 Clarice Cliff Halls
Staffs Halls are Brilliant
Recommendation added: 04/06/2007 22:14
By: katygriff (YSUK rating +504)katygriff has been thanked 4 times for this contribution
"I live in Pelsall and when I decided to go to Staffordshire University but the Stoke-on-Trent campus I couldn't drive and with the commute on the train over an hour, the best choice was for me to go and live at university.
Now to get onto the biology course I wanted to do I had to do a two week bridging course so lived at the university for the duration. I lived in the universities housing residence which I loved. There was room enough for five people and the people who I met were fantastic. We all got along apart from with one person who kept themselves to themselves and it was nice being only a few of us as we managed to bond quickly.
When I applied to go to university the year later I wanted to stay in these houses as I loved the fact there would only be a few people and the bedrooms were quite big and the living area was lovely. Now I was shocked when I was told a week before I was due to start that I was going to be put in halls because they had made a mistake with my account and all of the houses were full. Like every person about to move into halls I was excited but terrified at the same time and asked myself all the familiar questions. What if they are all horrible? What if I don't get on with them at all? Will my food get stolen? Are they secure? Will it be with all girls or mixed? What floor will I be on? How many toilets will there be? How many showers will there be?
Now I will tell all prospective students now just what the halls are like and exactly what to expect from your stay from my personal experiences.
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What are they like?
The halls of residence at Staffordshire University are pretty much like the majority of universities. They are split into floors and on each floor there is room for around twelve people to live. Everybody has their individual rooms and then there is a shared kitchen and bathroom. Some halls will have a separate living area but for us we just had the kitchen.
The rooms on a floor are linked by a corridor and then doors to get outside. The halls that I stayed in had three floors and were colour coded. I stayed in the Royal Doulton halls yellow which was the middle floor. You had to have a key to get into the doors leading into the halls from the outside and then another key to get onto your floor. You then had an individual key to get into your own room.
The halls I stayed at were extremely clean and the same goes for other halls I have visited. Remember before the new year of university starts and all of the freshers start, the cleaners will have been in the halls and tidied making sure everything is spick and span for when you move in so you don't have to worry about the cleanliness of the place.
Now the one thing you do have to expect is that the rooms are sometimes very small. My room literally had enough room for a single bed, a very small desk and a small wardrobe and not much more room to move. Nevertheless don't worry as although it looks like you can't swing a cat in there, it is extremely liveable and we still managed to get about 6 people in there to watch a film, not exactly comfortably but we coped.
The bathrooms were fine and were cleaned by the university cleaner every day. We had four toilets, three showers and a bath and every one of them had locks on the door so you didn't have to worry about anybody walking in on you.
The kitchen area was where we spent the majority of our time. There were two ovens, a microwave, fridge, 2 fridge/freezers, a kettle, a toaster and then enough cupboards for everybody to have one each. The cupboards were made with the ability to padlock them so you could keep your food safe. In the middle of the kitchen was a large circular table with seats around it so that everybody could sit down and socialise. The kitchen was also cleaned daily by the cleaner but you do have to do your own washing up.
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What is it like living with all of these people?
Honestly it is scary at first but I can tell you that after a couple of days you will feel much better. I am not ashamed to say that I cried when my parents and sister left me at university and I had to go and meet all of these people but a few hours later and I was fine. When you first move into the halls it is freshers week so basically there are hundreds of people feeling just like you do and just want to make friends.
Within my halls we had a warden for every coloured hall and luckily enough ours was living on our floor with us. It is there job as a warden to make sure everybody gets settled in as well as possible and usually they will have something organised for the first night when everybody gets there. We were there and we were told that for our first night at university we were going to be taken to the student union for the evening. Now going out drinking and dancing is the one of the best ways to loosen up and get to know people. We went there had a few drinks and by the time we had got back that evening we were all chatting and finding out as much as we could know about one another.
Halls are a very friendly place and it is enjoyable living in them and this is coming from me who lived in halls where I was left out a lot and I still loved it. Everybody has their own rooms so if you do want to be left alone then you can stay in your room but I recommend staying with everybody socialising as much as you can so that you can build up a good relationship with everybody. Remember everybody is in the same boat.
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The Noise;
Lots of people have asked me what the noise levels are like and I have to say yes it was noisy living in the halls. The walls are not the greatest and noise easily travels so although you will not hear anybodys TVs if they are listening to their music loud then you will do. In my halls it kind of looked like a U shape so I could hear people in the other colours listening to their music. Most of the time you do not really mind but there are times when you want to study and it can get annoying so I usually went to the university library to study.
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The Fire Alarms;
I am sure you have heard loads of stories about university fire alarms and how they go off in the early hours of the morning and wake everybody up and yes this is true. If the smoke detector goes off then it plays this shrill and very loud alarm that jolts you up out of your sleep and if you are awake it used to make us jump. When this happens you have to get out of the building and go outside so yes if it goes off at 4 in the morning outside you go in your pyjamas. Also when the fire alarms at our uni went off it was the only time when all of the doors became unlocked so people could freely wonder the halls. Me being paranoid always used to make sure I locked my room as although we were an all girls floor, next door to us in the blue was an all guys floor so they often wondered in when there was an alarm. Although they may seem annoying at first the alarms are pretty funny and we ended up in hysterics when they went off towards the end of our first year.
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Food?
I know that everybody worries about their food being stolen but honestly this is not the case. You are thrown in to living with around 10 other people and at first this can seem very daunting but during your first year these people become your best uni mates and you will learn to trust them. At the start until we had got used to each other we did label our food so people would know whose it was but as we became better acquainted that rule went out of the window and we just respected the right for everybody to only have their own food.
Also cooking food is not a problem. Now me I have some funny traits and one of those is that I don't particularly like cooking in front of people and then having to eat in front of lots of people but after a while you forget about this and just go for it. Sometimes depending how many people are in the halls you may have to wait for a microwave or an oven so just be patient. Also in my halls there was a smaller table by the window so I liked it as people who were eating would often go there and people who were talking would stay at the larger table.
The good thing about halls to is that because there are so many people there is bound to be someone who likes the same food as you so you could always share.
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Showers;
With a few showers we hardly had a problem with getting to use them when we wanted. The only time we had problems was when we were all getting ready for a night out and wanted to use them at the same time so trust me there will probably be no bathroom problems while you are there.
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Smoking;
Now this was one thing I was worried about when I was moving into the halls as I had heard all of those stories about people just getting stoned. When I moved in I was glad to see that it was no smoking but still this did not stop everyone and the majority of the time the halls smelt of smoke and drugs so unfortunately this is one thing that I found out to be true although it does depend on who you are lucky enough to live with as we lived with two very grungy people so that is why there was so much drug action. I wish it were different but unless you really want to become the bad guy and go and tell on them there is nothing you can do.
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Inspections;
In my halls you could not just get away with treating the place exactly how you liked as there were regular inspections of the place. You were not told when they were going to be so you had to be quite careful. I am terrible at keeping my room tidy but I always passed the inspection without getting a telling off.
Also on the topic of inspections you will probably get people checking that you have a TV licence if you have a TV in your room so it is a very smart idea to get one and keep it safe.
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Heating;
I suffer from very bad back and shoulders due to a horrible car accident so I need to keep my back warm at all times otherwise it gets stiff and goes into spasm. This was a worry of mine that the heating would not be up to scratch but believe me those little rooms can get very hot indeed. Each bedroom had a heater that you could have on as high as you wanted so mine was always on. People used to walk into my room and go oh my god it's so hot but it was just right for me. In the kitchen too we had radiators that we could choose how hot we wanted them to get. I think this is standard for every halls of residence as they have to be a certain heat for it to be safe.
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Other points;
A few other points I have to mention is that do not worry about getting spare light bulbs as the university will usually have some sort of accommodation office where you can go and get one if yours pops. Paying your bills for your halls need to be on time and you will get reminders through your door if you are late. Plus living in halls is good because the majority of the time you will have a few people with you when you go out so it is very safe as there will be a group of you. The final thing I know that many people are dying to know is yes you can hear if people are having sex in rooms next to you or above you so just try to be quiet guys.
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My experience;
Now I had a great time in halls although I would have never have made friends with any of the people I lived with if they were at school with me. Living with so many people was fun because there was always somebody to talk to and go out with so it became like a little family unit. We used to take out meals together and we even made a Christmas meal for us all complete with presents the night before we left for the Christmas holiday.
The halls are safe and you meet some great people and I honestly think you get the most out of uni life if you do stay in them. My boyfriend and course friends all lived at home and they missed out on going out a lot. I mean none of them ever went to a ball although we in halls all saw it as an essential part of the year. I think studying does get hard to do sometimes when you live with so many people which is why it is good to scout out a quiet place in the university that you can go and work in if you need to.
Living with so many people you are bound to find somebody who shares similar tastes and the majority of the time you will know in an instant who you are going to share a house with in the second year.
The one thing I would mention though is that if you go into halls then do make the most of it. I kept on my part time job at home so most weekends I went home but this ruined my time in halls a little because they would all go out of a weekend and then when I came back I would have found out that I missed so much and wouldn't be able to join in many of the conversations that week.
Living in halls is fun and enjoyable and you really do love uni when you live there. I think it is a great time in your life and I loved it even though I did not get on with some of the people who I lived with. I felt safe and warm the entire time and living on your student loan is actually ok. Plus remember that even if you do not get along with many in your halls there are always the people on your course to make friends with. I have left uni over a year now and I only talk to my course mates now.
My final point is be careful but most of all enjoy yourself. I know I did and I got a degree from there and my wonderful boyfriend.
Thanks for reading.
xxx"
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