STUDENT HOUSING: THE LOW DOWN

Saturday


Following on from my Contraception: The Low Down post, in this post I will also be giving you The Low Down about my experience with student housing.

I must begin by saying I am not talking about all student housing, I will be talking about my experience and experiences I have heard from friends in particular. 

University image

At Bournemouth University, where I've been studying, the majority of students tend to live in halls for the first year, and then will move into a house for second year. This may no longer be the case for the majority as they are building more and more halls in and around Bournemouth for second and third years.

In September, me and five other people moved into a student house. Before moving in, we were asked to pay a booking fee in December of £250 followed by a deposit in August of £500 along with the first month's rent which was £420, equalling £920 at once each and £5,520 all together.

After paying the fees, we went to pick up our keys from the estate agents, by whom we were given an attitude that was not the most friendly. We each had individual bedroom keys but we weren't assigned our own, we were told to "work it out for yourselves". 

Arriving at the house, everyone was very eager to pick bedrooms. Before I knew it, I ended up with my bedroom choice, however, in my bedroom was a broken bed.

I called up the letting agency to ask why I was not given a functioning bed and their reply was "it is not our fault" without any apology. We had moved in on the Thursday and they said the bed wouldn't come until the following week. Their reply to me about this was "it's ok, you have a mattress". Yes, I did have a mattress but I wasn't expecting to pay the same deposit and rent money as everyone else to find a broken bed in my room.

Most of my friends have complained about mould in their houses. I've heard about leaky roofs, bedrooms being declared too small to live in by the council, slug infestations (gross). You name it.

We finally moved out of our student house in August after countless things going wrong and we got our deposit back 2 days ago, 2 months later. It's a good job I wasn't counting on that money because I got less than half of it back, and I got the most back out of everybody. Our reports back said that things were broken that hadn't been broken and "routine cleaning" that we were never made aware of.

I'd like to reiterate that not all student houses are bad and not all housing companies treat you without respect. This is more of a warning to be careful and to raise awareness of how you can be treated sometimes because of age or because you're a student.

Thank you for reading, sorry this was a bit more angry than normal, I just don't agree with how unfair it can be at times. Let me know if you have any student housing horror stories in the comments.

Over and out x

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Wool of the King Instagram: @wooloftheking1
Twitter: @_laurenken



MY FAVOURITE PLACES TO EAT IN AND AROUND SALISBURY

Friday

Salisbury, WILTSHIRE

If you didn't already know, Salisbury is my hometown. People who aren't from Salisbury, I bet you are thinking where is that? Stonehenge? The place that was in the news for a Novichok attack by the Russians? It may be more familiar now. Because a lot of people don't know about anything else in Salisbury, I have decided to post my favourite places to eat here in case anyone were to visit. I would also like to disclose that this is not sponsored I am just sharing some of my favourite places with you.

Stonehenge at sunset

Lauren's foodie favourites
The Wheatsheaf - Lower Woodford, Salisbury
Gastropub in the quiet countryside, allows dogs and does amazing pub food.

Cosy Club - City Centre
The Cosy Club is all over the UK but the Salisbury one is my favourite. It has a really nice interior with an outside area. It's just very... cosy, and they also have amazing food.

Zizzi - City Centre
Zizzi in Salisbury was actually closed for a long time due to the Novichok poisoning so you're getting a bit of history as well as enjoying very good Italian food. (They also do generous student discount, I love being a student).

Reeve the Baker - Salisbury/Amesbury
Best pasties of your life! They also have a Wiltshire pasty. When in Rome! (although I'm not really sure of the difference between a Wiltshire pasty and a Cornish pasty).

Piazza
Surprise, another Italian. This is Amesbury's newest Italian restaurant and I love it, they do a very good pizza!

The Boot Inn - Shipton Bellinger
This is pub food meets fine dining. It's very busy here because of how good it is so make sure you book in advance. They have Italian, Mexican, Chinese and Thai food as well as classic pub food. The portions are huge which can be a blessing or a curse.

Rosebourne - Weyhill, A303
Perfect for brunch, afternoon tea and they also do a Sunday dinner. Rosebourne is also a garden centre/food shop with crafts and homeware so you can browse before or after you eat.

King Chicken - Amesbury
The best hangover food ever! KFC eat your heart out. They also do pizza. There are lots of good takeaway places in Amesbury, although it is still in the Stone Age (Stonehenge), King Chicken is available to order on Just Eat.

Maul's Wine and Cheese Bar - City Centre
Amazing selection of wine and cheese, I wish I could eat here every day. Although, make sure you are not 10/10 level hungry when you go here because it is slightly pricey and not so filling. However, it is so good to indulge in cheese and wine as a treat. I went here as a post-birthday treat with my parents. One of the cheeses was so good we had to buy one and take it home.

Cheese and wine being poured into a glass

I have linked all of the restaurants websites, all you have to do is click on the name of the restaurant. Please note that I am a very fussy eater which I may blog about soon, and there are lots of other nice food places in Salisbury that serve lots of exotic food, these are just my favourite places.

Let me know in the comments what your favourite places to eat around Salisbury or your home town are.

In the meantime, if you are a blogger or an aspiring blogger from the Salisbury/Wiltshire area, please get in touch via the comments or social media as I am looking connect with local bloggers.

Social Media
Twitter: @_laurenken
Personal Insta: @_laurenken
Blog Insta: @wooloftheking1

Wool of the King

Photos: Pexels.
 

WHAT I'M LISTENING TO

Sunday


"Alexa. Play my summer playlist."
I have downloaded a lot of new music lately so I thought I would share this with you. I haven't done a post like this in a while so here's your chance to keep up with the music I have been listening to recently.

Holding phone playing music playlist

SUMMER PLAYLIST
Eviction notice - Kojaque (feat. Kean Kavanagh)
Last pint - Kojaque
Flu shot - Kojaque
Losing you - Boy Pablo
Here Comes The Cowboy (album) - Mac Demarco
Gone - Charli XCX & Christine and the Queens
Can I - Kiana Lede
LOVE AGAIN - Daniel Caeser & Brandy
Just us - DJ Khaled (feat. SZA)
Triggered (freestyle) - Jhene Aiko
BMO - Ari Lennox
Ride it - Tink (feat. DeJ Loaf)
Borderline - Tame Impala
Doin' Time - Lana Del Rey
Loose Ends - Loyle Carner
Choose sides - M.O & AJ Tracey
Television / so Far so Good - Rex Orange County
You - Jacquees
Who's - Jaquees
Shot clock - Ella Mai
Racks - H.E.R (feat. YBN Cordae)
Jade - Lolo Zouai (feat. Blood Orange)

My Top 3 from the playlist
1. Doin' Time - Lana Del Rey
Obviously Lana is my favourite artist of all time and this is a cover of the 1996 Doin' Time by Sublime. I would recommend Lana's version of the song, even to people who don't usually like Lana Del Rey's style of music.

2. Television / so Far so Good - Rex Orange County
A new favourite artist of mine. This song is my favourite by Rex Orange County, it's just so catchy and very summer.

3. Choose sides - M.O & AJ Tracey
This song is the type of song you want to listen to when you're getting ready for a night out, that's all I'm going to say.

Let me know what your favourite songs of the summer are in the comments!

Previous blog post: Dublin 2019 and seeing Lana Del Rey

Social Media 
Twitter - @_laurenken
Personal Instagram - @_laurenken
Blog Instagram - @wooloftheking1

Wool of the King



LAUREN ON BEAUTY PROJECT

Thursday

Here is a link to my university blog project if anyone would like to read it. There are 5 different posts with the theme digital impact upon the beauty industry.

LINK: http://www.blogs2018.buprojects.uk/laurenkenny/