices because Edinburgh is one of the best places to study I truly believe it!
‘fresher’ however does NOT refer to those of you that are offen refered to as ‘trustfund babies’, if you are male, to meet the trustfund baby requirments you must have a gold ring ‘coat of arms’ with your family emblum engraved, you must have been on a ‘gap yah’, with hair longer then most girls this year (either tied in a knot on your head or simply greased down the side of your face) and you MUST wear clothes that appear you’ve stolen them from a tramp, however they’re worth close to the value of my four year tuition fees – nothing compared to your life’s worth of private schooling (Harrow or Eton with suffice) and for girls unsure whether you belong in this ctogory? Well if your daddys worth is in the millions, your mother has never worked a day in her life spending most of it doing yoga or on obscured diets, and your name is something along the lines of Apple or Anouk, then you pass. These ‘freshers’ are known as the Yah’s, you belong to this list? Fabulous, no need to continue reading, you are a simple bunch to house, you are made for one place only. Chancellors Court. The only place for you I promise. This overly priced experience brings you neighbours of the same breeding – you don’t want to be mixing with poorer students now! Chancellors will provide you with a safe environment, away from the lower class hooligans, I swear.
The only other people I would recommend Chancellors to (or any other Pollock Halls residence – although the other houses are not even worth mentioning, not in chancellors? You may as well not exist) are international students. Why? To be honest I just know that all the international students go there, and it’s much easier for such to socialise (in self-catered accommodation international students often hide away in their rooms ignore their flatmates (not recommended) however in Pollock you’re pretty much forced to make friends.
Just one last thing, if you are thinking of living in Pollock Halls because it’s catered, DON’T. The JMCC has little imagination when it comes to food, along with no Michelin stars. You’re likely to miss most breakfasts and eventually give up on the hope of any nice dinners. Inbetween you starve because despite knowing you have to make your own lunch, the houses provide no ovens in the pantries, just microwaves and kettles. Not that you’ll ever use the pantry’s because any food you store in there will be eaten by 4am drunks . So you may plan on buying lunch everyday (which is extremely expensive by the way) however this is often the only option because as soon as you leave Pollock for the day, you will not return until completely necessary. Not because it’s an awful place. Just that it is about a million miles from everything. (ok slight exaggeration, it takes about 20 minutes to get near to university, it takes 20 minutes to walk to the gym (trust me all motivation goes knowing you’ll do half your cardio walking to the gym) and its at least 40 minutes from clubs, princes street and the train station – all vital factors in a student’s life. But of course, the main distance felt by all it the 20 minute walk to the nearest supermarket, spontaneous nights out are a no no when at Pollock, unless you have £30 spare for a tiny bottle of vodka from the onsite shop, trying to walk to a cheap drugstore before 10pm when you only realise you want to go out at 9:30pm is a killer.
Ok, now I’ve got past all the problematic areas, here goes, all you newbies that are actually quite normal and want to have the best university experience possible. (I will soon begin to ramble on about distances to places, people and probably much more useless facts, but when you have a 9am tutorial you simply cannot miss one more bloody time, you’ll be thanking me for your accommodation that requires you to roll out of bed at only 9:45, (well if you skip a shower and speed walk) to make it in for such. Just to clarify, I am biased, currently residing in Darroch Court (best place ever) I have much more of a portfolio of views on such housing, but being quite sociable I know a bit about many other places too! However, I do not study in Kings Buildings, (about a 40 minute walk no matter where you are- don’t worry free shuttle buses are provided, and people often cycle too) I cannot inform you of the perfect accommodation for such studies, however most of you will be studying in and around George Square, and that my friends is something I am familiar with.
So here goes, accommodation;
Darroch Court – it doesn’t look like much from the outside world but I love it. Literally a Ten minute walk to the train station, meaning an equal 10 to princes street (located just behind the train station) and in winter the Christmas stalls! Something you don’t want to miss. It’s literally a 30 second walk to the gym – I would put money on 15 seconds but you usually bump into someone you know coming out of Darroch! To continue with distance, it takes about 7 minutes to get to Potterrow (a place you will spend many a Saturday night wondering how you got roped into going to the big cheese AGAIN). After Potterrow its just a further 1 minute to Teviot – one of the oldest studnt unions in the world (HAS GREAT NACHOS AND A WICKED LIBRARY BAR) and a further 2 mintues from Appleton tower, George square lecture theatre, the library etc (all the main places) a total of just ten minutes from Darroch court to get to all your vital sources. You can shop on the way home as you walk straight past the Aldi, Farmfoods, Tesco and Poundland (all vital nutrition points). Now Actual Darroch Court. Well, as far as im concerned, despite being next to a halfwayhouse it’s a pretty safe place, has a shed for bikes (coded) and is always clean. The flats vary, some blocks being single sex with either five girls or five boys in, others mixed with more or fewer people, it really changes depending on the block. Not to worry though, you’ll end up meetingn 90% of the people within a couple weeks. I believe our facebook page (lame I know) is used far more then any other, with regular invites to anyone for predrinks (this year block 9 is the party flat im ngl). The page is also used to voice concerns (someone freaking out about a subject they take and begging anyone to come and help them- it usually works aswel). The flats themselves are pretty damn nice for student accommodation. So far from what I have seen, each flat with five or more have two fridges’freezers, plenty of cupboards, a dining table with stools and two sofas and a coffee table, all sufficient. You can fit about 30 people into the kitchen/lounge before it gets MAJORLY crowded, not to worry though as th bedrooms are bigger than I expected! YES you will have to put up with a single bed SORRY but there is plenty of floorspace, a massive cupboard (im a girl and didn’t fill half the wardrobe) a bookshelf, a desk and a massive pin board. No we don’t have ensuits, but having three toilets and two showers its surprisingly easy to forget you share with other people – I have never had to wait for a shower in the morning. Finally, the people, as you can tell by the facebook page, everyone my year is pretty dam friendly. It may change year on year, but I really don’t think it does. Everyone is so fun to go out with, and usually pretty helpful when it comes to you begging them to help you study! I knew everyone in my block (five flats all together) after just one week, (we had a block party to meet each other) and now almost done with a semester, im pretty confident in saying I could name at least 70 people living here. (trust that’s a lot of new names). And to be honest, Darroch is a pretty cheap place to live, my total of just short of £4000 for the year of rent comes to one of the cheapest accommodations not only in Edinburgh but for a lot of university’s!
Anyway, moving on. Deaconess – the scifi world of Edinburgh. Only this year opened up to freshers. Honestly? It’s a pretty cool place. Everything is silver or grey and looks like it’s be printed straight from a computer game. Its thought of as the Chancellors of Self catered. Understandable, the people here are a bit more snooty NOT TO PUT YOU OF THOUGH! Deaconess is much more modern, the lounges and kitchen areas have TV’s (a luxury at uni) and the bedrooms all have ensuits (if you desperately want to pay an extra £1000 for the privilege, Deaconess is the place!) however, the bedrooms are more compact, less floor space, and still a single bed. If I had to pick again, obv Darroch would be first choice, but Deaconess would probably my second choice, it is such a similar environment, just a bit more pricy. The people their? Equally as nice! Being a five minute walk from Darroch again time distances are pretty similar. It takes about 15mins to get to the train station, about 5 to the gym, but being further up the hill it takes only 8 minutes to get to Appleton! (trust me every minute counts when you’ve experienced walking into a full lecture theatre late ALL EYES ON YOU).
Sciennes, I have been informed, is a wicked place to make friends. However, it’s a much grubbier place. The flats are smaller and dingy, and it’s much more further away than many of the accommodations. Further then Pollock (and that’s saying something). However, the shared common room is pretty swish and if money is a big problem then this cheaper alternative isn’t the worse place in the workld (although I wouldn’t recommend it)
Cowgate – any person in accommodation on cowgate probably did not pick to be there. Some of the flats can be gorgeous, but nothing beats a good night sleep before an exam, or a 9am. – Impossible when living anywhere on cowgate. There is not one night where drunkards will quietly creep down cowgate, no rather they feel the need to scream, and shout, and let it all out. Do not choose to live here. Its just a no, even if the flats are amazing, trust me you will soon treasure sleep more.
Hermits croft is just a no. As is Fountain bridge (a million miles from anywhere). Despite being my 2nd and 3rd choice accommodation, I have never met anyone who lives in warrender park, accommodation, I’m pretty sure they’re all recluses.
Finally, Robertson’s close, yes 100% yes if you fancy the look of this place pick it. It’s a friendly atmosphere, almost everyone I know from here are amazing people. Not only that, but it is a pretty central place to live.
And just a little freshman advice. Freshers is wicked, but a bit overrated, everyone goes to the same events, so they’re always pretty crowded and by the time you get in your sober. Try getting a group of people and go to the other clubs being promoted but that arn’t so busy, you’ll meet just as many people, you’ll just be drunker and less squished (always a better mix). Download YIKYAK its hilarious and so relevant, but delete it two weeks before exams if not you will not study, it’s far too easy to procrastinate when you have yikyak.