Everything you’ll miss about Hillhead halls

While living in the Hillhead Student Village, you might want to be anywhere else. But when the time comes to take that leap a little bit further from the nest and get your own overpriced flat in Aberdeen, you’ll realise that it wasn’t all as bad as you thought it was.

The morning walk through Seaton Park

Notice that ‘morning’ is specified, because at night it is more of a petrified sprint than a glorious stroll. You can’t deny that on a sunny morning, the walk through the blooming park from Hillhead to uni made it that little bit easier to drag yourself to morning lectures. As much as the hills at either end are killers, we all have better calves as a result.

Warmth

There was nothing better than getting back from uni in winter (or let’s face it any time of year up here) and cranking that heating up to full. Without thinking about how far it’d put you into debt with your next electricity bill that is. Although you complained about how high rent was, you never had to think about the length of your warm showers or stress that you’d left a light on. Nor did you have to cry over the phone to British gas because you didn’t know what model your boiler was or how to take a meter reading.

The cell like bedrooms 

Who doesn’t want to wake up every morning and feel like they’re in prison? Those industrial weighted doors, the windows that open a centimetre so you can only just get a smell of freedom, the unmovable furniture and stunningly burgundy pin-board. Ugh, living the dream.

Not a hard goodbye

You’re your own porter now

Something in your flat breaks? Tough shit, there’s no porters you can go to now, fix it yourself. The Hillhead porters should be referred to as ‘student saviours’. If you get locked out you can get back in, if your lightbulb goes out you don’t have to see how long you can last with only a bedside lamp and if a kitchen appliance breaks you don’t have to fork out money for a new one. Every previous Hillhead resident wishes they had personal porters.

The almighty campus bus 

Literally a reason to go on a night out. Getting the Campus bus into town was an undeniable highlight of living at Hillhead. Not only was it free, but everyone was always plastered and the tunes and chants were always blaring. “OH ABERDEEN…”

Bae itself

Fire alarms 

Don’t you just miss being woken at all hours because some idiot has wedged their kitchen door open while cooking or fallen on the fire alarm when drunk? We had one once because a group of domestic gods fancied trying to make popadoms. It’s so awful sleeping all night long in your own flat with no disturbances. Just awful.

Nee naw

Wherefore art thou eduroam

That wifi connection though. It was such a good habit to learn having to let a movie start buffering an hour before you wanted to watch it. Thank goodness a uni that requires you to hand things in digitally has such a good internet connection, making this really easy to do anywhere on campus. So sensible.

We’re all in this together

The biggest shock of leaving halls is not being so incredibly close to all your best friends. Instead of popping across the hall you now have to pop from Hilton to King’s Street. You miss the countless possibilities you always have for pres, whether its in New Carnegie or Grant Court. You could even split your time between them, not having to think about taxi fares when you can walk to any building in a couple of minutes. At Hillhead your social life is at an all-time high, never take advantage of this geographical treasure.

A view out over the kingdom

So Hillhead Freshers, no matter how much you hate it now, you’ll miss it one day, so crank your heating up full and go to all your mates’ flats in the next ten minutes just because you can.