Everything you will miss about halls

Student halls tend to get a pretty bad rap from students and non-students alike, but in all honesty they really aren’t that bad. Once you have to move out for second year and after the first few weeks of euphoria that you get from now having your own house has worn off, you’ll quickly realise that there is a lot about halls you will miss. Now all we can do is reminisce about old times and envy the first years who don’t know how good they’ve got it. Appreciate Freshers, for soon it will all be gone.

1. No Bills

This thing causes more fights than anything in the house

The best part about student halls is being able to put the heating on full blast, take a long hot shower, stay up all night with the lights on and browse the internet all day without having to pay a single penny. When you get into housing in your second year, the dreaded bills start to take over and the university hasn’t got you covered this time. So enjoy the warm embrace a little longer, appreciate the hot water a bit more and take advantage of all the power and broadband your laptop desires. Leaving halls brings an end to the free-loading, so capitalise on it as much as you can.

2. The friendly security team

Let’s face it, these guys are the real MVP’s of student halls. Not only do they keep us safe and protected throughout the entire year, they are also some of the coolest, most chilled people you will ever meet. They genuinely care for everyone in the halls and go out of their way to make sure everything is running smoothly. I mean, who else is willing to put up with your drunken nonsense when you come staggering in at 5am? They are always friendly, can be a great source of banter and sometimes become a good shoulder to cry on. I could honestly write another 1000 words about what makes these lot so amazing. Always a good laugh, you’ll soon realise how much they do for you once you have gone.

3. Cleaners

Who wants to clean this monstrosity?

Okay, so they may not always be as friendly as the security guards but after a few weeks living in a house, you’ll wish the hall cleaners were around to sort out your mess of a kitchen. These fine people must have come across kitchens in such a state it can only be comparable to landfill. Yet, more often than not, they tidy it up and work miracles so we can see our surface tops again. Sometimes they refuse to clean the pigsty we call a kitchen and that can be pretty annoying, but once you are out of halls and in a house you will realise how badly you miss them.

4. Eavesdropping on drama

Don’t lie, you’ve all done it at some point

Show me a man who says they don’t eavesdrop and I will show you a liar. Whether intentionally or by accident, everybody has listened in on somebody else’s drama at some point whilst in halls. With topics ranging from who slept with who to someone being a drunken embarrassment, there is always something worth overhearing on any given night. Whilst you can still get a little bit of this from time to time in a normal house, nothing compares to the gossip you will hear during your time in halls.

5. Meeting up

It just isn’t as easy once you all live in different places

Unless you are moving in with everybody that you hang out with in halls next year, you probably tell yourself that you’ll still meet up with everyone all the time. You see them all the time in halls so why would moving out change that? Unfortunately that just isn’t the case, whilst you may see some of your friends every day once you are out of halls, there are some that you don’t see for weeks or even months. They could get a house the other side of Southampton, and whereas before it was just a simple walk between flats or rooms to see each other, it is now a trek across the entire city. Sometimes they’re just too busy and don’t have time to hang out.