Durham St Mary's Shoichi T/time only Accommodation offer

Hi,

A parent here with first post on this site. Yesterday, daughter was offered term time only accommodation in Shoichi Hall. We'd asked for en-suite, but understand there are only a few rooms, so expected to get Standard room offer & surprised to get term time only offer.
A couple of things:
1. Does term time only mean totally clearing out your room for holidays? If not, does it mean your things are in there, but someone stays in your room??
2. Daughter worried that Shoichi is a bit of a satellite of St Mary's ie not the 'real thing' (my words not hers!) and she won't meet people in the same way as if she was in either of the main buildings e.g. Ferguson. This has slightly taken the edge off her excitement of heading to St Mary's.

3. Are rooms in Shoichi mostly allocated to Japanese exchange students or are there lots of full-time Durham students on the corridors as well? She has a major concern about meeting people to share accommodation with in second year if only meeting temporary Exchange Students on her corridor.

(PS no issues with Exchange students - I'm Australian and did an Exchange to Japan!)

Eldest child, so no prior experience of Uni accommodation.
If anyone has direct experience of this, I'd be very grateful for some information. Would like to put these questions to the College, but I'm guessing they're snowed under right now!

Many thanks.

Hi,

A parent here with first post on this site. Yesterday, daughter was offered term time only accommodation in Shoichi Hall. We'd asked for en-suite, but understand there are only a few rooms, so expected to get Standard room offer & surprised to get term time only offer.
A couple of things:
1. Does term time only mean totally clearing out your room for holidays? If not, does it mean your things are in there, but someone stays in your room??
2. Daughter worried that Shoichi is a bit of a satellite of St Mary's ie not the 'real thing' (my words not hers!) and she won't meet people in the same way as if she was in either of the main buildings e.g. Ferguson. This has slightly taken the edge off her excitement of heading to St Mary's.

3. Are rooms in Shoichi mostly allocated to Japanese exchange students or are there lots of full-time Durham students on the corridors as well? She has a major concern about meeting people to share accommodation with in second year if only meeting temporary Exchange Students on her corridor.

(PS no issues with Exchange students - I'm Australian and did an Exchange to Japan!)

Eldest child, so no prior experience of Uni accommodation.
If anyone has direct experience of this, I'd be very grateful for some information. Would like to put these questions to the College, but I'm guessing they're snowed under right now!

Many thanks

Hi, we have just heard that our son has been allocated there too - and he is at Trevelyan College. So it sounds like they are mixing the colleges a bit. The woman I spoke to said that about 40 Trevs students will be allocated there, with no foreign exchange students. They will still have access to all of their college’s facilities, but will be about 3 mins away from their central sites… not quite the same but better than being miles away, I suppose! And the building looks nice.

Hi,

A parent here with first post on this site. Yesterday, daughter was offered term time only accommodation in Shoichi Hall. We'd asked for en-suite, but understand there are only a few rooms, so expected to get Standard room offer & surprised to get term time only offer.
A couple of things:
1. Does term time only mean totally clearing out your room for holidays? If not, does it mean your things are in there, but someone stays in your room??
2. Daughter worried that Shoichi is a bit of a satellite of St Mary's ie not the 'real thing' (my words not hers!) and she won't meet people in the same way as if she was in either of the main buildings e.g. Ferguson. This has slightly taken the edge off her excitement of heading to St Mary's.

3. Are rooms in Shoichi mostly allocated to Japanese exchange students or are there lots of full-time Durham students on the corridors as well? She has a major concern about meeting people to share accommodation with in second year if only meeting temporary Exchange Students on her corridor.

(PS no issues with Exchange students - I'm Australian and did an Exchange to Japan!)

Eldest child, so no prior experience of Uni accommodation.
If anyone has direct experience of this, I'd be very grateful for some information. Would like to put these questions to the College, but I'm guessing they're snowed under right now!

Many thanks.

Hi there! I’m Will, St Mary’s JCR Treasurer.

I am delighted to hear you/your child are joining Mary’s in September. I have been told that you are having concerns about your allocation to Shoichi Hall as part of Teikyo University. Please do not worry at all!!

I am going into my second year (living out). Last year I had a room (73) on the first floor East Wing Fergusson with the library. My room was perfect, larger than the others on the corridor as it was at the end. I was facing out over the beautiful ‘weeping Angel’ statues and Shoichi Hall. My corridor friend group was called ‘Coriander’ and we became best friends with the Mary’s people in Teikyo. I’ve had so many wonderful memories in my first year at Mary’s, and I’m sure your daughter will feel the same.

Mary’s and Trevs, as the neighbouring colleges to Shoichi Hall and Etsuko Hall, have had 12 students in their each year since around 2005 as an exchange. (The Teikyo university teaching site is separate, by the Oriental Museum and Elvet Hill House). It has been a massive success.

Last year due to the oversubscriptions, and the fact that the Japanese students weren’t coming (until Summer), Collingwood and Cuth’s overflow were also assigned to Teikyo but that won’t happen this year.

Shoichi Hall is just next door and is actually closer to Fergusson than Williamson is because you enter through the Cloister doors! It’s really nice and you’ll still use the wonderful Mary’s dining hall and interact with everyone as normal. The living room is so lovely there with ‘hospital waiting room’ style seats. We had so many nice gatherings there before clubbing (side note: I don’t drink and it is completely accepted and everyone is so friendly and understanding) and the Teikyo porters are nice. It also has propers kitchens with hobs, and a proper freezer. Way better than Fergusson kitchenettes! Shoichi also smells very nice (of watermelons haha) and is kept to a higher cleaning standard than Fergusson. You also have your own library and laundry room so you don’t have to worry about lugging laundry to Fergusson or collecting parcels at Fergusson. The only downside is that the rooms are generally smaller. You’ll get the same warm welcome from freps, and your personalised Simpson’s Room Signs (we had Scooby Doo as the theme last year). In sum, it is a lovely building and you’ll make so many memories there. It is also better than having to live in the Viaduct like 37 people had to last year!

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any further questions. Have you joined the Freshers Facebook page? It would be good to share it with the Freshers WhatsApp page as we are yet to have most Freshers join. Please feel free to say hi to me - I am the only man to have ever done Mary’s Dance and we’ll be performing in Freshers Week at the Live Lounge.

Hi there! I’m Will, St Mary’s JCR Treasurer.

I am delighted to hear you/your child are joining Mary’s in September. I have been told that you are having concerns about your allocation to Shoichi Hall as part of Teikyo University. Please do not worry at all!!

I am going into my second year (living out). Last year I had a room (73) on the first floor East Wing Fergusson with the library. My room was perfect, larger than the others on the corridor as it was at the end. I was facing out over the beautiful ‘weeping Angel’ statues and Shoichi Hall. My corridor friend group was called ‘Coriander’ and we became best friends with the Mary’s people in Teikyo. I’ve had so many wonderful memories in my first year at Mary’s, and I’m sure your daughter will feel the same.

Mary’s and Trevs, as the neighbouring colleges to Shoichi Hall and Etsuko Hall, have had 12 students in their each year since around 2005 as an exchange. (The Teikyo university teaching site is separate, by the Oriental Museum and Elvet Hill House). It has been a massive success.

Last year due to the oversubscriptions, and the fact that the Japanese students weren’t coming (until Summer), Collingwood and Cuth’s overflow were also assigned to Teikyo but that won’t happen this year.

Shoichi Hall is just next door and is actually closer to Fergusson than Williamson is because you enter through the Cloister doors! It’s really nice and you’ll still use the wonderful Mary’s dining hall and interact with everyone as normal. The living room is so lovely there with ‘hospital waiting room’ style seats. We had so many nice gatherings there before clubbing (side note: I don’t drink and it is completely accepted and everyone is so friendly and understanding) and the Teikyo porters are nice. It also has propers kitchens with hobs, and a proper freezer. Way better than Fergusson kitchenettes! Shoichi also smells very nice (of watermelons haha) and is kept to a higher cleaning standard than Fergusson. You also have your own library and laundry room so you don’t have to worry about lugging laundry to Fergusson or collecting parcels at Fergusson. The only downside is that the rooms are generally smaller. You’ll get the same warm welcome from freps, and your personalised Simpson’s Room Signs (we had Scooby Doo as the theme last year). In sum, it is a lovely building and you’ll make so many memories there. It is also better than having to live in the Viaduct like 37 people had to last year!

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any further questions. Have you joined the Freshers Facebook page? It would be good to share it with the Freshers WhatsApp page as we are yet to have most Freshers join. Please feel free to say hi to me - I am the only man to have ever done Mary’s Dance and we’ll be performing in Freshers Week at the Live Lounge.

Have now had a very satisfactory call with the lovely accommodation lady at St Mary's who answered all our questions. 32 St Mary's students will be in a single section of the Shoichi/Teikyo building all together. Students from Trev housed in a different section together too. It is no further from Ferguson than Williamson is and there's a direct path. For this building, 'term time only' means lock up your room and go home for holidays - no need to clear anything out (except perhaps any valuables) and no-one will be staying in your room while you're away. We were told she'd fielded about 50 calls with very similar questions on this today (esp term-time only queries), so is going to recommend that the wording sent to students is clarified. 18yo now back to being very excited about heading up to Durham!

Hi Will! Thanks so much for all the information in both your messages - it's very helpful. As I noted in a separate post just now, we had a great call this afternoon with St Mary's staff who kindly put us at ease. I'll make sure my daughter has a look at your reply and gets onto the Whatsapp and Facebook pages. She's really looking forward to joining you all in a couple of weeks (and has already bought her wristband!!).

Thanks again.

Hi there! I’m Will, St Mary’s JCR Treasurer.

I am delighted to hear you/your child are joining Mary’s in September. I have been told that you are having concerns about your allocation to Shoichi Hall as part of Teikyo University. Please do not worry at all!!

I am going into my second year (living out). Last year I had a room (73) on the first floor East Wing Fergusson with the library. My room was perfect, larger than the others on the corridor as it was at the end. I was facing out over the beautiful ‘weeping Angel’ statues and Shoichi Hall. My corridor friend group was called ‘Coriander’ and we became best friends with the Mary’s people in Teikyo. I’ve had so many wonderful memories in my first year at Mary’s, and I’m sure your daughter will feel the same.

Mary’s and Trevs, as the neighbouring colleges to Shoichi Hall and Etsuko Hall, have had 12 students in their each year since around 2005 as an exchange. (The Teikyo university teaching site is separate, by the Oriental Museum and Elvet Hill House). It has been a massive success.

Last year due to the oversubscriptions, and the fact that the Japanese students weren’t coming (until Summer), Collingwood and Cuth’s overflow were also assigned to Teikyo but that won’t happen this year.

Shoichi Hall is just next door and is actually closer to Fergusson than Williamson is because you enter through the Cloister doors! It’s really nice and you’ll still use the wonderful Mary’s dining hall and interact with everyone as normal. The living room is so lovely there with ‘hospital waiting room’ style seats. We had so many nice gatherings there before clubbing (side note: I don’t drink and it is completely accepted and everyone is so friendly and understanding) and the Teikyo porters are nice. It also has propers kitchens with hobs, and a proper freezer. Way better than Fergusson kitchenettes! Shoichi also smells very nice (of watermelons haha) and is kept to a higher cleaning standard than Fergusson. You also have your own library and laundry room so you don’t have to worry about lugging laundry to Fergusson or collecting parcels at Fergusson. The only downside is that the rooms are generally smaller. You’ll get the same warm welcome from freps, and your personalised Simpson’s Room Signs (we had Scooby Doo as the theme last year). In sum, it is a lovely building and you’ll make so many memories there. It is also better than having to live in the Viaduct like 37 people had to last year!

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any further questions. Have you joined the Freshers Facebook page? It would be good to share it with the Freshers WhatsApp page as we are yet to have most Freshers join. Please feel free to say hi to me - I am the only man to have ever done Mary’s Dance and we’ll be performing in Freshers Week at the Live Lounge.

I've been following this thread ever since I got my accommodation and was super worried about how unexpected the placement was. You've seriously calmed my nerves! Thank you so much, I'm back to being excited now !!

Hi i was just wondering how your daughter got on this last year as it seems my daughter is in the same position and been allocated a room in this building and is having a panic!!!

Hi. Congratulations to your daughter and no need at all for panic! My daughter has had the best year at Durham and has loved being at 'Mary's'. Her room actually ended up being in Etsuko, which is the smaller of the two buildings that were originally built for the Teikyo University students; Shoichi Hall being the other, slightly larger, one. It seems the Teikyo Exchange students are now housed in the main buildings (Ferguson and Williamson) so they get a better all-round experience of mixing rather than being off in their own building. Thus the two buildings are available to other St Mary's students. This year in Shoichi there was a floor of Mary's students with a floor of Trevelyan (Trevs) students above.

She has had a great time in Etsuko - there were six on her floor, six on the floor below and some postgrad students on the floor above (who seemed to keep to themselves). The building has its own little common room where people would meet to hang out either for drinks before going out, movies, games etc - including friends from other buildings. This meant they didn't have to be in the big common room in the main building for small gatherings - bit like having your own lounge room. It also has a full kitchen - great for late night pesto pasta!

The Etsuko building is right out the back of Ferguson, so a very short walk to meals and all the other things that take place in the main building. The Shoichi building is marginally further but still very close i.e. 1 minute.

She has made loads of friends from across the college (all buildings) as there has been so much put on by Mary's for them to do & be involved in. (This is helpful as finding second year housing happens VERY early in Durham and it was great to have met people she really gelled with from across the college in the first few weeks.) Friends are from across the country and some internationals.

Another apparent advantage of the two smaller buildings - fewer fire alarms set off with middle of the night wake ups...! Generally quieter as fewer people on your corridor, but with all the advantage of the main buildings right next door. TBH she feels she was really fortunate to have had the room she did. So our initial panic (due to having no idea about anything!!) was misplaced.

Hi. Congratulations to your daughter and no need at all for panic! My daughter has had the best year at Durham and has loved being at 'Mary's'. Her room actually ended up being in Etsuko, which is the smaller of the two buildings that were originally built for the Teikyo University students; Shoichi Hall being the other, slightly larger, one. It seems the Teikyo Exchange students are now housed in the main buildings (Ferguson and Williamson) so they get a better all-round experience of mixing rather than being off in their own building. Thus the two buildings are available to other St Mary's students. This year in Shoichi there was a floor of Mary's students with a floor of Trevelyan (Trevs) students above.

She has had a great time in Etsuko - there were six on her floor, six on the floor below and some postgrad students on the floor above (who seemed to keep to themselves). The building has its own little common room where people would meet to hang out either for drinks before going out, movies, games etc - including friends from other buildings. This meant they didn't have to be in the big common room in the main building for small gatherings - bit like having your own lounge room. It also has a full kitchen - great for late night pesto pasta!

The Etsuko building is right out the back of Ferguson, so a very short walk to meals and all the other things that take place in the main building. The Shoichi building is marginally further but still very close i.e. 1 minute.

She has made loads of friends from across the college (all buildings) as there has been so much put on by Mary's for them to do & be involved in. (This is helpful as finding second year housing happens VERY early in Durham and it was great to have met people she really gelled with from across the college in the first few weeks.) Friends are from across the country and some internationals.

Another apparent advantage of the two smaller buildings - fewer fire alarms set off with middle of the night wake ups...! Generally quieter as fewer people on your corridor, but with all the advantage of the main buildings right next door. TBH she feels she was really fortunate to have had the room she did. So our initial panic (due to having no idea about anything!!) was misplaced.