- UID
- 356294
- 在线时间
- 小时
- 注册时间
- 2008-7-9
- 最后登录
- 1970-1-1
- 主题
- 帖子
- 性别
- 保密
|
Firstly, just wanna share a quite useful link with all CDers.
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/University
Its the wiki for Universities and has tons of REAL and UPDATED information for different univ.
OK, Lets talk sth
Facilities
Residences
Rosebery Hall Rosebery is relatively small in comparison to somewhere like Bankside or High Holborn, however this makes it a much more friendly atmosphere with everyone (or at least everyone who is sociable) generally getting to know everyone else. There is an undergrad and a postgrad wing however these generally stay separate with neither particularly bothering the other. Rosebery is (in my very biased opinion) by far the best hall. It has long had a reputation for being the most sociable and everyone here is friendly and looking to make lots of good friends. In the first term in particular it is very good for organising for everyone in the hall to go to clubs and parties together, and you quickly learn who are the real partiers and who is a complete lightweight - those who are a bit more dedicated to getting very drunk and going out a lot quickly find each other, and it is these kind of amazing individuals who you are more likely to find at Rosebery than any other LSE hall.
Surrounding Area
Islington is a relatively quiet and certainly in comparison to other places very pretty part of central London. The view from the front side of Rosebery is very pleasant, especially in summer. If you want hustle and bustle and some good nightlife, upper street is about a 10 minute walk from halls and very easy to find. On Upper Street there are lots of cocktail bars, restaurants and chains such as the Slug and Lettuce, O'Neills, Pitcher and Piano and many more. There is a Wetherspoons right near Angel station and another nicer but more boring spoons in the N1 center. The N1 also houses many excellent food chains such as Wagamamas and Yo! Sushi. I would also recommend a very nice cocktail bar which is down Chapel Market road (near sainsburys) called Anam, where on Thursdays every cocktail is £3 which is a real bargain. For the best nights out, Leicester square is a 15 minute bus journey on the 38 (which stops right outside Rosebery) where clubs like Tiger Tiger, Zoo Bar and On Anon can be found. Rosebery is just a 20 minute walk from the LSE (15 if you walk fast) and the journey itself is actually quite pleasant as you go through Greys Inn Court and Lincolns Inn Fields, both of which have very pretty old buildings in. Right near Rosebery there is a Budgens where you can get all the essentials (very much like a Co-op), however for a big food shop Sainsburys is less than a 10 minute walk away and is fairly easy to navigate.
Rooms
I am unsure of what the postgrad wing is like although I expect it is fairly similar to the undergrad wing (however I do think it has some ensuite rooms). In The undergrad (Rosebery) wing there are no ensuite rooms. There majority of rooms are single although on each floor there are 2 twin rooms which are quite roomy. The single rooms are surprisingly nice, each having a bed (obv), a bedside table and lamp, a wardrobe, a desk and drawers and a wardrobe. The bathrooms are cleaned every day and are not too bad, although the shower can be a bit weak.
Facilities
Each floor has two bathrooms - one for girls and one for boys. These are not amazing but sufficient. The kitchens are very small and basic but they are servicable and you soon get used to them, with each having a fridge, a freezer, a microwave, a kettle, a toaster and a small oven with two electric rings on top and one shelf inside to cook on (I recommend you bring a baking tray to add a shelf, along with a mini fridge for you room as fitting everyones stuff in the main fridge is a nightmare). As it is catered, there is a dining area although most people only use it occasionally. The food is nice and pretty cheap and the kitchen staff are very friendly and always open to new meal suggestions. There is a laundry room in the basement and a TV room, which is useful if you have the urge to watch Scrubs at 1am. There is also a bar which has just been reopened although is not proving too popular because the drinks prices are not all that brilliant and to be honest its cheaper to drink on your floor with your mates. The bar area is nice however and does have a very large TV in it, a pool table and a table football table. The garden outside the bar is very pretty and although hasn't been used too much yet I expect when the weather gets better it will be. It is nice to have a little bit of greenery is central London and I don't know of any other hall that has a courtyard garden!
Bankside House Bankside is the biggest hall of residence at LSE, with around 600 students in mainly single rooms. There's a good mix of undergrads, postgrads and General Course students. Usually, undergrads are put on the lower floors and postgrads on the higher floors, although there is a mix (the two groups are not completely segregated!).
Surrounding Area
Bankside is situated in Southwark, just south of the River Thames. It's a 20 minute walk from LSE, though this can vary - if you're late for a lecture you can end up powerwalking there in 15 minutes, or if you're quite slow it can take around 25 minutes. Taking the tube is pointless as you would need to walk to the station, then take the Jubilee line and then switch - it would take longer than walking, especially in rush hour. There's a bus (RV1) which I haven't taken yet but I am told that it takes a bit of a weird loopy route which means, again, that walking is faster. Still, it's a nice walk across Blackfriars bridge then along Victoria Embankment, so it's not that bad.
Bankside House is literally just behind the Tate Modern, and is surrounded by a large number of office blocks. There are quite a few little cafes and lunch places such as Pret, Crussh and Starbucks right outside which is pretty convenient. There's a private gym which offers decent off-peak student deals, which many Banksiders use. Less than a minute away is a big M&S supermarket, and apparently there's a Sainsbury's Local not far but I've never been to it. The closest tube station is Southwark, which is less than 10 minutes away, and is on the Jubilee line. Waterloo station is a 15 minute walk away, although it can take up to 25 minutes if you're a slow walker. In general the area is very busy, but it's much quieter on the weekends.
A few minutes walk away, towards London Bridge, are more pubs and restaurants - such as a big Pizza Express, Nandos, Wagamamma and EAT. The pubs are generally fairly expensive as far as pubs go, but the views over the river are quite pretty.
Rooms
The majority of rooms are singles. Around half (or just less than half) of these are ensuite, and the ones which aren't have one bathroom shared between two people. The size of the rooms vary - some are really big, and some are tiny! Each room comes with a bed (obviously), bedside table, bedside lamp, desk, desk lamp, wardrobe, chest of drawers, desk chair, "comfy" chair, bin and a noticeboard. They also provide a pillow and duvet, but these are quite rubbish so I suggest you bring your own.
The hall allows you to bring a mini fridge but you need to pay an extra £10 per term to cover the electricity costs. Personally, I really suggest everyone has a mini fridge, as it gives you the freedom to have food whenever you want, outside of the canteen opening hours.
Each room has an internet port in the wall and the hall provided a cool red ethernet cable. The internet seems pretty fast, although some sites such as YouTube take a suspiciously long time to load.
Kitchens
Only a lucky few are granted kitchen access, and a really high number of these are postgrads. The kitchens seem pretty small, and cost an extra £280 per year for access. The rest of the residents are condemned to eating canteen food, going out for dinner or microwaving ready meals in the lounges!
Common Areas
Each floor has a small lounge with a couple of sofas, a table, a kettle, sink and microwave. A lot of students use the microwaves in the lounges to heat dinners if they don't fancy eating in the canteen. However the lounges are generally locked at 11pm or midnight, although sometimes they forget. Advance warning: most lounges smell really bad because people heat their ready meals in the microwaves, and the lounges have no windows, and they close the doors... you get my point.
There's a pretty big bar in the basement, which is a decent place to hang out in. There are a couple of pool tables and a foosball table, as well as many comfy sofas to relax on. There's also a big TV room.
There's also a computer room in the basement. I can't say much about it because I've only been there once. There are several computers and table space, as well as a printer (apparently).
The canteen is open for breakfast and dinner, and obviously you have to pay. Breakfast is decent, with cereals/fruit/cooked breakfast, as well as tea/coffee etc. I've never had dinner in the canteen, but I hear it's OK.
Nightlife
While Bankside's location may seem relatively far out (especially compared to the likes of High Holborn!) it's not that bad. It's pretty near some clubs such as SEone and Ministry of Sound, where a number of big events are held on a weekly basis. A taxi to central London costs no more than £10, which split between 5 people works out to £2 each, which is quite reasonable. Bankside is also well connected in terms of taking the tube - getting to Bond Street or Green Park from Southwark station takes no more than 10 minutes.
Passfield Hall There's roughly 200 - 250 people staying in Passfield Hall, with almost half-half of postgrads and undergrads. It's located ridiculously near to UCL that it's probably a lot more convenient for people staying in Passfield to be UCL students. Alas it's not the case, and thus you'd be forced to make a 20 minute trek down Southampton Row and Kingsway. Or if you're particularly lazy (or hungover) there's a straight bus from Tavistock Square to Aldwych, which takes about 5 minutes before 9am and after 11am and off peak times (besides lunch and the evening rush hour), but takes longer otherwise that it's usually quicker to walk.
Surrounding Area
Brunswick, a cheery little shopping and cafe square, is about 10 minutes walk away from Passfield, which has Waitrose, Boots, Superdrug, Starbucks, some clothing shops and other food places. The closest tubes to the Hall are Euston and Russel Square, though Warren Street, Goodge Street and Euston Square tubes are also within walking distance. Tesco and Sainsbury's about 10 minutes away, and the University of London Union (ULU) building's about 5 minutes away. The ULU building houses a gym and swimming pool among others, which is handy for you muscle-type lots. ULU also has some dance and aerobic type classes. There's also plenty of little shops and cafes to go to around the area, about 10-15 minute proximity from the Hall. For Muslim students, the Tesco Express near Goodge Street sells raw halal chicken, which makes it easy for those wanting to cook.
The best part about Passfield is that it's surrounded by little green parks; during winter it may seem incredibly gray and depressing but once Easter rolls around everything is green and fluffy and wonderful. Makes for some good picnics and book reading for those into the nature thing, and for those who want the real experience Regent's Park is about 15-20 minutes walk away. Great for jogging, football and random ball tossing.
The Buildings
There's 3 buildings in Passfield: the main building, Endsleigh and Taviton. The main building has the dining hall, common room, computer room and the bar on the lower ground floor, ground floor has the reception and mostly single rooms while the 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors have a mix of single and shared rooms. Taviton has 2 separate but adjoining buildings with 4 floors, and this is where the laundry room is. Endsleigh is the same (sans laundry). The only difference between the 3 blocks is the elevator: the main building has one, the other 2 does not. While it doesn't seem significant now, wait till you get drunk and terribly confused and completely knocked off you feet at 4am and have to climb 4 floors of narrow stairs.
In the middle of the 3 buildings sits a beautiful little garden/patio that people go out to smoke at. During warmer weather it becomes possible to study and eat there, and if you're lucky several beautiful girls/guys would sunbathe there during the summer.
Rooms
There are 3 types of rooms: singles, twins and triples. Only postgrads and continuing students (2nd and 3rd years) are allocated singles, while shared rooms are allocated to 1st year undergrads. All rooms come equipped with a desk, bed, wardrobe, shelf, sink, mirror, lamp, and a study chair. Luggage space is found under the mattress, a discovery made by most 1st years in the Lent term.
Singles are small and entirely claustrophobic, and disproportionately expensive. The nicest singles are often found on the 1st floor of the main building, where the ceilings are higher and gives the illusion of more space. Besides the advantage of privacy, there really isn't much to justify weekly rent.
Twins are much like singles, but it has much more space than 2 single rooms put together. Triple rooms are the same. The nicer shared rooms are, however, mostly in the E and T building, because they're bigger and have higher ceilings. Shared rooms in the main building are generally more cramped.
All rooms are allocated randomly (or so they say, but a suspicious amount of Asians end up with other Asians and the Europeans end up with Europeans and the British... you get my point) so students have no say in picking rooms and/or buildings even if you're not happy with your roommate. You can however choose to swap with other students.
In the rooms internet access is fast and reliable, but you'll need to bring your own ethernet cable. You'll have to authenticate your internet access, but you'd learn more about it from reception at arrival. Bedding and linens aren't provided for, so you must bring your own.
Bathrooms
Passfield has communal showers and toilets which are placed in one big room, and these showers and toilets are separated into their own respective closed cubicle (imagine an even smaller room with a shower or a toilet in it, and multiple little rooms in each big room). There're about two or 3 communal areas on each end of each floor in the main building, and generally one big shower/toilet room per each floor in the E and T building. It's not at all the American-esque showers you'd imagine in a communal shower, it's actually very private and it's possible to get dressed in the small room itself. Hot water's a bit hit and miss, while it is mostly reliable there'd be some days where it's very very hot or extremely cold.
For the main building, because there's about 28 rooms to 4 showers, it may be possible that it gets a little crowded. So if you find the shower rooms full on one end of the floor, try the other end. Bizarrely, one side is usually cleaner than the other which may be due to the fact that there are usually more girls living on one side of the floor. This is just a (semi-sexist) inference though. For the E and T building, if your shower's full then tough luck, you'd have to go a floor up or down if you don't want to wait.
While it is generally clean (cleaners come and almost every day), it's pretty advisable to use flip flops when in or around the showers/toilets. Also, there always seems to be a ridiculous amount of hair everywhere in the showers. And lastly, although the toilets are divided into ladies and gentlemen, everyone seems to just randomly use all the toilets which may make for some weird toilet seat incidents.
Kitchens
Kitchens are, in a word, tiny. Since Passfield stopped serving breakfast, many people have opted to use the fridges and shelves to keep their food, milk, soup, vegetables, etc. When you have 28 odd rooms trying to cram all their junk into 2 tiny mini fridges and 2 cupboards, you get the occasional food snatching, milk stealing, etc. What's even more frustrating is that it can get pretty bad, labelling more often than not doesn't deter anyone and people tend to snatch up fridge space like it's gold. They leave their stuff for up to weeks, leaving those who actually want to keep things somewhat inconvenienced.
There's 4 hobs, a toaster and a kettle which is used pretty liberally around the floor. This makes the kettle look pretty gross, and toasters pretty awful looking, but the hobs work pretty well. Most people keep little kettles in their rooms, which is actually disallowed but ignored by the staff.
Kitchens can get really busy at certain times, especially during breakfast and lunch, and thus pretty dirty when people start leaving the dishes, pans and mugs unwashed in the sink. It also seems to smell oddly peculiar at all times of the day, even though the cleaners wash them every day.
Dining Hall
There's a big, spacious dining hall that's open from 6.30 to 8pm from Sunday to Friday for dinner, and brunch from 11am to 1pm. You can use the area to study at night, but be warned: some students use it for parties and games, so it might get a little noisy.
Computer Room
There's approximately ten computers, always filled up, and there's always someone who left their books in front of the screens to book them. There's a printer you can use if you have printing credit (which you purchase from campus using your LSE ID in the library or in campus computer rooms, but not from halls of residences). Computers are usually reliable, but sometimes the mouse gets a bit dodgy and the keyboard can be a bit wonky.
Common Room and Bar
Huge screen TV, a foosball table, cable TV - what's not to love? Loads of people come after dinner to mingle and watch the Simpsons, occasionally grabbing a beer and other alcoholic drinks from the bar. Chairs are weirdly uncomfortable, but there's a nice leather sofa in the bar where the committee have their meetings.
Carr Saunders There are around 150 people in Carr Saunders Hall, although you may never see more than 70 what with the postgrads who keep themselves to themselves and the odd antisocial fresher.
We are opposite a UCL Hall (Ramsay) with whom we have a friendly rivalry.
At the time of writing (22/10/07) Carr Saunders has a problem with cockroaches (although I have lived here 3 weeks and not yet seen one... make of that what you like).
Rooms
All rooms in Carr Saunders are identical except for the fact that some have nicer curtains than others. Moderate sized room, bed, desk with lamp, wardrobe with limited hanging space and shelves, sink and mirror.
Bring stuff to personalise your room! It feels so generic otherwise, blu tack stuff up (no one cares, just put "blu tack marks" on your room itinerary just incase). We have a pinboard but most people were here two weeks before we realised it wasn't just another bit of wall.
All rooms have a telephone so people can ring you direct to your room, you can also buy calling cards from reception that allow you to make external calls from your room.
It is free to connect to the internet from your room but you need to bring (or buy cheap from reception) and ethernet cable in order to plug it in.
Towels and bed linen are not provided so you will have to bring your own.
Rooms are not cleaned by cleaners you have to clean your own room and sink and move your rubbish out into the kitchen bin to be collected.
Kitchens
There is one kitchen on each floor. In each kitchen there are two fridges and two freezers, two microwaves, a hob with four rings, a toaster, a kettle and a sink.
THERE ARE NO OVENS IN CARR SAUNDERS! Crazy I know...
So far the kitchens seem to be working well, they don't get too busy and they are pretty clean/tidy because at the time of writing (22/10/07) we have a cockroach problem and everyone has to keep everything clean and in sealed plastic boxes, also the kitchens are cleaned every day by cleaners.
If you can't be bothered cooking there is a canteen upstairs on the 6th floor, this is pretty cheap and edible but not great.
Also NB don't buy fruit as you can get it free from the canteen.
Showers
Showers I am impressed with. On our bit of the floor we have two between about 15 of us, I have never had to bother to walk to the other end of the floor (where there are a good five or so) because there is never a queue.
We do tend to wear flipflops in the showers, but they're always pretty clean and get cleaned every day by cleaners.
There is a cubicle with pegs and then a shower curtain and then the actual shower, don't put anything on the floor in the cubicle - it will get wet so make sure everything can be hung up or take a plastic bag with you that you can put stuff in and then hang that up.
There's also a bath... if that's your thing.
Common Rooms
We have awesome common areas. The common room has two huge TVs - one with a games console and one with freeview or something, a pool table, a table tennis table and various vending machines, chairs etc.
There is also a bar in our basement which is open three nights a week with cheap drinks, also if they don't sell what you like they will buy it in. There is another TV in the bar and there's also a Wii!!!!!!!!!!!!
Private sectorThe only problem with living privately in central London is that eventually you will run out of organs to sell for rent money. Your choice then becomes either to have a father who is in the Russian mafia (a surprisingly widespread condition among LSE students) or to get ready to commute. That housing and transport are expensive in London has been known since pre-Socratic times, and it is simply a fact of life for anyone studying at LSE. Expect central London rents for a shared flat close to the university to start about £150/week, gradually declining to about £100/week as you venture further into zones 2 and 3.
Student unionStudent politics is very much alive at LSE with the Union retaining the only weekly Union General Meeting (UGM) in the country. Email su.returningofficer@lse.ac.uk with questions of how to get more involved!
PricesEnvironmentArchitectureNot an awful lot to brag about here unfortunately. The university is essentially a side-street in Central London and consists of buildings that are about as attractive as one would expect for a side-street in Central London. The library is the only building of any architectural significance, but, as mentioned above, is so poorly designed that you will most likely require multiple knee surgery to undo the damage inflicted by walking up and down the central staircase for three years. The university has recently acquired some rather more grand buildings on nearby Kingsway and Lincoln's Inn Fields so it appears that there is somewhat of a makeover in progress.
Local areaThe immediate surroundings are dominated mainly by lawyers and professional types being fleeced out of their hard earned millions at over-priced luxury sandwich shops. The university is very conveniently located for access to some of the more attractive (read touristy) parts of central London such as Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square and the northern bank of the Thames (southern bank too!). There is a small park nearby (Lincoln's Inn Fields) that provides a few patches of grass to enjoy one's lunch on and some (expensive) tennis courts. The park aside, the area does get extremely busy, both on campus and off, so be prepared to allow for a lot of people-dodging as you weave your way from one class to the next. |
|
京公网安备11010202008513号 京ICP证101109号 京ICP备12012021号
发表于 2010-10-9 20:26:15
收藏
收藏
