Semester 2 - Week 1: Housing

Finding a house can be stressful. Before that, though, one thing that can put some people into more of a panic is deciding who to live with. I don't necessarily fit into specific 'friend groups', as such, so I was extremely unsure of who I was going to end up in a house with in second and third year. Luckily for me, I have a friend in Birmingham who goes to a different University and is desperate to move out so I asked if she'd want to live with me. This was the second choice because the first one was to live with 'The Boyf'. Many people tried to talk me out of this and, it seemed, succeeded. I have rebelled, however, because the arrangement of me living with my friend haven't worked out - communication and reliability were issues - so tomorrow I'm signing a contract to secure a two bedroom house for me and my boyfriend from July 1st.

Most contracts will start on July 1st in the same calendar year that the academic year begins and the previous one ends. This is convenient in terms of moving stuff from halls (if you do the norm and live in university accommodation in first year - do it!) to the new house. It is a bit of a cafuffle, though, with money. Student loans are paid at the end of September or beginning of October because that's when term begins. This means there's July, August and September where there is no income and the rent has to be paid somehow, plus any bills if you decide to actually live in the house over summer. The bills would probably be lower over summer due to central heating not being used as much but electricity may be higher due to plenty of spare time in which TVs, computers can be overused. That would require getting a job (unless you know someone who would like to be very nice to you and give you lots of cash).

There was a series of housing fairs around November at the Guild (I think) and the Hub at the Vale (for definite) but I missed them for various work-related reasons. Luckily, there was another one this Wednesday so I went to that one. It was situated at various points - I went to the one in the Deb Hall in the Guild. There was also one at the Hub at the Vale and one on the other side of campus in the University Centre (which isn't actually in the centre). They may also have been other hosting venues but those were the main ones. It was extremely busy, as expected, and I had to queue for about 20 minutes before I could get in. Walking round, there were various companies and letting agencies. SHAC was there. They are the university run company who list houses. They have contacts with landlords and you know that if you go through SHAC to sign a contract, it's most definitely safe. There were also other letting agencies, all trusted by the University, and various housing related stands such as safety, community wardens, insurance and private accommodation.

The majority of houses available are 3 - 6 bedroom. To have a double bed in every room is very common though not guaranteed. There are houses with one and two bedrooms as well as some with seven, eight and perhaps a handful with more. The safe bet is to find a group of three or four people because in that case it will be very easy to find a house. Even if there are a few instances where your group may find a house and like it then get back in touch three days later to see the house has been signed by another eager group, there are plenty to choose from that are of good quality. Landlords and agencies sometimes shout about how you must find a house quickly before all of them are taken but the truth is that there are more houses than students in Selly Oak (the main student house area) and there are other areas such as Harborne, Edgbaston, Selly Park, the centre and, I'm sure, other areas I haven't mentioned. Urgency is encouraged but panic is unnecessary.

I went house viewing on Saturday (16th January) and saw three houses in one day, each two bedroom with Broad Court. One was like the tardis: it was tiny on the outside but huge inside. One was a tip, clearly not looked after by the current tenants, and had a problem with damp which was apparently going to be sorted by Broad Court (the tenants wouldn't have to pay anything for this) in the very near future. There was also one that was perfect. It didn't look like a student house and was not in 'the grid'. I'm signing the contract for that tomorrow, as well as handing over a deposit.

Deposits are necessary for securing the house. The common price is a month's rent. Sometimes it's a month's rent plus a little more for fees. You get this money back in the last week of your contract (so, the end of June for a standard 12 month contract) but you don't get the money back that you pay for fees. For example, I have to pay £250 deposit plus £50 fees. I'll get £250 back but not the £50.

Things to check in a house are listed on the SHAC website and in the SHAC office in the Guild and were advertised during the housing fairs, so I won't go through them now. Every one has their own interests and needs, however, so do think about them before you view a house or even whilst you're looking at the listings. There are so many houses, you can't really just pick ones at random and hope that they might be up to your personal standard. My house, for example, has exposed brickwork done tastefully and an open plan kitchen/dining room/lounge which I love. Each bedrooms is huge and has a double bed. The wardrobe is massive and built in so it doesn't appear to take up room. The ceilings are high so natural light is abundant. There is a small concealed back garden so I can do BBQs in good weather. The neighbours are pleasant and friendly towards students. The house itself is close to the Selly Oak campus, where all the drama classes and lectures are. It is also close to the travel links (Selly Oak train station, 20/25 minute walk; bus stop, just outside the house; shuttle bus stop, 10 minute walk).

One thing that is mentioned that I didn't think about was the furniture and appliances. As there will be people living in the house when you view it (probably January, like most people), they may be available to talk to during the viewing. I asked the current tenant of my house about bills and local supermarkets as well as if the TV was their own. There should be check lists for 'things to buy before moving into a rented house' either on the SHAC website or easily found on a Google search. Having moved away from home into halls, I already have plenty of things for my house such as kitchen things (pots, pans, plates, cutlery etc), cleaning stuff and studying tools. No doubt I'll have to buy a few extra things but the cost definitely won't be as high as it was when I moved into halls. Also, if you're living in a house with one or more people, the other people would definitely have things to provide, too.

Well, I have work to do and half an hour before I go to Gatecrasher for a flatmate's birthday. As always, if there are any further questions or comments you'd like to make, my university email address is on this page on the right. I do my best to respond and help out anyone who contacts me. One more note on that, though: I have had emails from people asking for help on the finances side of University. Whilst I am a student so have contact with the people in those offices, the better thing to do in that situation would be to either phone the university or go on the website and look at the options available. I will still try to point whomever asks in the right direction if they can't find the right department, though. Go ahead, try me.

Week 0: Moving and Settling In

Hello random readers! I may as well introduce myself considering this is the first post. There is a section somewhere on here with a few facts about myself but I can write more in here. I'm Vici Royle, I'm a Drama and Theatre Arts student at the University of Birmingham. I'm living a self catered flat Tennis Court (Centre Court, to be exact), which is part of the Vale student village. My family home is in Doncaster, near Sheffield, and I appear to be one of the very few northerners at the Uni. We're a rare breed. What else? As well as being clearly interested in theatre - acting, backstage stuff, theory and everything else to do with it - I like watching (not playing) ice hockey and I'm an utter Harry Potter nerd. In this here blog I'll be pretty much keeping track of what's going on in my life and how it feels to be a student living away from home (though my flat feels like a second home already) and facing up to proper adulthood.

And so onto the post! The week before moving to university was a bit hectic. I was sent a reading and equipment list which meant I had to buy two books (the complete works of William Shakespeare and a drama anthology) and some steel capped boots (the Drama course isn't just about acting, it also includes backstage work which includes building the set, props etc which requires safety equipment). I had a mini panic when I looked at the reading list because there were so many on the list. There were two must-haves, aforementioned, six 'essential reading' and a few more on general reading. I was advised that I didn't have to buy all of them and should just buy the must-haves and exploit the 2million+ volume library on campus. To buy all the essential and must-haves would've set me back over £100 so I was happy not to hand over so much money especially as being a student means this horrible thing called budgeting enters your life, which I will develop on later.

It took me two hours to drive to the university and I was still an hour early (I was allocated a time slot to move in). The atmosphere was incredible when I arrived. There was music blaring out of the TeCRA (Tennis Court Residents Association) office, a marquee to collect keys and Freshers Fest (I'll explain later) tickets as well as the internet CD and insurance. I'm in Block 21 which meant that I couldn't escape the blaring music (TeCRA office is just downstairs) but that didn't matter at all because it added to the excitement of moving in. Naturally I let my Mother sort out the kitchen stuff while I set up my PC and put my books away. The internet was very easy to set up and took only ten minutes and a restart. There were three options: free, £70 and expensive. I chose the free package and it's really good. I haven't yet tried to watch anything on the iPlayer or 4OD so that could be a good measure to see how awesome the internet is but I'm sure that won't be an issue at all.

My flatmates (there are six of us in my flat) arrived at staggered times with one arriving a day late because he couldn't make the allocated move in day, which wasn't a problem at all (though he did have to arrive before 8.30 to get his keys whereas my move in time was 12.30 - 13.30). There was a welcome meeting the whole of Tennis Court at 2.30pm so we had enough time to organise the important things in our rooms and the kitchen, to remember names and sit around in the lounge to chat. We all agree that we were really lucky with flatmates because we already feel like we've known each other for ages and act like a family. If there are any problems (cleaning, for example) then there's never an argument because we all understand that we have to look out for each other and make sure we're all happy to live together. We get along really well, too, so that helps. There are already a few in-jokes and lots of funny stories.

The girls and I made a few friends on the way to the welcome meeting who, we found out, were living in the block right next to us, so we've seen them alot all week. We actually class one of them as the extra flatmate because he spends so much time in our flat. It was really easy to make friends with random people here because most people are very social and like to knock on random doors to say hello and get to know everyone. Danny, one of my flatmates, has a mission to get to know the name of everyone in centre court by the end of the year. He's already off to a flying start.

After we all settled in on Sunday, we went down to Bar One at the Hub in the Vale for a drink. Unfortunately the frivolities were cut short when there was a fire alarm and we were all evacuated. We all went back to the flat to play a few card games and make the most of the first night, regardless.

Monday was the start of the Freshers Fest. This is a university organised festival that includes nights out almost every day of the week (not compulsory) as well as vouchers for one free admission at the cinema, one free game of bowling and one free comedy night at Jongleurs. There were various levels of the pack depending on what the individual wants to get involved in. I bought the Silver Package which included all the nights in FF as well as Calvin Harris for next Friday and the Freshers Ball, which was last night. The Gold Package also includes N-Dubz. The prices ranged from cheap to expensive. The most expensive (gold) was £65 plus postage/booking fee and the cheapest was just a Freshers Ball ticket at £20 plus postage/booking fee. There's also a comedy night with an actor from The Inbetweeners for £7. You could buy individual tickets for Calvin Harris, N-Dubz and the Freshers Ball if you so wished to. That was mainly for people who missed out on buying them online before arriving at University.

Wednesday wasn't a particularly nice start, for me, because I had to wake up at 7am after a late night to make sure I was down at the Selly Oak campus for 10am, it being a 45 minute walk away. The reason for this was an introduction lecture to the course. There was a Facebook group already set up for the people doing Drama at Birmingham so I posted a notice to say that anyone who wanted to walk down together should meet in the Centre Court courtyard. About ten people turned up, a few from other halls but mostly TC. We had a lovely walk down to the Selly Oak campus, together, chatting breeze on the way. After the introduction to all the staff and the basic structure of the course, we were given the name of our Personal Tutor and had a meeting with them where we were given our timetable. We had to work out which slots were ours because there were various groups. I have Thursday off, which is nice. I doubt I'll actually have it off compeltely though because I've been advised that for every hour of contact (a lecture, a seminar etc) I have to do five hours of reading. I have about eight hours, at a guess, of contact, per week.

This morning my student finance information arrived in the post (which was delivered directly to my flat) so I could embrace the lovely task of budgeting. I chose to organise a weekly budget. I'm getting the full tuition fee loan, which I won't see because it is paid directly to the University, the full maintenance loan (income assessed) and a non-repayable grant which means I'll be surviving on £80 a week, which is very comfortable. As well as that funding, I'll be getting two bursaries from the University which are paid in two installments in January and May, I believe. I'll comment on them when I get them because they're irrelevant at the moment. With the budget I'll be able to do a limited weekly shop, save some money for laundry (£2.20 for a wash, £1 for the dryer), have a few notes for entertainment and perhaps save some money for summer or birthdays/Christmas.

And with that I'm off to make myself some dinner and hang out with the flatmates who have arrived back from wherever they escaped to. I should be updating this blog once a week with the happenings of Birmingham so do come back every Saturday or Sunday to see what's going on in Flat 135.