Living in Halls versus Private Accommodation

Yeah living in halls is well rubbish.....

(This is an article I wrote for the student newspaper, I don't actually think living in halls is rubbish, love you 1st floor lads and Stephenson in general.)

Living in Halls. Kill me now. Could any experience be any more intrusive or annoying? I talked to a few people about what they thought of living in halls the words dingy, noisy and overpriced kept cropping up.

Some people cite the instant “social network” you get if you live in halls. Let’s actually think about that. Essentially your forced to do things with a load of random people you might not even like. Instead of joining of societies or properly making friends with people on your course, you feel obligated to be with the people in your hall just because there’s a lot of them and they are there. So you’re not making friends you might actually enjoy being with.

It’s always messy in the kitchen because no one feels obligated to tidy up there mess. Then there’s the smell. Despite the fact everyone I ever talked to said they were quite happy with mixed accommodation, pretty much everywhere is a corridor or flat of one gender. Living in a corridor with just boys is no fun on the nose.

Also there is no decent social area, especially if you live in catered halls, which can lead to people spending a lot of time by themselves in there rooms because there reluctant to visit people in their rooms because they feel they are intruding.

Private accommodation has a lot of advantages. First off the most obvious one, it's quiet when you need it to be. Trying to work while the guy two doors down is shredding his guitar can make being interested in what Nietzsche had to say even harder if that’s possible. Living in halls it never gets completely quiet until midnight at the earliest and then you have the all the returning club goers at about 3am waking you up.

It's possible to find a much cheaper option, which is always a plus on the student budget, were as with Halls you have to accept whatever they decide to charge.

Some would say there are less social opportunities but you just have to take the initiative! An incredible idea I know but join societies or clubs and you will seriously expand your social network, finding something you like is hardly a difficult task with all the things on offer.

If you like the place you live and the people your with you can stay there for the duration of your course, you don't have to move just because you've reached the end of your first year. You can treat where you live more like home than simply a room and a corridor you share with people you don’t know. Also unlike Halls you don’t get chucked out of your room just because it isn’t term time, this is actually your house.

A room that doesn’t resemble a cell in Alcatraz is a big plus. Also unrestricted by rules on blue tack, you can let your creativity and personality express itself in all its poster and polaroid based glory. Not to mention the possibility of a bigger bed! Not having a very singular bed can be very useful whether you like to spread out when sleeping, avoid spooning with mates or entertaining late night visitors... Access to Wi-Fi is also nice, making moving files and even your laptop a lot more convenient than trying to avoid pulling the internet cable out of the wall.

Halls when you get down to it coddles you. Instead of properly learning to take care of yourself, paying bills and tidying up for instance, you live in a bizarre mix of boarding school and flat.One person I know lived in a camper van and thought the experience preferable to living in halls, which pretty much say’s it all doesn’t it?