They are a student's apartment essential!

When I was in high school I enjoyed watching teen comedies (I must admit I enjoy them even now) and where these comedies were set in college and uni life one thing that was mostly in common with these comedies was the lava lamp. The coolest room in the dorm or apartment always had a lava lamp. I knew I will have one too.

And I did. You can get one of these really cheap these days (low quality ones naturally but as a student what more do you want?), I got mine for about £5. It is a standard looking Rocket lava lamp (almost like the first one on the picture Dooyoo provided) with red wax and yellow liquid. There is a saying you get what you paid for and this goes well with lava lamps. Don't get me wrong, they all work since there is no rocket science included in their design but the price determines the overall look of the thing. For example my cheap one looked cheap from a far, the stand and the cap almost looked like they were made of plastic. And the liquid was not clear, there was some dirt in it. But as a student you do not mind that now do you. All you think about is that funky feel the lava lamp gives to your room and it certainly does. It glows strong enough to give some lighting to the room when all other lights are switched off making a relaxing (or if you want sexy) atmosphere. It also has a calming effect, if you are under stress, turning off the lights and watching the wax balls go up and down is really calming, I do this during exam season when I get the feeling I won't make it.

Another thing that is great about them is how people that do not own them are fascinated by them. You can almost brag with a lava lamp.

In my opinion a cheap lava lamp is something every students apartment really should have, it's somewhat of a trademark. If you are buying the lamp for decoration of your regular home though I would suggest spending a wee bit more money on it since it will look awesome. You can combine it with any furniture since they come in various shapes and all kinds of colours. Certainly something that will bring some life into your household.

You need to be careful though if you have small children, you should keep the lava lamp far away from their reach, firstly because they can break it and hurt themselves, secondly because the base part where the light is can get pretty hot so they might burn themselves and thirdly because the capsule containing the fluid can be opened and naturally the fluid is not drinkable.