By Callum Stevens

2nd year BU student, BSc (Hons) Computing

I can still remember being on the computer and waiting for the chance to input my accommodation choice, for my first year at Bournemouth. My first choice admittedly was halls, and second choice was Unilet. I got my second choice being a Unilet House, as halls had already been filled. At first I felt a bit disappointed at not getting my first choice, but I soon realised living in a Unilet House would be just as good. I was sent the pictures and the address and told you could join a group on Facebook to find your future house mates. I looked up the address on Google Maps and used StreetView to find out the local shops and where the nearest supermarkets were. I managed to find most of my house mates from the Facebook Group, so I had already got talking to them which made moving in less daunting. My Unilet House was in Wallisdown, a short walk from Aldi and only a 10-15 minute walk from the University. It was a nice area to be living in as I was near the University; it had a parade of shops down the road, and two parks nearby.

The day of arrival came and it was less stressful than I thought, it went without any hitches. I got to meet my house mates and their parents too, and we were all pleased with the house. We had a drink and a chat in the evening, and then we went out that night; so we got to know each other quite quickly.

With Halls you have a generally busy atmosphere, as I’m sure you can glean if you read the reviews of halls for all Universities! I have heard from friends that they can be loud at times so there is that side, but the friends from my course got used to it after a while. They had to commute every day to University by getting the bus, whereas it was only a short walk for me. I also found it convenient popping back in lecture breaks, whereas people in Halls didn’t have as much freedom to do that for shorter breaks. Our Unilet House was quieter than Halls so I could at least get some sleep and revise for exams in peace. It was a bus ride into the town for the nights out with the U1 or number 6 which was great as they were both cheap. I made friends with people living at the Student Village so it wasn’t as if you were excluded if you lived in a Unilet. Meeting new people was just as easy so there is definitely still the student life and atmosphere to be enjoyed!

My house mates also felt a bit more ‘homely’ as we had made it our home for the year. The BU Lettings Team does a great job at coming to inspect the house every so often and dealing with any problems that you may have. The price of renting a Unilet was cheap compared to private lettings and the level of service was great.

I am now living with most of my house mates from last year, and some of their friends that they have met from their course. Looking back we had a great first year experience and I don’t feel I missed out living in a Unilet House. I really enjoyed my time there and can assure anyone who is thinking of choosing Unilet accommodation, that it is a good choice. You will still meet plenty of people at University and have an equally great first year experience as you would with Halls of Residence.

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