Moving into halls this autumn?

Q1. How easy was applying and did you get your first choice – did it matter in the end?

University of Southampton was my first-choice university, and I had Wessex Lane as my top choice of accommodation, so I was very hopeful that I would get it and spoiler alert: I did. I remember the halls application process being very smooth, and I found information on the website very useful and that it answered all the queries I had regarding life in halls. The online application used a ranking system with between five and seven different types of rooms, the one thing I knew I wanted was an en suite, so I made sure to list off as many types with one as I could, so I didn’t face disappointment. Wessex Lane was a very sociable halls site, so I was very glad to live there during my first year.

Q2. What was moving-in weekend like?

I still remember moving-in weekend vividly, even nearly two years on. I remember filling my parents' car up to the absolute brim and the butterflies I felt. However, once I became caught up in the busyness of checking in and getting my room key and halls guide booklet, those feelings were replaced with adrenaline and excitement about unlocking the door to my next chapter.
It was a scorching hot day, and I found that the room I had been assigned was not what I was given. I was due to get a ground floor room in a completely different block in Wessex Lane, but I got there and received the keys to my new room on the third floor. I remember the dread of breaking the news to my Dad that he was going to have to help me lug everything up three flights of stairs,rather than simply wheeling my suitcase in, as we had initially thought. However, let me reassure you: I ended up having the most amazing flatmates, who I got to know very early on whilst playing a competitive game of Uno around our kitchen table, so it was all worth it in the end. It did take me a couple of days to get my room all set up the way I liked it. I hung posters up immediately to add my own personal touch to the place and within a few days, the room felt like mine.

Q3. Is there anything you wish you had known before you applied for your accommodation?

I was lucky enough to get my first-choice accommodation option, a standard en suite room at Wessex. However, I do wish I had realised that Archers Road had much easier bus links to Avenue Campus, but that was entirely down to my own personal research into the different locations. I was very satisfied with Wessex Lane; it was where all my friends lived too, so in hindsight, I’m glad it worked out that I chose to live at Wessex. Perhaps I wouldn’t have met them or grown as close to them otherwise, and my uni experience wouldn’t have been the same. So, all in all, I have zero regrets.