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Halls Of Residence At The University Of Kent At Canterbury
by Laminator123
My experience of UKC campus accommodation is that of Eliot Becket Court. This is the building adjacent to Eliot College, and all the students in Becket Court are affiliated to Eliot. Becket Court is catered accommodation, similar to Eliot, Rutherford, and Keynes.
Although the term 'catered' is used, it's probably a little ... misleading. The truth is that you only get free breakfast. Or if you choose not to have breakfast then you can get a discount at dinner. This does get slightly annoying, especially as Becket students don't get a full kitchen. Instead, you get a kitchenette which consists of a microwave, kettle and a fridge. I do think that this is a major downfall of Becket Court and all the other catered halls because you're pretty much forced to just have microwave meals throughout the entire year as there is no oven or hob. There also isn't a freezer which means that buying ice cream is pretty pointless unless you want to eat it straight away. Toast in the morning also isn't an option since they don't provide a toaster, and they also ban you from bringing your own. Catered meals are served in Rutherford college which is about a 5 minute walk. So must students don't bother with breakfast. So in summary, eating is a major negative of Becket Court.
Becket Court has about 4 floors, I think. Each floor isn't really 'split' as such. But there's about 9 people sharing a kitchenette. And the layout of Becket isn't great because anyone who is in the building can get straight to your door. There's no flats/locks on corridors like you'd expect from halls. I think that it makes everyone quite segregated. I do feel slightly gutted that I missed out on having flatmates and all gathering together in the kitchen etc. Everyone just keeps themselves to themselves because it's not like you can hang out in the corridors. Also, everyone can access your kitchen but you can lock it. But the people sharing my kitchen never seemed to lock it so I'm surprised that more food didn't get stolen.
To get into the building of Becket Court, you can either go through the main entrance which you need a fob to open. Or you can get through the side door which doesn't require a fob because there are students who have seminars in Becket. But after a certain time, those doors lock which means that only people with fobs can access the building.
The rooms in Becket Court are fairly nice. Each room comes with an en suite which is a massive blessing. They're not the largest en suites that I've ever seen but they're an en suite all the same. You get a nice big tall wardrobe which means that you can hang up all your dresses and long coats. You get a single bed, a wide chair, bedside table, chest of drawers, desk, desk lamp, and a swivel chair. The floor is carpeted. Windows can only be opened by a small fraction but it's enough to get the cold air in when it's hot. When it's cold, that's when the problem begins because the windows seem to let in a slight draught. The doors are not sound proof at all which means that pretty much everything can be heard, not great when you're trying to have a private conversation in your room. Walls aren't too bad, but if you have a neighbour who enjoys blasting out the music, you'll really feel the drum beats hitting you heard.
A cleaner comes once every fortnight to vacuum the carpet and to clean your en suite so you don't need to worry too much about cleaning.
A laundry room exists on the ground floor of Becket Court. There are 2 washing machines, and 2 dryers. It costs £2 to use the washing machine, and £3 to use the dryer. It's best to go early in the morning to avoid all the washing machines/dryers being taken up.
Becket is probably one of the more expensive accommodation sites at UKC because of the catering and the ensuite.
Overall, Becket Court isn't the best halls to live in for socialising and eating, but the rooms are certainly quite nice and they are 10 times better than the rooms in any of the colleges.
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Halls of Residence at Cardiff University in general
by Anon.
Right, when I found out I was coming to Cardiff I knew it would be a hassle trying to sort out accommodation because it was my second choice uni. I was put into Nevern at Uni Hall and I was so gutted because all my other friends would be at the luxorious Taly. When we pulled up I was absolutely gutted, but this shows you should never ... judge by first appearences.
Most people here are those who put Cardiff as their second choice. The people who put it as their first choice and somehow ended up here seem to be the ones with ensuites. Most people share bathrooms, but this isn't that bad. They'll tell you when you first move in that the cleaner comes on a particular day each week but this is a lie because ours comes around three times a week whenever she feels like it. She does a good job too. Remember to take your bins out from the kitchen though because you WILL get a fine if you don't.
Uni Hall is around two miles away from the Uni itself but don't let this put you off because there are double deckers that run from 8am to 5.30pm so you never have to get caught out in Welsh weather. The bus drivers are absolute legends too, so remember to say hello each day! This won't put you off going out in town either. Taxis cost around £2 per person to get into the centre of town for a night out, and there's also the 52/55 buses that run from Ty Gwyn road until around 11ish which cost £1.50 one way. It's also £3 for an all day ticket if you fancy popping into town on the weekend, when the Uni buses don't run. I would also totally recommend the Uni Hall Bar. They put on quizzes every now and then and always show big things on telly like X Factor, sports matches and Britain's Got Talent.
The rooms themselves are generous in size, more so than the Taly rooms. My room is quite large with a single bed, a large desk, a big wardrobe and a sink. The rooms in East Wing are absolutely MASSIVE. One thing I would recommend is buying a matress topper because they aren't the comfiest. When you move in they'll feed you loads of crap about not putting posters up on the wall and stuff but we all did of course. You'll have a room inspection each semester and they'll tell you things you need to fix by a certain date. For example, one of my flatmates has been told to hoover and take rubbish bins out. It all depends on who inspects your rooms though. Once I was told to take all my posters down and another time they said they'd just pretend they didn't see them.
So trust me, Uni Hall isn't anything as bad as it seems. The only possible downsides are the noise when you're trying to sleep as the doors have a habit of slamming (buy earplugs) and the fact that it's a bit of a hassle to get over to Taly to do sports and see friends as there are no buses that run over there. When it says on the Uni website about Uni Hall having a tennis court and a gym you have to remember that this is a lie! They have started holding yoga and zumba classes recently though. However, if you are sporty Taly is where you need to be.
All in all, I love Uni Hall and wouldn't change being here for the world.
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Halls Of Residence At The University Of Liverpool
by Pyrexx
Prospect Point is a new, well furnished and well situated private hall in Liverpool. It serves The University Of Liverpool, as well as John Moores. It also has private occupancy rooms.
The flats in PP have about 5 or 6 occupants. You'll get a shared living area with a kitchenette, sofa, table and TV. You get freeview, which ... can also be accessed in any of the rooms, Just remember you'll need to buy your own TV licence.
The kitchen is small, probably too small for 6 people, and the cookers and extractor fans are a little out of date. They cooker takes a very long time to heat up and the extractor fan doesn't really do anything at all. It's supposed to operate the fans in the bathrooms at the same time, but it really doesn't seem to do anything.
The bedrooms are a very good size. Beds are small but reasonable comfortable and although it's really bright outside at night with all the streetlights, the blackout curtains in the rooms are amazing. The bathrooms are lovely. Very spacious. All the bedrooms are en suite and I've not seen a bathroom of this size and quality in any other halls of residence.
I mentioned before that the fans in the bathrooms don't work. This contributes to the huge humidity problems in the rooms. My window is always running with condensation, paper gets wrinkly from the damp, and I don't have to water my plants ever! Everyone else I've spoken to in Prospect Point reports the same problem. Maybe fortunately, the heaters are over-powerful so you end up having to open a window, which helps cure the damp. Turning the heaters down even slightly means they don't have any effect whatsoever, and the room gets baltic.
The walls here are very thin. I can hear next door's conversations and the ambulances that regularly pass, as we are over the road from the hospital. As it is primarily a first year block, there's always someone coming home late and making loads of noise, meaning a good night's sleep can be difficult.
Prospect Point allows smoking in rooms. Although they do not allow smoking in shared areas such as the kitchen, they do not enforce this rule. The smell of smoke, even from just one person smoking in their rooms quickly fills the whole corridor.
The rent in Prospect Point is very competitive. You can pay a lot more for a similar, but not quite as well furnished flat elsewhere in the city. Prospect Point is probably about a 20 minutes walk from town, 10 minutes from the station and 10 minutes from the university. Directly below Prospect Point are takeaways, connivence stores, a chemist and cafes.
Prospect Point has 24 hour security and huge gates, so it is a very secure area. Fellow students often comment on how well locked up the rooms are. I need to pass through 3 different locked doors and gates before I even get to my room, which also has a lock on it. Although there are car parking spaces here, and rather a lot of them, you are only allowed to have a car here for loading and unloading. 95% of the parking spaces are empty all the time, I never did work out why.
I think that if you are going to go into halls, Prospect Point is great for facilities but falls down on social aspects. It's very difficult to establish friendship groups here, as there are less people in the flat, and you are very isolated from the majority of students, who are off campus. If you are unlucky, like I was, to fall into a flat with people you don't get on with, it can be very difficult.
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