[Chrisruptor]

I'm finding it really difficult to make a decision whether to move or not as I only live half an hour from the university I'm going to, but I need to make the decision more or less now. But I really don't know if it's going to be for me or not.

So I want to know what a typical day is like in the halls. Or even the domestic/social part of the whole university day.

[the666thmessiah]

Get drunk.

[cfizzle]

It's worth going, half an hour or not!

In my halls, on a day with lectures, I'd get up at half 8 (I had to put makeup on etc, but since you're a boy you'd roll out of bed at 5 to) (also, this is depending on distance to your building, we were like 4 mins walk from everything so our halls were bliss!).

Then after lectures etc etc, I'd go back, make some lunch, chat with my flatmates who were in etc. Everyone (minus our one very non existent flatmate) used the kitchen/living room as their main social place. If not we'd prop our doors open with a doorstop, then see what was going on with everyone. I'd then go to any more lectures I had and come back to the same sorta thing, chatting etc.

THEN (!) I'd make my tea around the same time everyone else did (there were 6 of us) and since we had a TV / xbox we'd maybe put on some tv or dvd or the guys would play FIFA etc.

Halls are the best for going a night out definintely. Our flat was evvvvveryone's pre-drinks flat so it was a bit er, disgusting after nights out! We'd get everyone in our certain groups into the one big group, sit around the coffee table and play kings, 21, etc. then it was such a short walk to the union that we could leave later than a lot of people.

Coming back from nights out was awesome too, whilst the home dwellers and people in accommodation further away waited for the night bus or taxis, we just walked like a minute down the road and we were home!


That was very very long, haha, but the moral of the story is, GO TO HALLS! Living in halls were the best days of my life (really!) and if I'd have stayed home like most of my other friends did I'd have regretted it SO much

[cfizzle]

(Original post by Chrisruptor)
I'm finding it really difficult to make a decision whether to move or not as I only live half an hour from the university I'm going to, but I need to make the decision more or less now. But I really don't know if it's going to be for me or not.

So I want to know what a typical day is like in the halls. Or even the domestic/social part of the whole university day.

PS, I notice you say you're half an hour away and live in Fife, are you going to Dundee or Abertay? Cause I go to Dundee

[KingKong]

Well, i never lived in Halls but did seriously consider it. If you can easily afford it, then by all means go for it. Though bear in mind that a lot of unis will not offer you a place unless you live over 25 miles away. Cheapest it will be is about 70pw just for the flat, so about 2.5k for term time? And that's not including food and such. If i could have easily afforded it with no aid from loans, i would have definetly taken it (i.e parents paying for it). But then again if i had went, i wouldn't have met my lovely girlfriend or became way more friendly with people in my town.

For me at least, there would be no perks staying with a bunch of strangers in halls who were all freshers, but when I was 18 (now 21) and didn't know anyone else at uni i'de have been well up for it!

As far as I can tell, most people don't regret moving into halls. So if you can (budget BEFORE depositing) do it, go for it!

(Original post by cfizzle)
x

Anything else etc.? Sorry, takin the p***!

[cfizzle]

(Original post by KingKong)
Well, i never lived in Halls but did seriously consider it. If you can easily afford it, then by all means go for it. Though bear in mind that a lot of unis will not offer you a place unless you live over 25 miles away. Cheapest it will be is about 70pw just for the flat, so about 2.5k for term time? And that's not including food and such. If i could have easily afforded it with no aid from loans, i would have definetly taken it (i.e parents paying for it). But then again if i had went, i wouldn't have met my lovely girlfriend or became way more friendly with people in my town.

For me at least, there would be no perks staying with a bunch of strangers in halls who were all freshers, but when I was 18 (now 21) and didn't know anyone else at uni i'de have been well up for it!

As far as I can tell, most people don't regret moving into halls. So if you can (budget BEFORE depositing) do it, go for it!

Anything else etc.? Sorry, takin the p***!

Hahaha I used etc a lot in there I admit... It's just my way of saying "can't be buggered listing more for you, so I'll chuck in an et cetera"

[Dorito]

don't think there is a 'typical day'. Everyone is out at different times and is doing their own thing, halls was brilliant though. We wasted so many afternoons making up games in our kitchen to kill the time. Onion cricket was a personal highlight, as well as my egg and tinfoil catapult I constructed.

[Origami Bullets]

I'm not really sure there is any such thing, but my day normally involved
- Get up about an hour before lectures (need a shower + hair + make up!)
- Leave about 15 mins before lectures, cycle in
- Go to lectures / tutorials; fill any gaps inbetween them by getting lunch / going to the library.
- Come home
- Go and find a flatmate to go to Sainsburys with
- Cook dinner (invariably at the same time as other flatmates, so it's quite sociable)
- Do some uni work / go out / go to a meeting / surf TSR / whatever

There are also some sports practices in there about 3 days a week, before / after uni.

I'd always go into halls, myself - they give you an instant social group (more important than in school, simply because universities are far bigger) as well as the convenience of being close to university, and the freedom to be spontaneous.

[New- Emperor]

Just go dude I loved it

[Chrisruptor]

(Original post by cfizzle)
PS, I notice you say you're half an hour away and live in Fife, are you going to Dundee or Abertay? Cause I go to Dundee

I'm going to Abertay haha. I did apply for D&J though, but withdrew when I got my place in Abertay (which is the only one I wanted) so I wouldn't have to hand in my portfolio as well as the other unis I applied for.

What do you mean by non-existant flatmate? He or she wasn't there, or just didn't come out of their room? I'd be worried that would end up being me, which is why I'm so on the fence about going or not.

So (to everyone), what are the sorts of things you have to put up with? I hear stories about fire alarms going off, not being able to go to sleep due to the noise, flatmates always having parties, you know. Is this pretty much how it goes a lot of nights?

[Aramiss18]

(Original post by Chrisruptor)
I'm going to Abertay haha. I did apply for D&J though, but withdrew when I got my place in Abertay (which is the only one I wanted) so I wouldn't have to hand in my portfolio as well as the other unis I applied for.

What do you mean by non-existant flatmate? He or she wasn't there, or just didn't come out of their room? I'd be worried that would end up being me, which is why I'm so on the fence about going or not.

So (to everyone), what are the sorts of things you have to put up with? I hear stories about fire alarms going off, not being able to go to sleep due to the noise, flatmates always having parties, you know. Is this pretty much how it goes a lot of nights?

There are always a few people that are never at halls, lectures or labs yet somehow manage to actually go through uni fine

I lived in private accommodation rather than halls in my first year and although I had flatmates I regret not living in real halls because the sheer density of people mean there's so much going on and uni can, strangely, feel very lonely at times- the more the merrier.

Fire alarms, loud sex (my old flatmate squealed "eeeeeeeeeeee" when she was having sex- I dunno how he kept it up ), people eating your food/alcohol, piles of washing up that dwarf mountains but really the fun you have OUTWEIGHS all the negatives. Go for it pal.

EDIT: But living away from home in a student flat serves as a very nice stepping to stone to living independently and helped me mature, become more considerate and considerably more streetwise.

[cfizzle]

(Original post by Chrisruptor)
I'm going to Abertay haha. I did apply for D&J though, but withdrew when I got my place in Abertay (which is the only one I wanted) so I wouldn't have to hand in my portfolio as well as the other unis I applied for.

What do you mean by non-existant flatmate? He or she wasn't there, or just didn't come out of their room? I'd be worried that would end up being me, which is why I'm so on the fence about going or not.

So (to everyone), what are the sorts of things you have to put up with? I hear stories about fire alarms going off, not being able to go to sleep due to the noise, flatmates always having parties, you know. Is this pretty much how it goes a lot of nights?

Oooh awesome

Basically she came out with us for freshers week, was a bit weird, then disappeared and just stopped talking to us or even saying hello... she was a minger too, left food in her cupboard for weeks on end and stuff eurgh...

believe me, before i came to uni i was a quietish person at school. had a lot of friends but wasnt the most social of people. whilst everyone else was going out with fake IDs and whatnot i was in the house... stuff like that

but when i went to halls, i changed soooo much! everyone who knew me then and now say im the person thats changed the most.. 1st semester i never went out, maybe once a fortnight (which is rare in dundee!) but then later on in the year i came out of my shell SO much and was socialising like a biatch haha

as for the general question,

yes we had a fire alarm once a week but it was scheduled at 11am. thats a myth about parties going on, the parties end at 11 when they move onto the club. i was only ever awoken like 2 or 3 times by my drunken flatmates but it was really funny so i wasnt bothered.

if you're more of an introvert, i think halls will really be the best thing for you

[paulmch]

Living in halls is one of those things that everyone who goes to uni should try to do, you'll learn a lot and you'll also meet some great people and have lots of fun! And if you're like me, it means walking across the road to get to lectures which is a bonus!

[Wookie42]

Exam period: Wake up, "oh s*** revision!", do no revision, have lunch, "OH S*** REVISION!!", have dinner, do no revision, later realise you've done nothing all day, revise from 11pm-2am, sleep, repeat.

All other times: Wake up, go back to sleep, maybe go to lectures, go back to flat, get drunk, sleep, repeat.

Just do it. Halls are the best thing, and I had so much fun in my first year meeting tons of people from all over the country/world. In your first year you don't have too much work and its a great opportunity to make friends and generally have a good time.

[jelly1000]

Halls are worth it just for the convience alone.