The experience of a real Queen Mary student

The bedroom

The bedroom was on the smaller size compared to other halls, but it had adequate room for all my belongings and more. I enjoyed the fact that it had a double bed, so it was spacious when sleeping. However, the 24-hour light in the courtyard made it not ideal for sleeping if you prefer total darkness. As I was facing the courtyard, there was rarely any noise aside from the occasional “house party” in one of the flat kitchens.

What size was the bed? Double

Did you have an ensuite? No

What was the shared bathroom like?

As my flat was same gender, all of my flatmates were girls, so the bathrooms were cleaner and more comfortable to use. I was on the second floor, so I shared my bathroom with the room on the first floor, while the top 4 flats often shared one bathroom as it was more convenient for them. A bin and mop plus bucket was provided in the bathroom. We each bought our own soap and toilet roll; we preferred not to share toilet roll as finances would be hard to work out. Because it was a shared bathroom, it was nice that cleaning would come to clean it every week or so.

The kitchen

How many people lived in your flat? 6

Aside from the assigned cupboard space, there were still a few extra drawers left that anyone used. The kitchen was a good enough size, it was ideal for 2 people cooking at once, 3 was a bit of a squeeze. However, the table could fit 6 people, 4 people comfortably.

The kitchen layout was a long counter instead of at a right angle etc. However, because I was in flat 4 of Ifor Evans, which was right next to the corridor to the back entrance, it meant our kitchen was smaller and did not have a window, so we would have to always air it out by opening the flat door for a small while. I liked how there were two fridge freezers, so there was plenty of space for 6 of us. It also had an oven, toaster, kettle and microwave.

Laundry

There was a laundry room in the courtyard containing two washing machines and two dryers for a total of 16 flats each with 6 people as well as the Albert Stern residents.

Social spaces

Ifor Evans has its own courtyard that you would pass through when you exited your flat. There were some trees and picnic tables, along with a table tennis table.

It was only used occasionally, mostly when house parties are hosted in the flat kitchens. But because it was not particularly open, being surrounded by flats, and it was also quite cold most of the year, it was not a busy space. Sometimes, people spend a bit of time talking to their friends before going into their flats, however because of the proximity, all of the flats facing the courtyard can very clearly hear every word of your conversation.

Where did you and your flatmates usually hang out?

We usually hung out in our flat's kitchen, it was ideal because since it was situated on the ground floor, with the staircase spiralling up, which meant that none of the rooms would be disturbed even if we were talking loudly. The only thing would be that if you were in the staircase, it would be loud.

Location

Lindop House is on the Mile End campus.

What were the transport links like?

As Ifor Evans wasn’t in the student village but on the other side of campus, it was closer to Stepney Green tube station than Mile End. Stepney Green is around a 3 min walk away from Ifor Evans. Similarly, the bus stop Ocean Estate was right outside the accommodation. From my front door it would take around 30 minutes to get to central London.

What were the best parts of your hall's location?

The best part for me specifically was because I did Neuroscience, many of my lectures were on the Whitechapel campus, and it allowed me to have a shorter walk to campus than if I was living in the student village. It also forced me to save money by walking!

I think we did have the city living experience and less uni experience, as we wouldn’t see many students out and about as Ifor Evans wasn’t part of the student village. However, we had a Tesco that was fairly close and the Union Shop. Another part which I think many students appreciated was the 2 min walk to the gym, providing no excuse to not go to QMotion in the winter.

What were the worst parts of your hall's location?

I definitely felt more distant from campus than people in other halls, especially after hanging out with friends and having to part ways with them. I had friends in the student village and there would be less impromptu visits as it was around a 5-10 minute walk across campus. In my first year, the building in Godward Square was under construction, so it was not only loud on some mornings, but also empty.

Community

I don’t think there was much of a sense of community in my hall, because after living there for a year, I didn’t really know anyone else around me except for my own flatmates. However, I think this was up to personal preference as I know some flats are friends with others.

In conclusion...

I personally really enjoyed living in my hall, I had gotten quite used to my bedroom and space over the year. I was happy with my flatmates and how we operated in the bathroom and kitchen. I also really liked the location between the two campuses. There were some struggles, but soon was able to find solutions to them and work around them.

One more thing...

It was quite annoying when parcels get delivered as it would sometimes be delivered to the parcel lockers but sometimes left at our flat door or even the flat gate. So to be safe, I used to pick it up at the post office instead.

Another point is that thankfully I was on the second floor, but the person on the top floor will have a lot of stairs everyday. My flat was on the side of the graveyard and Albert Stern instead of the main road, so living at Ifor Evans mean you could be facing the main road, the courtyard or the graveyard. (I would’ve preferred the graveyard).