Lucy shares her experience moving away from home to live in campus accommodation.
When confronted with the abundance of accommodation available across campus, it can feel extremely overwhelming to make a decision. After all, you’re going to spend a year of your life, maybe more, living in the place you’ve painstakingly picked out. I went through this same process many months into my second year of college and after touring various accommodation in Preston, I decided on UCLan halls, specifically Ribble Hall.
The tailoring procedure that you’re given access to when picking halls at the University is one made simple and appealing. If you know yourself and how you prefer to live, University accommodation offers all sorts of variety, whether you want an en-suite, an upgraded flat, or to live by yourself! This is all according to your budget and tastes. When applying, you are given the option to include your preferences on who you want to live with and you can elect to specify if you want a particular friend living with you. I wanted to meet as many new people as possible from the start, so, I was able to put down in my application that I was open to living with anyone.
As someone who hadn’t rented away from home before, the process seemed quite daunting and complicated. However, when the time came to pick a hall and put forward an application, the University Accommodation Team made it surprisingly easy, with a clear and easy to use booking system. This prepares you for future applications in both university and private accommodation, as it gets you more comfortable with signing forms and putting down deposits. This is a great way to ease first years into renting places.
Before moving in, I was eager to find out who I would be living with. On Facebook, there’s a group for on-campus uni halls, as well as your course, which you can join. People tend to reach out to others on there and it’s fairly simple to do this. If you are an offer holder with the University, you’ll receive an email about this once they’re open to join. I got in touch with one of my flatmates through that process and we were able to talk prior to the move in date about what degree we were doing, where we were moving from and if there was any communal stuff that was needed. This made the move-in process a lot less awkward since I at least knew one person at that point.
What mostly stood out to me was the location of Ribble Hall. I had only been on certain parts of campus during my Open Day, so I was unfamiliar with where everything was. I was relieved to be living somewhere that wasn’t far out from campus. Due to the location, my classes were either a two minute or ten minute walk away and the town centre was only twenty minutes away. Being so close to the town centre meant I could nip down for my food shop and other essentials, not having to rely on transport. This is especially key for those who haven’t visited the campus (or know they prefer to sleep in!) as the location means it’s much easier to navigate and get to lessons quickly.
Most importantly, from living in University accommodation, I was able to further realise what I wanted when I moved on to a different flat, because even if you don’t like the experience or you don’t particularly get on with flatmates, it prepares you to make a different decision later on. Ultimately, due to the reasons detailed above, that is why I chose University accommodation in my first year. I could get the typical university experience and because the process was so simple, it is has become a lot easier for me to pick where I want to live and how to do that.
As someone who hadn’t rented away from home before, the process seemed quite daunting and complicated. However, when the time came to pick a hall and put forward an application, the University Accommodation Team made it surprisingly easy, with a clear and easy to use booking system. This prepares you for future applications in both university and private accommodation, as it gets you more comfortable with signing forms and putting down deposits. This is a great way to ease first years into renting places.
Before moving in, I was eager to find out who I would be living with. On Facebook, there’s a group for on-campus uni halls, as well as your course, which you can join. People tend to reach out to others on there and it’s fairly simple to do this. If you are an offer holder with the University, you’ll receive an email about this once they’re open to join. I got in touch with one of my flatmates through that process and we were able to talk prior to the move in date about what degree we were doing, where we were moving from and if there was any communal stuff that was needed. This made the move-in process a lot less awkward since I at least knew one person at that point.
What mostly stood out to me was the location of Ribble Hall. I had only been on certain parts of campus during my Open Day, so I was unfamiliar with where everything was. I was relieved to be living somewhere that wasn’t far out from campus. Due to the location, my classes were either a two minute or ten minute walk away and the town centre was only twenty minutes away. Being so close to the town centre meant I could nip down for my food shop and other essentials, not having to rely on transport. This is especially key for those who haven’t visited the campus (or know they prefer to sleep in!) as the location means it’s much easier to navigate and get to lessons quickly.
Most importantly, from living in university accommodation, I was able to further realise what I wanted when I moved on to a different flat, because even if you don’t like the experience or you don’t particularly get on with flatmates, it prepares you to make a different decision later on. Ultimately, due to the reasons detailed above, that is why I chose university accommodation in my first year. I could get the typical university experience and because the process was so simple, it is has become a lot easier for me to pick where I want to live and how to do that.
