I recently became a student at the University of Bristol for the academic year starting 2009. The University let you apply for accommodation between June and July a few months before students are due to attend the University. They let you apply for a firm and an insurance choice accommodation. They also et you to write a small personal statement describing yourself as a person and any paticular traits you may have. They do NOT use this in the process of placing students into accommodation, rather they use them to make up flats and corridors in the accommodation you get into.

There is a wide variety of halls and houses that students live in at Bristol. The two area are Stoke Bishop (a 30 minute walk away from the main University precinct) and Clifton (15 minute walk from the furtherest accommodation in this area to the precinct). There is also the choice of self catering and catered accommodation.

I myself am in one of the student houses; Richmond Terrace. This house is home to 93 students at the University. It is a Clifton residence and is just a 10 minute walk to my lectures and seminars. It was newly refurbished just three years ago, so is in fantastic condition. All the rooms are ensuite (and they are very nice little bathrooms!). Each room has a desk, wardrobe, bedside table and bed. There is then different furniture in each room depending on the side (there are economy, small, large and premium) which could be a book sheld, chest of drawers and mini chest of drawers. Each room also has a phone, which can be used for free internal calls to University buildings.

Richmond Terrace is a self catered residence. Students are organised into flats of between 4 and 7 people who share a kitchen between them. I am in a flat of 5 and in the kitchen are two fridge/freezers, an oven and a microwave, along with a lot of service area, a sink, and many cupboards! There is a large dining table with 5 chairs in the centre of the room. Cleaners clean it for us about once a week. The residence also has a large common room with a pool table and television dvd/video point. There are several large sofas in there too. The residence is very secure, needing a card to get through the main doors, and then for the actual building a key to it and then a key to the flat door and your room door.

The halls usually organise their own social events. Because the houses are smaller, there is a organisaton caled Orbital which organise student events for us all. There were a lot of events during freshers, including a white t-shirt party, a trip to the zoo and a toga party. At Christmas we also had a ball, which was amazing.

Being in Clifton aslo means I am right by all the clubs, bars and very close to the local shopping centres; Broadmead and Cabot Circus (about 20-25 minutes away). There are dozens of clubs, including Ponanas, Sydicate, Panache, the O2 Academy, Escape, Bunker, Oceana and many more! We have several Wetherspoons, the Corrie Tap, Agora, Embargos and many more pubs and bars.

The only negative things about Richmond Terrace is that the walls and ceiling are very thin. i can hear the music being played in the bedroom above me and also the guy walking around. I am right by the kitchen and can even hear the microwave when it is on. Luckily I'm not directly next to another bedroom, so I don't have to hear music from them or talking. It's been fine though and you quilkly get used to it. Past 11pm however noise is not supposed to be heard past your bedroom. It is also one of the more expensive accommodation. I pay about £4,600 for my room but I will get the £200 deposit back at the end of the year.

I'd definitely recommend Richmond Terrace to incoming freshers an I will be sad to leave it come summer!!