Fife Park

[TheoGirl]

I'v just found out today that im in Fife Park. I'm a first year and everything about FP on The Sinner seems to be negative especially regarding its benefits for first years! can anyone reassure me? or does anyone in Albany want to swap? pleassse help!

[jpm]

It's negative? FIfe part is brilliant...everyone ends up knowing everyone else. The sense of community is amazing! ok, the houses themselves are a bit old, but still standing and in fairly good nick. I think you'll really love Fife Park once you've settled in, met people and got involved in stuff put on by the committee.

[ct3012]

Albany Park and Fife Park are really similar, and let's face it all halls have their downsides.
I'm going into Second Year and my second year in Albany and I think that you wont get the same community spirit that FP and AP have any where else.
So basically, don't worry about it! You'll meet so many new people similar to yourself (even if the similarities aren't immediately obvious) and have an amazing time.

[Timata]

Fife Park is great (it doesn't resemble a prison like Albany) - most of the negative comments are probably from people who don't live there. True, its a way from the town centre, but a 20min walk/5min cycling really isn't that bad, and there's always the bus. For first years there's probably not much difference between Albany and Fife Park anyway, so long as you make an effort to get to know the people in your house. Fortunately, the walls are so thin that this isn't difficult. Which house are you, if you don't mind me asking?

[ct3012]

I always thought that Albany didn't so much resemble a prison as a cooncil scheme...

[Thalia]

I loved Fife Park while I was there. You don't have a living room and the place is kind of falling apart but you kind of bond with all the others there because of that. I also think the bedrooms in Fife Park are bigger than in Albany though that might just be my Fife Park bias.

Admittedly though, after two years living there, I'm much happier now in a proper flat and wouldn't go back but I did enjoy my time there

[hr]

You've been nothing but an angel every day of your life and now you wonder what it's like to be damned...

[theshadowhost]

Quoting TheoGirl from 11:17, 1st Sep 2008
I'v just found out today that im in Fife Park. I'm a first year and everything about FP on The Sinner seems to be negative especially regarding its benefits for first years! can anyone reassure me? or does anyone in Albany want to swap? pleassse help!

do not swap FP for albany!

[hr]

[exnihilo]

Fife Park is what you make of it. Some people have hated it, some people loved it. I lived there for two years and we made our house very comfortable and a very sociable place to be.

[Abserdman]

There's nothing wrong with FP at all. Yeah, the houses are a bit old but it's a lovely place. Like others have said, it's an amazing community of people and you won't get the same feeling anywhere else, and especially not in the conventional halls.

In my first year there the 4 girls in my house ended up really bonding with the 5 guys next door, to the extent that we had dinner together every night from about 6 weeks into the year! And we wore a path through the gras from our front door to theirs. You won't get that anywhere else!

[Timata]

Quoting Thalia from 14:20, 1st Sep 2008
I also think the bedrooms in Fife Park are bigger than in Albany though that might just be my Fife Park bias.

They are. Albany rooms are tiny - I've never lived in AP, but I've cleaned them.

In Fife they've managed to get wardrobe, bed, desk, easy chair and book case all on the floor. In Albany there's no easy chair (because there's a common room), and the book shelves are above the desk because of the limited space. The kitchens are about the same size, the bathrooms are larger in Albany, and for some reason the stair wells in Albany are darker (we sometimes end up using the stair well or kitchen as a social area in FP)

[Legion]

Don't be dismayed by what you've read - every hall is as good or bad as you want it to be.
Make a bit of an effort to meet people and participate in the social events, and you won't even care about the hall in which you live.

[threekings]

i was never really sure about fife/albany park. i never went to the place so u cant really say anything about the place, but in all my years i dont remember ever meeting anyone either in tutorials or out on the booze who was from either FP or AP. everyone bangs on about how amazing the social life is, yet i never met anyone from there. seems like they keep themselves to themselves. although i went to JBH so we basically inflicted ourselves upon everyone else which is probably worse.

[ct3012]

Quoting threekings from 16:08, 1st Sep 2008
i was never really sure about fife/albany park. i never went to the place so u cant really say anything about the place, but in all my years i dont remember ever meeting anyone either in tutorials or out on the booze who was from either FP or AP. everyone bangs on about how amazing the social life is, yet i never met anyone from there. seems like they keep themselves to themselves. although i went to JBH so we basically inflicted ourselves upon everyone else which is probably worse.

A certain amount of the social life (in AP at least) is inter-Albany, or at least I found that. Last year there was always people going in to town for nights out.

[Hennessy]

I've lived in AP for first year and second year and am going to live there again in third year. I'd say Fife Park would be slightly more social as a place to live as it's general decrepitude inspires an esprit de corps among it's residents. Having worked there for 3 months now I can say that generally a lot fewer things go wrong in Fife Park or have to be replaced in comparison with even one of the buildings in DRA, so though it's old the place isnt going to fall over in a storm. Also I like the way Fife Park is layed out with houses facing each other, these help to develop a community that no 4 storey residence building can ever hope to match. It looks almost beautiful in summer when the plants flower and bunnies hop about. To be demolished 2010. RIP.

AP is good fun tho, being right next to the sea adds something that it's social-housing project architecture can't detract from. There is practically no hassle from Wardens (this might change next year however) or Uni staff and it feels detached and safe away from the hubbub of the town and some of the insufferable toffs who infest other halls. That's where the spirit of Albany really comes in, being detached and yet very much a part of the university and the town. You can walk anywhere central in 15 mins, and can also get out to morrisons and aldi in less time. You see more of St Andrews as a working everyday town, not a chocolate box golfing town that can sometimes be suffocatingly middle class and cliche tbh.

Anyway before this descends into a rant about student residence prices I'll finish there. Good luck

[hr]

The Sinner.
"Apologies in advance for pedantry."

[Fawksie]

Quoting Timata from 14:58, 1st Sep 2008
In Albany there's no easy chair (because there's a common room)

Did they not turn the common rooms into additional bedrooms in Albany? Or was that Fife Park?

[Lid]

And if you are struggling to meet people, you can always use the DRA facilities building (which I'm told has come on absolute leaps and bounds since my first year).

[hr]

Mathematical Anti Telharsic Harfatum Septomin

[orudge]

Quoting Fawksie from 19:00, 1st Sep 2008
Did they not turn the common rooms into additional bedrooms in Albany? Or was that Fife Park?

Albany still has common rooms as far as I'm aware.

[hr]

http://www.owenrudge.net/
http://standrews.facebook.com/profile.php?id=37103734

[Hennessy]

Yup it does, I'm living in Albany right now and nobody has acquired our common room for bedspace, and there are no plans for this to happen anywhere in AP, ever.

[hr]

The Sinner.
"Apologies in advance for pedantry."

[Abserdman]

Quoting Lid from 19:02, 1st Sep 2008
And if you are struggling to meet people, you can always use the DRA facilities building (which I'm told has come on absolute leaps and bounds since my first year).

It's dood. Definately check out the bar! DRA is the only residence to have one, DRA residents pay for it with their hall subs and FP residents get to use it for free!

It's not the most happening place in St Andrews but it's good for a quiet drink and you often get people revising over a drink in there, which is slightly weird but nice.

Go to the DRA free alcohol parties too! Their punch is amazing! Deadly, but amazing.

[threekings]

Quoting Hennessy from 18:16, 1st Sep 2008
it feels detached and safe away from the hubbub of the town and some of the insufferable toffs who infest other halls. That's where the spirit of Albany really comes in, being detached and yet very much a part of the university and the town.

[hr]

The Sinner.
"Apologies in advance for pedantry."

Hen, so am i right in saying that very few 'toffs' ever end up AP? Why is that? A conscious move from the univesity? Do you think most 'toffs' apply for small/shared residences so they can be in town?