Campbell House is the best and worst halls at UCL

As Campbell house residents, some could say we have suffered enough. From our mice infestations and relentless building work to being constantly overshadowed by the Coldplay obsessed Ramsay.

We could be seen as a nonentity: two empty buildings on Taviton street, the dim light from the basement kitchens serving as the only indication of life. This is not the case – we are alive and well, and if you can’t see us around  it’s only because living three minutes away means that we would rather be in bed than get to our lectures early.

So much life

Campbell is definitely one of the cheaper self-catered accommodations, with the rooms arranged in corridors in the East building like a Victorian boarding school or in clusters in West as if someone planned to make flats but got a bit distracted by lunch along the way. The room sizes vary greatly, with the chance of getting a small prison cell balanced out by the possibility of a palace hall, all for the same price. Really, this risk adds the necessary spontaneity that is the essence of life.

Basically a palace

The kitchens too are generally large, with more than enough room to pile all your washing up together and host a prospering family of ants, because what a bunch of students who can barely look after themselves need is more pets.

Glamorous surroundings for the glamorous student life

They may tell you that East is better, but ignore the rumours, look at history – much like East and West Germany, East is not better off. Yes, West has no laundry room so you have to take your underwear for a quick stroll across the street once a week (or a month, or never), but really we all need the fresh air and exercise.

The common room is also located in East but apart from the idealism of Freshers’, where we were convinced we’d form close bonds with every single one of the two hundred people in Campbell and have tea and cake and weekly viewings of Downton Abbey together, this is used very rarely anyway.

Two households both alike in dignity…

In terms of social life, I would say we’re fairly relaxed. We may not be the wild party hall Ramsay claims to be and we may not march to Loop in matching berets a la St Trinians but we are definitely friendly and there is always someone to be found if you decide you desperately need to brave the forest of creeps that is Roxy.

Such fun. So much fun.

Of course, we are by no means perfect. The construction of the Bartlett may wake us up at 8am, we may occasionally spot a mice climbing up the fancy stairs, sometimes ceilings fall in, and Coldplay didn’t live here. But that’s life. And what’s student life without a rodent or two?