Student Life
One of the (many) nice things about Hull is the range of accommodation
which is available to students. The University has had a policy of building
up student accommodation resources for a very long time, and the result
of this is that we can guarantee all first year students a place to
live. Some of our accommodation is offered close to the university,
some is provided in the village of Cottingham which is about three miles
to the west of the university, with a good bus service linking the two
sites. At Hull the accommodation comes in several flavours:
Student Flats
The poshest place to live is probably in our student flats in Taylor
Court. These are right on the university campus - you might get to see
one on the tour. Each flat is self-contained and also has a connection
to the campus network and thence out onto the Internet (this facility
is also available in traditional halls as well)
The "Traditional" Hall of Residence
This is perhaps the most relaxing place to live, in that you get your
breakfast and evening meal provided. Most of the rooms in our “trad”
halls are single ones, with just a few shared. There are several traditional
halls, each with its particular ambience… The author is old enough
to remember when the halls were all single sex, and has frightening
memories of being locked in an all girls hall at two o’clock in
the morning (no - really). Nowadays all the halls are mixed. An approach
which quite a few students take is to spend their first year in a hall
and then, once they have found their feet and made some friends, move
out into a student house together.
The "Newer" Hall of Residence
These halls are mostly on the Lawns Complex, a purpose built accommodation centre in Cottingham. Some of the rooms are shared; meals are available at the Lawns Centre, or you can cook for yourself.
Student Houses
If you have ever seen reruns of “The Young Ones” on telly, pleas don't take this depiction of student house life as typical! Some student houses are operated by the university, others are available to let from university approved leasing agents.
If you enter a student house in your first year you are taking a bit of pot luck, in that you may end up sharing your room with a Psychology student who never changes his socks for a month…..
However, if you are worried about being stuck on your own and want a kind of “instant social life” a student house place is a very good way to start.
Students and Supervisors
Being a student is fun, but it does have its down side. For most students it is the first time that they have left home and is therefore somewhat disconcerting. The realisation that there is now no mechanism around to take dirty smelly clothes and magically transform them into clean ones is a horrible one. There is also the feeling that nobody at university particularly cares about you, or how you are doing.
This is not true; all our courses come complete with a free supervisor. None of our supervisors will actually admit to wearing vests with a big "S" on underneath their shirts, but they have been known to do some pretty superhuman things for their students. It is important that you get on well with your supervisor, laugh at his or her jokes, pay regular visits etc; one day he or she may have to tell a sceptical staff meeting that the reason you failed your exam was that a giant magpie flew off with your revision notes… The supervisor is also the person you will want to write a glowing reference for you when you apply for jobs after graduation.
You get to meet your supervisor in the first week of semester, and
keep in touch for the rest of your stay in the university. If you have
any questions about how life is lived, or university procedure, ask
your supervisor first. They may not know the answer, but they will certainly
know someone who might.
Students and Money
One of the big problems with being a student is that you have almost no money. Financially, the student's lot has got much harder over the years. However, living at university does not have to be expensive; the on-site catering does good food at reasonable prices, and university accommodation represents pretty good value.
Although you are poor, so is just about everybody else you know, and the Union Main Bar seems to do a pretty good trade most nights. All of which brings me to my favourite student joke, which appeared on a computer system in this department :
Q: What's green and takes a week to drink?
A: Your student loan cheque....
If you have money problems tell your supervisor. It is unlikely that he or she will immediately produce a wad of notes, but they do know who to put you in touch with, and anything which may have a bearing on how you perform academically is something you should tell your supervisor about.
