Halls, Glorious Halls: Catered or Self-Catered?

I’m not going to lie, I did have some doubts about my own ability to survive in self-catered halls.It seemed like the risky choice.

I could have ended up sharing a kitchen with six weirdoes, Sid the Sloth and his dandelion for the entirety of first year.

Good old Sid – and his dandelion.

Instead, the flat mate lottery landed me next to a not-so-orange Essex girl, a not-remotely-creepy mature student, a science dude with no resemblance to Dr. Sheldon Cooper and an Irish girl who could probably drink you, your Dad and your Grandfather under the table – even from a bottle containing a snakeskin.

Just to clarify: I said snakeskin – not foreskin.

I know the bards sing of the luscious beds in Holland Hall, but, unlike their occupants, I don’t have to assure every person I meet that I’m not a snob.

Yes, I have to cook, but it’s seriously not that difficult. I don’t get to socialize in a dining hall, but we have ‘family’ dinners every week anyway and I’m also not stuck trying to play beer pong in a ‘utility room’.

Sunday night flat dinner, veering away from our main food group (pizza).

We don’t have to avoid alternative dinner options because we’ve already paid for a meal, which means we can use our Domino’s vouchers without feeling guilty.

If we feel like eating cereal for dinner or playing ‘Come Dine with Me’ against every other flat in our block, too, we bloody well will.

Food, food everywhere – available all the time.

Regardless of what self-catered halls you bunk in, you’ll have an amazing year, and when you get to second year and your mate from Holland Hall is still burning his toast, you can laugh in his face.

Dominoes boxes, a permanent resident.