h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

In a British Uni, you'll usually have the option of staying in Halls for your first year. This is *definitely* a good idea - even if you live fairly close to the uni. You'll get to know a bunch of people who you might otherwise never meet.

Your Halls will probably have single bedrooms (although some may be shared - these are often slightly cheaper) and shared kitchens and bathrooms. When you move in, leave your door open while you're unpacking. That way you'll get to know everyone from the word go. And you might even get people offering to help!

Just watch out - Freshers' Week (or WeekOne as they called it at Nottingham) is liable to be a full week of noise, drunken cavorting and the inevitable fire alarms if you're living in Halls. But it's still better than living in a house from the word go, because there's a certain measure of support for the lone and lost, and it is indeed the best way to gain a circle of friends quickly - or at least people you can go and talk to when the urge to kill and maim strikes.

That is, you go and talk to them to work off the urge to kill and maim, not to give in to it...

But I don't recommend staying in Halls any longer than that. Some people love Hall life, but I found that after three terms of it, even with an en-suite bathroom in a brand-new building, I felt like I had no privacy, and no personal space. Sure, you can lock your door, but the walls of most rooms in Halls are made of paper (or something with similar sound-blocking capabilities) so you can never escape the noise of someone else having a party, or listening to terrible music.

There are times when you will want to scream, cry, kill everyone else in the building, and generally be extremely unpleasant to your fellow residents. You will want to run away, drown yourself in the nearest lake/river/moat, get yourself arrested in order to spend the night somewhere comparatively quiet, and even sleep outside - but stick with it. If you manage to survive your first year in Halls, you can move into a house with people you like and know and can get on with for the remainder of your degree.

And, you can get that satisfied feeling that says you weathered the storm - and there's not much after that which can be as bad.

Says he who didn't meet many people he liked in Halls.

Of course, some people love it - or say they do.

By the way, don't believe for a moment that Freshers' Week is going to be good. They say it's the best week of University, but they're always wrong. I've never met anyone who agrees with that.

I didn't stay in halls for my first year I stayed in private halls a bit futher out from the uni. They didn't turn out how I expected, one half was a hotel frequented by prostitutes. I was even offered a room to use by someone who had finished with it when I brought a friend back for pizza. I had problems seeing my friends as I couldn't walk home at night on my own (being as I would be walking through a red light district) so I had to get taxis. I met two people where I was, one who left half way through the year and my mum saw the other one more than me.
My advice is stay in halls, they may be grotty, loud (belive me noise can sometimes be better than silence), but if you really hate it it is a lot easier moving out than if you have a private landlord who has get out penalties. You get to meet lots of people, and if you don't like them well ok, there will always be someone else about.

Sorry if I've scared you. I've just finished my second year after a great time in a house with my friends. I'll be living there again next year and I can't wait.

SallyM

I'm curently writing an article about living in halls and the first year that should be ready soon. As I've just been theer all year I thought it appropriate.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A544844

Halls are just such fun thought. Loads to do, and people to meet. I have 40 on my floor alone which is brilliant! Took me an age to learn their names thoguth.