Penbryn is located at the centre of campus. Most of my classes are at a 5-minute walking distance, which is incredibly convenient. TaMed Da, the restaurant is downstairs in the same building as our sleeping residences. There is a small communal area on each floor for all of the hallways of that floor together.
At the start of the academic year, I lived with 14 other people. There are two hallways with each seven to eight rooms and a bathroom on each side. Our kitchen is in the middle and is rather small.
This flat has been great in the sense that I got to meet a lot of people without having to do any effort. Also, because we are living together and see each other a lot I grew close to them rather quickly. It’s hard to get the feeling that you’re alone and usually there’s always something going on if you fancy a break from studying.
Another advantage of Penbryn, in particular, is that the residence is catered. Being able to get food downstairs has saved me a lot of time. The disadvantage, of course, is that you can’t always choose the food you’d like to have and I have been feeling like I’ve been eating rather unhealthy compared to what I used to eat back home.
The rooms in Penbryn are rather big. My current room is bigger than the one I used to have in my parental home and it is a lot bigger compared to the other residences on campus as well.
If you’re one of the lucky ones you wake up with a view of the sea. The picture below is taken from Pippa’s room which is opposite of mine.
To be honest, though, Penbryn has been less than ideal for me. During the first semester, my room often smelled like weed even if I kept my window closed. And for the entirety of this year, I have had trouble sleeping because there is either a party going on, a movie night or a fire alarm that goes off. The number of fire alarms we’ve had during the day and the middle of the night is ridiculous. To avoid being woken up by the general noise I changed my sleep schedule to going to bed around 2 or 3 am.
I don’t regret taking university accommodation but hopefully, I will get more sleep next year when I will happily be living in a house with 4 of my current flatmates.
Posts in preparation for University:
Packing for University
The struggle of proving my identity!
Study in the UK | Find your university!
What I wish I’d known before starting University (Series by Imogen)
Posts about what University was like in my first year:
Acitivies week and exploring
Nadolig Llawen! Merry Christmas!
My struggle at University
What freshers week was like
WE WON SUPERTEAMS!
Living in university accommodation
Summer Ball 2016
Goodbyes are not forever goodbye’s
Posts about what University was like in my second year:
Drinking Alcohol or not?
Is it racist to dress up as a dementor?
To belong or not; Anxiety
Writing and Mental health
I’m not as good at that person | Pressure at university
15 British Peculiarities
Posts about what University was like in my third year:
DOWN IT!
In between places
Everything changes | End of University
Why I would choose Aberystwyth again
I’m graduating from University!
The benefits of attending graduation