For the past two years whilst I've been at university I have been in some form of student halls. In first year I, like most first years, lived in university supplied student accommodation with complete strangers. It was an unusual experience, and one I won't be doing again in a hurry. In second year, I lived in private student accommodation with three girls I chose to live with. I am relieved to say next year (for my third and final year at Oxford Brookes University) I will be living in private rented house which I am excited for and I'm glad to be seeing the back of student halls for hopefully the foreseeable future.
001 The cost of halls. In Oxford student accommodation is so expensive, its beyond ridicous! My friend paid more than £9,000 (what it costs to spend a year at university) to live in student accommodation last year.
002 Not being completely 'independent'. I hated the fact that to do anything, even use the car park we had to get permission!
003 The ridiculous cost of laundry. We had laundry cards which you could only top up in £5 denominations, and to use a washing machine was like £3.20 and to use the dryer was £1.20. meaning I lost money on my card, as you can't get refunds and you have to pay £5 for the privilege to get a card to be able to use the laundrette.
004 The loudness of other people. People were beyond inconsiderate, people would shout outside our rooms, smoke outside our windows, be really loud around exam time, so glad to be out of there.
005 Having to forever empty the bins as most of my housemates thought it was below them to have to empty it, but they'd happily fill it with their takeaway boxes and rubbish from their bedrooms.
006 Having to live in a pig sty. I was apparently the only one who didn't want to get ill off of the kitchen sides and actually wanted to live in a nice place, we were paying enough!
007 Not being able to have my car at my halls. Granted in Oxford you don't really need a car, but I missed the independence and being able to go proper food shopping at a big supermarket rather than having to survive off of shopping from express/metro stores.
008 Things always breaking. I don't what it is with student accommodation but there was always something going wrong, whether it be the water being cold, or the showers/toilets not working properly.
009 People being able to walk into our flat whenever they wanted. In student accommodation they seem to think they can enter your flat/room whenever they felt like it. We had staff enter our flat at 11pm at night before, and on a weekend. It never truly felt like we were in 'charge'.
010 Not being able to personalise anything. I was in quite strict accommodation both years and they basically didn't like us putting anything on the walls, or anything that could make the place feel more homely like fairy lights and candles, hence why the last year I haven't felt at home in my room.
011 Small Wardrobes! I had such small wardrobes, and trying to keep most of my day-to-day clothes, going out clothes, work clothes, loungewear and just other bits was so difficult! Storage in general was pretty crap at both my accommodation!
012 Unwillingly sharing food. Both years we didn't share food but that didn't mean that I would often run out of certain things even when I knew I hadn't really used them.
013 Being isolated. I had an ensuite room in both years, which don't get me wrong I was definitely grateful for but in the second year I could basically lock myself in my room and wouldn't see anyone for a good few hours, whereas a communal bathroom I feel like you'd have to leave your cave and actually socialise with people a lot more, plus it may have helped my living situation last year.
014 Dirty washing up staying there for days. Seriously the people I lived with were gross they wouldn't wash up for days, it would smell, take up so much room and when they eventually washed up they would leave it 'drying' for days on the side of the kitchen so no one else could wash there stuff up.
015 People bringing complete strangers round without telling anyone and leaving them alone in communal areas. Please tell me my flatmates weren't the only ones who did this? The amount of times I walked into the kitchen, in my pjs, more than likely just woken up and there were randoms I'd never even met in my kitchen, going through my cupboards was ridiculous.
016 People using my supplies. I bought so much kitchen roll and washing up liquid last year and I wouldn't have minded people using it but they used so much at any one time and never bought there own or offered to split the costs with me!
017 Forever being ill. This goes back to being the only one really cleaning anything, my immune system was awful, I swear I was ill most of the time and no matter how many vitamins I took I would still get ill.
018 People cooking with the window shut and the extractor fan turned off. My flatmate had a thing about cooking bacon, a lot of the time, and refused to open the windows or turn the extractor fan on so not only would the kitchen be smoky and smell of bacon it would actually go through the vents and transfer to my room. I didn't want to smell like bacon 80% of the time.
019 The btichniess. Omg this was so apparent in my second year, especially living with all girls. It was so exhausting.
020 Being woken up my slamming doors. Most student halls have fireproof doors, meaning they are extremely heavy and are prone to slam. So being woken up at 3am was a regular occurrence and sometimes at 5am after one particular flatmate decided to do an all nighter at the library.
Even though I'm living in a house next year I'm looking forward to the new adventure. I've never lived with the girls before but we are all quite similar so hopefully I won't get any of the problems I've had the past couple of years!
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