Hi, I'm Meike, and today I want to talk about how to manage the
housing situation once you come to the LSE. First of all, if you clicked this video probably
you have got an offer from the LSE, for which I want to congratulate you! I
hope you are going to have the best time of your life but there is one big question besides uni:
where to live and how to manage London? I guess there are three main options of where to stay.
First of all, just living on your own. Second, living in a shared flat, or living in halls.
While all three of them are pretty good, for me personally I decided to live in
halls. And today I want to talk about why I made this decision and what life in halls is like.
In the beginning, I wanted to live in a shared flat, but I was abroad,
I was quite busy with finishing my undergrad and I did not really have the time to do proper
research, and I was not able to view flats. Also, there was Covid, so I could not easily fly over,
and I wanted to be sure that the place is a good, secure, clean space.
Therefore, a shared flat was off the table as I was not able to judge the situation.
And minus the "flatmates factor" the same applied to living alone. Also, the budget because living
alone in London can be very expensive. So, I looked up what the LSE has to offer and found
the LSE Halls and also the University of London Halls because you can apply to both.
I narrowed it down to two or three halls that ticked the box for me. As I was coming for M.Sc.,
I knew that I wanted something furnished for the year I am in London. I wanted it
to be central because it only being such a short experience I wanted it to be worth it.
Then I thought about some halls being catered (providing breakfast and dinner), some not.
As I expected this one year to be quite stressful and busy I decided to go catered, so I do not have
the fuss of going shopping, cleaning up, cooking for myself, and also I would meet
people at mealtimes. In the end, I, therefore,
decided to apply to Nutford House, a University of London Hall. It is quite near to Marble Arch
and a 15-20 minute bike ride or a 40 minute walk away from LSE, which is totally manageable. But
there is also the Central Line running from Marble Arch to Holborne, so it is pretty well connected.
It looked just very cozy compared to more modern ones, which is something I prefer personally.
Besides the catered option, I also like that this room is quite small because I knew I did not want
to bring too much stuff and I felt it would be way cozier like this. Also, it was not as expensive.
Some other great things about living in halls are that you share so much stuff besides your room.
On my corridor, we share bathrooms and a pantry. We do not really have a kitchen as
we are catered but still have some equipment to prepare some small meals. Besides that,
we do have two common rooms. On which is a bit bigger and which has a piano. And the garden room,
which faces the marvelous garden we have, which is such a luxury to have in London.
So, it is really cool to have all these facilities you would not be able to have on
your own. There is also a study and a games room, but also on the more practical side, there are
laundry facilities and a bike shed, which is super practical for me as I am always biking to
uni. This way I know my bike is secure. Nutford House is catered, therefore we also have a nice
dining room. It can be quite loud in there when it is really busy, but normally it is totally fine.
I really enjoy the food and it is always a good time to see people, catch up and in the
summer also to sit outside in the garden. So for me, it really was the right choice
to pick halls. There are so many people, everything is so easy and convenient.
However, which is super important, some tips on what to bring, which are not super well known:
For me it was essential coming to halls to bring earplugs because doors are old, people are coming
in and out all through the night and you just want to have a good night's sleep to be well-rested.
Second of all, for me, it is a hot water bottle. You never know, when you are cold,
maybe the radiators stop working, or you just want to snuggle up: a warm water bottle will
make your day. On the other hand, if you are in London only for a year and live in a furnished
room, bring some stuff to personalize your room to really feel cozy. Also essential for
living in Halls is having slippers or slides to just put them on to go to dinner or pick up your
laundry very quickly and you do not have to put on shoes all the time. And last but not least,
maybe you cannot get dinner all the time or you want to prep some food for uni:
bring a lunch box and a reusable water bottle. It will save you so much time, money, and food waste.
These are me few essential things to bring to halls that you maybe have not yet thought
about and I hope if you consider applying that you have luck and fingers crossed for you to get in.
I hope you are having the best move to London. Enjoy the city!