An ode to Colman House

Your slightly grim metal kitchens

It was never this tidy – this must be Week 1 when only the guy down the end of the hall has moved in

Yes, your mum looked a bit shocked at the kitchen when they came to visit. Yes, we defended them by calling them "industrial". But it's amazing what a £12 Christmas tree and some home made window snowflakes can do in an effort to make them festive and homely. All of us fell asleep on the weird padded metal bench at one point or another. A lot of laughs, tears, arguments and in-depth post-LCR discussions happened in that kitchen, plus there was always someone around to cook alongside and eat together, which brings me to….

Your "combination microwaves", which we had no idea how to use but still managed to stay alive for a year

They were confusing as hell because no frozen food ever had "UEA microwave" on the timing options but you pretty much learnt how long a pizza, some nuggets and chips or a lasagne took in those things. Also, all I'm saying is my flat (Colman Flat 2, big love) managed to cook a full-on Christmas dinner for all 11 of us, with stuffing, turkey, roast potatoes and all the fixings in these "ovens". We then sat in our stainless steel kitchen wearing compulsory Christmas jumpers and then had a photoshoot, for the memories

Your two minute walk to the SU shop

Essential for running out of milk disasters and trips to the night hatch, depending on when the craving for one of the £3.50 hot southern fried chicken burgers hit.

Your three minute walk to the lake

Did someone say lake BBQ?

After the burgers it's marshmallow time, that's an unwritten rule

You were the perfect happy medium

We didn't want to spend an extra £400 a year on having an oven and some extra seats in the kitchen (we're looking at you, Hickling) but we also didn't want to share our bathroom with a bunch of randoms (sorry, Zigs), and no way were we going to walk all the way back to the Village after Damn Good when we could stagger 30 seconds back to Colman (you know it's true). Anyone looking to apply to UEA, you could do a lot worse!

Also, we met a few oddballs along the way but we also made friends who we liked enough to put up with living with them for a further two years!

Thanks Colman, you were the best x