For most students, university is a three or four year long time of your life – but, are the best days experienced living in halls or private housing?
The freedom to make new friends, enjoy new experiences and live away from home for the first time are just some of the reasons why people love university.
However, I’ve always wondered whether or not students enjoyed their time at university more in their first year then the others.
First year is that first step away from home – you move in to the halls of residence where students can live the life they want whilst getting the opportunity to make loads of new friends.
Despite this, the chance to live with some well established friends in both second and third year may seem a more appealing prospect. Which years will students look back on and consider their best?
I myself have spent nearly three years at university. My first year I was in halls and for the last two years I have lived in two different private houses with a group of friends I met in first year.
Life in halls
I can unequivocally state that my years spent in housing have been so much more enjoyable than my first year in halls of residence.
The chance to live with people I already knew and would consider good friends was a much more exciting prospect than living in halls with people I did not know.
And for many people I spoke to this was also the case. Unless you’re a first year and you have only ever experienced halls of residence it would seem clear that students enjoy their time more in their years spent in a private house.
I must state that I am in no way saying that living in halls of residence is in any way a depressing or unenjoyable experience. For many they will be able to look back at some incredible memories in their first year of university.
Even I, who did not particularly enjoy living in halls, can look back and smile at the thought of some very happy memories. It would seem however, that despite many people enjoying their time immensely in first year accommodation, they still preferred their time spent in a house.
Moving in to private housing
The only time people seemed to stray away from this trend was when they had fallen out with some of their second or third year housemates.
Coming to blows with new people you may not know very well is likely to be hard. However, it is not nearly as hard as falling out with some of your best friends you’ve made at university and have chosen to live with.
Finding a friendship to break down all because you were unable to live together harmoniously is one of the curses of private second and third year housing.
Despite the concerns around conflict in a private house, students seem to prefer the later years of their university life more than their earlier ones.
Not only do you get the opportunity to choose who you live with, but also the chance to choose what kind of house to spend your time in.
Not to mention the fact that rent in accommodation tends to be far higher than a rented house. But putting money aside, students seem to get the buzz of university living more from those years spent outside of first year halls of residence living.
