5.5 years in residence

Barring a few brief periods, I have now been living in university owned residences since September 2001: that is to say, five and a half years. First, it was a shared room in Totem (originally with a roommate who is now doing the M.Phil in Economics at Oxford, though who I did not speak to between when he moved out in December 2001 and when I first saw him here). Then, there was a single room in Totem Park and two stints in Fairview Crescent, one living with intolerable hockey players and another with a much more compatible crew. Between the Totem and Fairview periods, I lived for six weeks in the residence of L’Université de Montreal, while doing the Summer Language Bursary Program.

From September 2005 to April 2006, I lived in Library Court – part of Wadham College, Oxford – before moving out, largely on account of bad vegetarian food and inadequate and filthy kitchen facilities. Since then, I’ve been living with Alex and Kai in a flat below the Latin American Studies Centre, with a window looking out into our extremely large back yard, in north Oxford. The whole building belongs to St. Antony’s College, and it is to them that our termly payment of fine silks, wine, and a few head of cattle must be made.

On the basis of my experience, I can authoritatively reveal the best and worst things about institutionally owned residences. The best thing is the experience of living with fellow students, though, as the hockey debacle illustrates, that is hardly enough to make them kindred spirits. Also appealing is the cost structure: not so much that they are cheap, but that the prices are stable, you don’t have to haggle, and internet access and utilities are virtually always included. The worst things, from my point of view, are not having enough space for your books, living with walls so thin as to not muffle conversations at normal speaking volume (an education in itself, especially in Fairview), and the general requirement that you move quite frequently, further restricting the extent to which any space really becomes your own.

Within ten years, it is my hope that I will have a place to live where I have the space and confidence in long-term residence to justify unpacking and cataloging the books I have been picking up over these last two decades or so. That, and the chance to sleep on something other than a cheap single mattress. They never offer much in the way of back support.

Author: Milan

In the spring of 2005, I graduated from the University of British Columbia with a degree in International Relations and a general focus in the area of environmental politics. In the fall of 2005, I began reading for an M.Phil in IR at Wadham College, Oxford. Outside school, I am very interested in photography, writing, and the outdoors. I am writing this blog to keep in touch with friends and family around the world, provide a more personal view of graduate student life in Oxford, and pass on some lessons I've learned here. View all posts by Milan