Is Pennsylvania Court really worth the price? (Halls Of Residence At The University Of Exeter)

Member Name: orchid1988

Product:	Halls Of Residence At The University Of Exeter
Date:	28/06/08 (660 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A luxury room on campus

Disadvantages: Price, too private?

Today saddened me somewhat, for the very last time I closed and locked the door of my room at Pennsylvania court. For those who don't know, Pennsylvania court or "Penny C" as it is colloquially known, is one of the three catered luxury halls on the Exeter Campus and in my opinion is much better than either of the others. Rooms in Pennsylvania Court come with a double bed, en suite (with mira power shower), central heating and many even have a balcony. To top it off Pennsylvania Court is less than fifteen minutes away from town and most lecture theatres. When I read the accommodation prospectus this sounded to me like student heaven, I could roll out of bed at 8.55 and still make my 9 am on Criminal law. Therefore with little hesitation about the cost, I put Pennsylvania Court as my first choice accommodation. I am writing this review to inform upcoming students to not be overly hasty in choosing this classy option, although I cannot say that I did not enjoy my stay at Pennsylvania Court.

The most obvious downer of staying in a hall like Pennsylvania Court is the cost, whilst I lived their the halls cost me circa £145 a week and I hear for next year they will be increasing to circa £157. If you compare this to a standard room in Lafrowda (shared bathroom / self catered ) which comes at a price of circa £65, you can see that you are eating into your student loan substantially more. To top this off, the type of students who afford such halls tend to be those who can be a little snobby and thus corridors end up having cliquey groups of people who do not mix particularly. The corridors themselves (as well as the blocks) lock automatically in the interests of security, this often results in blocks themselves not being very social as one has to knock or ring in order to see their friends; basically you end up befriending your next door neighbour but few others. This is a particular hindrance in the first term as it is quite difficult to make friends if everyone is locked i) in their room, ii) in a corridor, iii) in a block. Therefore if you live in such a hall you have to go all out to make friends and you are more likely to become friends with people from your course or societies than those who live with you (although this is not necessarily a bad thing!) You will also find that when you tell people from other halls that you live in Pennsylvania Court that you receive an "oh okay" and can't help feeling that they are thinking that either you are getting spoon fed by your parents and/or you are too babyish to survive the real student lifestyle.

On the upside, Pennsylvania Court is definitely a safe place to live (it's almost impossible for intruders to get in) and it is quite useful having catered dinners always at the ready for you despite being sick of them by the end of each term. Also if you want an en suite particularly, it is almost impossible to get one in the self catered halls in Exeter and you stand a much better chance when going for catered.

I did enjoy my time in Pennsylvania Court and will always remember it fondly. I am not sure I would have enjoyed it quite so much if I didn't put such a high value on privacy and in retrospect I would probably have formed far more close friendships if I'd lived in self catered rather than a couple with many distant friends which you bump into at supper. I hope this helps future prospective Penny C'ers to decide whether or not it is worth the cost.

Summary: My experiences in Penny C