Living in halls: opinions?

[maes]

I didn't go into halls, can't really cause I have a cat. I didn't regret it really, I'm in 2nd year now, visiting friends in 1st year seemed like a fucking nightmare place to live, so institutional. I think I would have gone nuts.

But this thread makes me think maybe I missed out on something important.

Oh well.

 

[bluestreak]

fucking hated it. have never had to live with a larger bunch of inconsiderate wankers ever. the violent, the anti-social, the rude, the creepy, downright arseholes, morons who couldn't make toast without setting fire to the kitchen. i hated it. living in halls was the single most depressing thing about my university life. it proved to me that hell really is other people. iw ouldn't do it again if you paid me.,

 

[Random One]

i really liked living in halls while i was there, it was nice that there was always someone around but wouldn't go back to living in them

 

[chio]

I didn't go into halls, can't really cause I have a cat. I didn't regret it really, I'm in 2nd year now, visiting friends in 1st year seemed like a fucking nightmare place to live, so institutional. I think I would have gone nuts.

But this thread makes me think maybe I missed out on something important.

Oh well.

I'm with you on this one -- never bothered just because there was really no need to. But when I've stayed over with people in halls I've never had a good night's sleep; the walls are paper-thin, doors banging and music blaring out at 4am, lots of overexcited 18 year olds. Couldn't have lived every night in the place! Sod the "experience" -- I need my sleep

 

[Flavour]

fucking hated it. have never had to live with a larger bunch of inconsiderate wankers ever. the violent, the anti-social, the rude, the creepy, downright arseholes, morons who couldn't make toast without setting fire to the kitchen. i hated it. living in halls was the single most depressing thing about my university life. it proved to me that hell really is other people. iw ouldn't do it again if you paid me.,

that was pretty much my experience mate, except there was one shining ray of light which was a cool-as-fuck american girl living upstairs who was only there for a year and became pretty much my communal living shareabuddy

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

I enjoyed it. There was an instant social life, which was great because I wasn't the most outgoing at that age and having moved away from home for the first time I was well up for getting wasted every night.

There were a few tensions that built up over time though and I had to act as peacemaker in a couple of fairly nasty fights towards the end of the year. I wasn't sorry to leave.

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

I liked it. My only complaint was the way that people seemed to form cliques just according to what corridor they lived on. It happened a lot, and was a bit poor, tbh.

My hall food was surprisingly good. OK it wasn't great, but for mass catering it wasn't all that bad... I liked the brunches, great hangover food.

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

my hall was about 40 minutes walk from the union bar

liked it for one year, couldn't have stayed longer but i knew people who stayed all three in one particular hall in swansea (clyne) which was a victorian mock castle...

Yeah our halls were way out in oadby, almost a satellite town of leicester. It was about a 30 minute bus ride away. Usually you saw hall friends in the hall bar, and then course friends in the main union bar.

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

Oh, and I should add: if you ever want an idea of what most chinese beer tastes like, think hall of residence bar beer...

 

[Agent Sparrow]

I unfortunately was in a block of university flats, and a bit gutted about it too. The hall complex was massive though - several halls and several blocks of flats 4 miles away from the uni, and I remembered it was great when it snowed or when it got warm. Do feel there was less chance to really meet people on were more on my wavelength rather than the smaller number of people I had been put with. Admittedly I got on with my first year flatmates fine and lived with most of them for the next 2 years, but haven't stayed touch with any of them.

 

[Final]

hated the halls themselves, but was a great way to make friends (and move out into a house with them in 2nd year)

 

[marty21]

Yeah our halls were way out in oadby, almost a satellite town of leicester. It was about a 30 minute bus ride away. Usually you saw hall friends in the hall bar, and then course friends in the main union bar.

hall bar? you were lucky, we had to make do with the pub down the road, and a late night place called ribs near that, served it's purpose well

 

[jbob]

fucking hated it. have never had to live with a larger bunch of inconsiderate wankers ever. the violent, the anti-social, the rude, the creepy, downright arseholes, morons who couldn't make toast without setting fire to the kitchen. i hated it. living in halls was the single most depressing thing about my university life. it proved to me that hell really is other people. iw ouldn't do it again if you paid me.,

Yeah, that was exactly my experience the first time 'round in Liverpool. I lasted two weeks in Halls and then fucked off into private accomodation with a couple of lads I'd met at a rave! 1991 in Liverpool - £22 pounds a week rent, living with two people who were ex-students, local, and pretty damn sound.

The Hall I got placed in was bizarre to say the least. A former Victorian 'lunatic asylum' (when they were called such things), with brick cells and a single window. Not an appealing environment, which was only made worse by the fact that the university had somehow contrived to place sociology students, like me, with sports science students... Not a good mix.

This first interaction with student 'lifestyle' made me unfortunately cyncial about the whole 'student experience', and I probably didn't interact with my fellow students as much as a should have done. Still, since I was slightly outside of all that I had a different experience that actually enabled me to interact with people other than students in a city I didn't know. Which was good in its own way.

 

[Xanadu]

I loved the building, but didn't get on with the people I was living around - mainly cos I was being rubbish, but it was a really difficult time and everyone was too busy to notice that I wasn't feeling particularly good. Living in a flat with other friends was loads better, but I much preferred renting a flat in London after graduating.

 

[northernhord]

I lived in Halls cos I didnt have any money when I arrived in Bristol for a deposit, I fuckin loved met some great peeps and the rent was more affordable than some of the rents that were being charged by those rip agencies.

 

[Thora]

I didn't regret it really, I'm in 2nd year now, visiting friends in 1st year seemed like a fucking nightmare place to live, so institutional.

I think I actually quite liked the institutional aspect of it My hall was catered as well, so we got to eat three awful school-dinner style meals together every day - the best meals were the ones the catering staff cobbled together from yesterday's leftovers, like the now infamous 'coleslaw and salami pasta' followed by 'icecream and dumplings'. Good times.

I was also lucky enough to live in what was universally acknowledged to be the shittiest halls on campus - when people misbehaved in other halls they got sent to ours as some kind of punishment As a result we ended up living with various nutjobs including the boy who used to shit in other people's bins when they left them outside their rooms at night for the cleaners...

 

[_angel_]

Hated it. Like my own space and company too much. Being forced to live with thirty other people and do everything in the full glare of strangers was too much.

 

[frogwoman]

I loved the building, but didn't get on with the people I was living around - mainly cos I was being rubbish, but it was a really difficult time and everyone was too busy to notice that I wasn't feeling particularly good. Living in a flat with other friends was loads better, but I much preferred renting a flat in London after graduating.

yeah i know the feeling, but a lot of it was my fault and they're all right people, but i stopped going out with them because of ocd/paranoia and the stress of being at uni for first time, but i am trying to patch those friendships up before i leave, especiallh since a guy i was convinced didnt like me told me how he'd missed speaking to me for so long...but if not, im not too bothered tbh. its all good...

 

[Prince Rhyus]

Hated it. Full of Rah-ty girls with boyfriends who I'd never heard of and never met, going on and on about them as if they were defined by them. "Hello, my name's Rah-ty and my boyfriend Tarquin rah-rah-rah-rah-rah-pub-and-drunk-rah-rah-rah-driving-home-for-the-weekend-rah-rah-rah.

 

[mrs quoad]

I've fucking hated living in halls previously. Except for the first time, when I met my first serious bird on day 1, slept with her 2 hours later, and spent the next year in a fug of weed, acid and vodka.

In 2002, one of my housemates stole my subwoofer and a considerable amount of other expensive goods in his bid to become a successful cannabis dealer. So far as I know, he's back packing pies in Godonlyknowswhere. He certainly didn't pass year 1 management and marketing.

However, ten years on I'm sober and moving out of my own lovely house into postgraduate accommodation for a year.

I'm quite looking forward to it.

I may be saying something different this time next year.