Hello!

We thought we would write about something which you won’t have to think about until the end of your first year (unless you choose to live off campus from the start) – living off campus.

In second year you do have the chance to request to stay on campus, as quite a lot of people do. However, you also have the opportunity to move into town. For us both, deciding to live off campus was a really good decision.

It is good to sort out who you want to live with quite early on (around November / December time) as a lot of houses will be taken up quickly. You might be happier living with your flatmates from campus, or you could choose to live with course mates / society friends. In Lancaster there are lots of agencies to choose from, most of which rent out houses which hold anything from 2-10 people.

When looking for a house, location is obviously key. Make sure you pick somewhere close to a bus stop (within walking distance) and somewhere not too far from town as you don’t really want to be walking home for ages in the cold after a night out!

Living in town is very different to living on campus. Firstly, you probably won’t be living with so many different people surrounding you – this can be quite nice as you do develop really strong friendships. Secondly, on campus everything is a quick walk away (shops and bars) whereas living in town means that you have to venture out a bit more and discover places in the town itself…(such as, pubs and restaurants).

For us both we preferred living in town as it felt like there was a separation between uni and ‘going home’. This is nice because it means that it is easier to relax at home as you aren’t surrounded by uni and the thought that your lecture room is only a 2 minute walk away.

If you do end up living in town, bus services are really regular to get to uni. There are different buses which take different routes to get to uni so wherever you live you will probably be on one of those routes. A return to campus from town is around £2.40, or a bus pass is also a good option for the year if you will be travelling to campus a lot.

If you have a car and drive to uni from town it takes approximately 10 minutes and it is easy to park on campus for £1 a day.

Some people do choose to stay on campus for their whole time of being at uni – this is tempting as it is convenient and makes life a little easier in the mornings. But, if you do choose to live off campus the chances are you will really enjoy it – just pick your housemates wisely and make sure you feel comfortable with them.

Becky and Katie x