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

I remember you saying you were going to Nottingham just before I left there and wanted to know about it. Which bit are you going to and what do you intend to do there would be a good place to start

As for the first question, I'm not entirely sure. I think I'll be fairly well in the centre of Nottingham. However, I know for sure I'm going to be starting a Philosophy degree in a few months time, and very exciting it is too!

Which university are you going to then? Nottingham Trent's all over the place, but mostly round the centre, where as the University of Nottingham (where I was) is mostly on one campus on the edge of the city. Starting university is certainly great fun

I'm going to the University of Nottingham, haven't found out where my accomodation is yet.

Anyway, academic issues aside, what are the pubs like in Nottingham?

Are you in halls? If so catered or self catered?

Good and cheap if you know where to go . There are plenty of hidden treasures that most the students don't know about if you appreciate a propper pub with real ale . My favourite is the Victoria Hotel, Dovecote Lane, Beeston. It's next to Beeston railway station and is all of five minutes walk from my former house. It normally has about 12 real ales at a time and parsnip crisps. In the city centre there are a lot of old good pubs, Ye Olde Trippe to Jerusalem is marketed as the oldest (13th century) and is cut into the sandstone cliff under the castle so you can sit in a cave. The real oldest is the Bell Inn, which if you ask nicely will take you to the caves that make up the cellar . The Olde salutation Inn and the Royal Children are two more old, good pubs.

Tucked away in a rundown corner of Radford (though all of Radford is a rundown corner, be warned never to go there alone or you could well get mugged) is The Plough Inn, one of the friendliest pubs in Nottingham. On a Thursday an Irish band plays and they give you a free chilli con carni (spl?) and a bread roll with your first pint.

The university main campus itself has thirteen bars, one in each hall and The Ark, the student's union pub. Most of these don't have real ale, but Cripps hall, Derby hall and the SU normally have one or two and only cost £1.65 per pint. You will most likely end up on the campus fourteen when you first start, the famous bar crawl starting and finishing in the Ark. The bars are only open for a limited time, so going to all forteen is not often accomplished. It is also banned. There is a myth that one student drowned in the lake after finishing the route. It's true that someone drowned, but the reason is uncertain.

Nottingham is a dangerous place, it's the capital's centre of gun crime and certain parts it's best not to venture into. Radford is one, St. Annes is another. It is however very addictive, it's impossible to get bored. It was very odd to come back to Hemel and find that the main story was about grass growning quickly in the hot weather . There's lots of clubs, Rock City is probably the best, attracting people from suprisingly far affield and it often has bands play live.

Urgh, I think I could practically write a book on the pubs in Nottingham alone, I've only got as far as the ood traditional style pubs

I don't know if I'll be in halls yet, but when applying for accomodation I asked for catering, given that jumping straight into self-catering the first year away seemed to me to be a bad idea.

Many thanks for the advice, I'm a fan of traditional pubs with real ales, Wetherspoons pubs etc are all very well but I'd rather go somewhere I don't, if I don't want to, have to drink lager.

Is it easy to get around Nottingham by foot? Or is it better to cycle/bus?

I hope you get a good hall then. My old one (Willoughby) served such wonderful dishes as 'chef's meat choice' and 'chef's vegetarian suprise'. Although the food ingredients are the same, some halls know what to do with it better than others. Another warning is that meal times are short and if you miss them you don't get food. If you leave food in the shared little kithens they just dissappear. I had one of those mini cooler things which lasted me well. I also developed a craving for cheese , I didn't realise I was so addicted to the stuff until I was deprived of it, so I used the mini fridge for milk and cheese.

When you come to moving out, there are three main student areas; Lenton, Dunkirk and Beeston. Lenton is closest to the city centre but crime is high (well, higher than normal) and rent is steep. For some reason it's the most popular, but I really can't understand why . Dunkirk is closest to campus, rent is better than Lenton and crime is about average. It only has one Spar though to provide the food. I went for Beeston, the cheapest but good quality houses. It's quieter, has the Victoria Hotel and has its own high street (it's basically a town that got swallowed up by the city). It's growing increasingly popular with students now and for good reason.

The Weatherspoons in Nottingham aren't bad, but too conditioned for my liking, I like some character. They do have reasonable ale though.

Nottingham is huge. You can't easily walk to the city centre from campus, it's almost an hour's walk. From campus it's easiest to get a bus. Be careful about bikes in the first year, they tend to get stolen. Probably best to wait until the second year when you can lock it up in a bike shed (most houses have one). If you do get a bike, make sure you don't spend any money on it, I don't know anyone who didn't have their bike stolen in the first year.

I'm not good with keeping bikes long term anyway, much like the father of a friend of mine. His tactic was to buy a bike that noone would want to steal (a bright pink one).

Food I'm not hugely fussy with though, my favourite food group is 'stodge'.

How are the halls organised? I've seen the inside of Cambridge student accomodation and a London college's student halls, and they were organised around 5 or so bedrooms, a kitchen and a bathroom on a corridor -- is Nottingham like that?

People tell me that a mini fridge and a sandwich toaster are the things to have, what truth is there in this?

Stealing bikes seems to be more a hobby

You shouldn't have too much trouble then . I'm not a fussy eater either, though there were still plenty of times when I took the vegetarian option as I couldn't recognise the meat

The halls are all different. For most there's about eight per kitchen and bathroom. I was unlucky, there were 21 of us. We did thougb have a bigger bathroom and a reasonably sized kitchen (though there was only a kettle, fridge and microwave and the kettle broke and wasn't replaced).

Mini fride, yes. Sandwich toaster - managed without one. When I skipped a meal I just had porridge. I am however rather fond of porridge . Others lived on noodles but I can't stand them. You'll also need a bit of crockery and cuttlery, they didn't provide pack lunches and weekends (they might do now) so it's easy to miss meals then. Rooms get cleaned once a week and there's an oppertunity one or twice a week to get your sheets cleaned (though you'll need your own duvet). 20ps are very useful (the washers and buses are £1.20), so I'd start collecting now . The rainbow buses give change but the others don't. Oh, an try and keep washing to a minimum, as there's nowhere to dry it.

Excess washing will not be a problem.

If I've got this right, there's no food provided at the weekend -- you have to do it yourself then?

This all sounds like the sort of thing that is highly arrangeable.

I just came back from babysitting a neighbour, who said that the only thing he knew about Nottingham was that it was "the place that thousands of people go each weekend to get drunk and throw up." We've established that there are rather nice pubs there, but, in general, how quickly did you find yourself meeting people etc?

Food is provided at weekends, but they don't give lunchboxes out at weekends, so if you miss a meal then you miss out.

Hmm, meeting people was pretty much instantaneous. Bring a packet of biscuits, everyone does, on the first day everyone just went round with packets of biscuits. There's Week One - lots of events arranged for freshers in the first week. To be honest it's hard to meet to people on these as they're generally parties where it's hard to have a chat. There's lots of clubs and societies, look out for Ramsoc, the society that I met most my friends at. Most will still be there next year, and it's a good, friendly and sociable society that likes its ale.

You can tell that I was Publicity Officer for 2004/05

I joined loads of societies in the first year, but in the end only had time for archery and Ramsoc. There's a club or society for pretty much anything so you shouldn't have trouble finding something you like, though some are more active than others.

I settled into Ramsoc very quickly, and soon found myself with a lot of friends. I was never bored at university, and never was there no one I knew around.

Those are some good recommendations!

Thanks for all your advice .

Honestly, give it a couple of weeks and you'll be properly settled in