Not bad, not bad. (Halls Of Residence At The University Of East Anglia in general)

Member Name: lukeuea

Product:	Halls Of Residence At The University Of East Anglia in general
Date:	15/05/03 (3412 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Norfolk Terrace

Disadvantages: En-suite rooms a quite small

Please note: this review is now rather out of date (it was last updated in 2004). Waveney Terrace no longer exists and there are many new ensuite residences. My view of the new ensuite residences is very similar to that of Nelson/Constable. They're nice, though the rooms are small (because the space for the shower room is DEDUCTED from the normal size of a UEA room (rather than added to it) but the new residences DO have lifts. Which is handy for day 1.

Accommodation at the university of east anglia falls into four main categories:

The Cheap: Suffolk Terrace, Norfolk Terrace
The Expensive: Nelson Court, Constable Terrace, Colman House (and now Britten, Victory, Kett (?) and a few others)
The Village: University Village
The Unknown: Mary Chapman Court, Orwell Close, Wolfson Close


In the Cheap accomodation (Waveney Terrace, Suffolk Terrace and Norfolk Terrace), it USED to be all male on the bottom floors, and therefore there was a vague concept on campus of a "bottom floor bloke"- a laddy beer-swilling type, most prominent in Waveney Terrace, who drinks whenever he can and passes out whenever he has to. Last academic year, however (2003 - 2004) all that changed, and new security measures were introduced in Waveney, Suffolk and Norfolk meaning that the bottom floors are all now mixed.

In my experience, twin rooms are a double-edged sword. I know a few people who have whole twin rooms to themselves. But it's rare. Most put down 'twin room' thinking they'll get it all to themselves, and end up having to share, often with someone they hate. Yes, your cousin's brother's aunt's nephew's sister may know someone who has a double room to themselves, but it's the exception rather than the rule.


*Suffolk Terrace and Norfolk Terrace*

Two impressive rows of pyramids dot the south of the UEA campus: Norfolk Terrace, and its little brother Suffolk Terrace. They're proudly shown off in prospectuses, huge pyramiddy buildings which look great and are really quite nice to live in. About twelve people live on each corridor, sharing bathroom facilities (usually a bath, a shower-room and two toilets) and a rather large kitchen. Lovely. The rooms are quite spacious, each having their own sink, desk, bed and wardrobe space, and are very bright (half are south-facing (quarter face east, quarter west)).

Many students who arrive at the university to live in Suffolk or Norfolk Terraces have romantic ideas about hanging out on those balconies on top of each floor. No such luck, the windows are partially barred, to prevent this. What's worse, even the tiniest amount of sunlight makes the heat in the room unbearable (the windows trap in heat and only open 40cm). A desk fan is provided but it's hardly enough, it takes a good ten minutes of having the window and the door open and the fan going for the room to cool down. People do sometimes unscrew the window-blockers to enable them to get onto the roof, but this is all strictly against university guidelines and so on and so forth.

Other than the heat though, it's a lovely, cheap place to live. Suffolk Terrace is very close to the library, and Norfolk Terrace is very close to the ITCS (computer) centre and, apparently, the science bits of the campus.

Both Suffolk and Norfolk Terrace offer some of the nicest views on campus, especially if you get a south-facing room, you look straight over rolling hills and down to the lake. Lovely.

There is, however, a new library extension being built behind Suffolk Terrace. While the noise might not be unbearable it might be a little distracting, making Norfolk Terrace perhaps currently the better of the two.


*Waveney Terrace*

Ah. Good old Waveney Terrace. On campus there's a bizarre sort of conversation which goes like this:

"So, where are you living?"
"Waveney"
"Oh God... I'm so sorry"

Waveney is the stuff of legend. It's exactly the same price as Suffolk and Norfolk Terrace, and it's inhabited by everyone who wanted to live in Norfolk/Suffolk Terrace but didn't get in.

It's not really THAT bad. Though the kitchen is half the size of those in Norfolk/Suffolk (it WILL feel cramped, trust me) and only a few corridors have the luxury of a bath (the rest have two showers). The rooms aren't quite as nice (white-painted breeze blocks form the walls) but I lived there for half a year and I really enjoyed it. It depends who you're living with. Up to 14 share a corridor. It has a bit of a feeling of living in prison, actually. There were rumours going round for decades that they're "knocking it down next year". They weren't true... until now. Waveney, the Student's Union told me, will be knocked down at some point over the next two or three years. ALSO, last year they had to put up with a whole load of building work (the construction of Colman House) going on about twenty metres away from Waveney. That's now finished, but now they're building something equally enormous on the OTHER side- so expect a lot of building work noise if you're on that side.


*Nelson Court, Constable Terrace, Colman House*

I'm not very familiar with these three, and therefore can't talk much about them. Suffice to say that they have en-suite bathrooms (proper ones, unlike those in the Village (see below)) and are quite new. Colman House was opened in September 2004. Nelson (and possibly Constable, I'm not sure) is split into short blocks (each a bit like a house), each with three floors to it and housing (I think) eight people. Very nice, apparently, but not very wheel-chair friendly. Colman, I'm told, is split into Waveney-style corridors (i.e. inhabitants of each housing unit are all on the same floor, rather than spread across three floors)... but Colman is obviously much nicer.


*The Village*

University Village (or simply "The Village") is a cluster of residences about fifteen minutes walk from the university (depending on how fast you walk, I suppose). They're new, clean and have en-suites, though feel smaller than most other rooms on campus because the en-suite space is deducted from the usual room space. They're not bad, generally though. The en-suite bathrooms, however, aren't that great. Apparently the shower curtain clings to you when you're in the shower and water goes EVERYWHERE.

Kitchen facilities are good, though notably, like Nelson Court and Constable Terrace (and probably Colman House), the kitchen lacks an oven. Instead they have a convection microwave. Oh yes. Healthy eating is all but encouraged at UEA. In fact, the ovens are soon to disappear from Suffolk, Norfolk and Waveney Terraces, too, to be replaced with a microwave. That might have already happened, I'm not sure.

Oh- a word of warning. Generally speaking, the photos on the official UEA accommodation website of the accommodation blocks are about ten years old. The reality still looks largely the same, but don't take the photos as gospel. Additionally, the exterior photo of Waveney is very, VERY flattering.

But yes, other than that, Village kitchen facilities are good and spacious, especially as only six people share each living unit (I think).

The other thing about The Village is that the pathway to it isn't particularly well lit. This, obviously, could be a problem if you intend to walk back there on your own. I used to have friends in The Village and I never had any problems to-ing and fro-ing- but do take care and, if possible, go in a group.


*Orwell Close and Wolfson Close*

Orwell Close and Wolfson Close are tiny, and, as a result, you're quite likely to spend your entire time at UEA having never set foot in them or met anyone who lives in them. Apparently they're very popular with international students, and are like miniature versions of Waveney Terrace, breeze blocks and all. Everyone I've ever met who's lived in them (and it's not many) has hated it.


*Mary Chapman Court*

I think I've only ever met one person in my entire time at UEA who lives in Mary Chapman Court. It's way out in the middle of town, which makes getting to lectures, getting on campus, and getting to meet anyone except your fellow MCC-ers is really quite a difficult task. It's near the shops, though, which is good. But other than that, this is one to avoid if you intend to have a social life of any sort. Some people love it there, apparently, but they seem to be few and far between.

----

Security in the older residences used to be a little lax, but it's much better this year- gone are the days of being able to waltz into other peoples' accommodation blocks with only so much as a key for your own.

Oh! And that's another thing. The Waveney Experience. Sadly, despite being built in the 60s, Waveney doesn't cater for those who would really rather NOT hear the people in the room above them having... amorous encounters. It's unpleasant, trust me. Especially if you're living, as I seemed to in my first year, in the room below the university strumpet. You can even hear the moaning.

Other than that though, UEA is a great place to live. You have to get used to quite a lot of concrete, but other than that, it's great.

To conclude:

If you've plenty of cash, then Nelson Court, Constable Terrace or Colman House are for you.

If you're a little strapped for cash, Norfolk Terrace provides cheap and cheerful accommodation (albeit with no ensuites). Suffolk Terrace provides much the same, but has a building site nearby.

If you want to be slightly removed from the hustle and bustle of campus life- The Village is pretty good.

If you, for whatever reason, want to live in the city-you can only really pick Mary Chapman Court.

If you're a masochist- then Waveney, Orwell or Wolfson are your best bet.

The problem, unfortunately, with all of this advice is that the university changes how it does its accommodation preferences each year, it seems. Sometimes you have to rank your favourite TYPE of accommodation rather than your favourite residence. This means that Norfolk Terrace, Suffolk Terrace, Waveney, Orwell and Wolfson are all grouped together- and ranking that first so that you can get Norfolk Terrace might well land you in Waveney. It's a bit calamitous. However, if you specify on your accommodation preference form (which you'll be sent about a month before you start) that you'd rather die than live in Waveney (and yet you'd love to live in Norfolk Terrace), hopefully they should take that into account.

Good luck, and I hope you get whatever residence you want!

Summary: Lovely rooms, generally - but avoid Mary Chapman Court - it's a pain to get in each morning.