2005-2006 Melvillites

[rgerrard]

Hi! I just found out last week that I will be staying in Andrew Melville Hall this coming September and was wondering if who else will be there?

I'm on B-Block bdw - please let me know if you have any experiances there (good or bad!) so I can prepair myself!

See You All later!

[Ellroy]

Quoting rgerrard from 21:43, 5th Jul 2005
Hi! I just found out last week that I will be staying in Andrew Melville Hall this coming September and was wondering if who else will be there?

I'm on B-Block bdw - please let me know if you have any experiances there (good or bad!) so I can prepair myself!

See You All later!

You got a place in Melville... commiserations!

[Wong]

I'm not coming back to AMH after being there for three years. It's not a terrible place to live - the sense of community is good (some people suggest this is as a result of all routes through the building going through the foyer) and the warden is now decent.

The food can't really be described as very good at all, but they get things right occasionally. The menus change from year to year, so hopefully they'll have got rid of some of the duff meals. Whatever you do, don't take the chicken risotto.

There was also an issue with fire alarms last year which caused me to spend nights in the Jack Cole Building rather than risk being woken up again. The problem was "fixed" at least ten times throughout the year. Again, this seems to vary - the frequency of fire alarms seems to have been getting progressively worse over the last three years.

I wrote an article on AMH two years ago - it's in the Sinner's Guide section of the site. It's a bit out of date now, but it might help. You're not in Room 70 or 71, by any chance?

[hr]

No tree has branches so foolish as to fight among themselves

[rgerrard]

Nope! Not far away tho - B80

[Steveo]

A44-51 is the place to be, it's in the Greenhouse.

I was in A50 - what a room.

[rgerrard]

What like is B Block! In general are the rooms ok?

I was down visiting earlier this week and it does not look as bad as I thought - ok it looks a bit out of place in an old town set up and this is not helped as its right next to the newer buildings like new hall but I'm still looking forward to it!

Any idea what side of the building I will be at: ie will I be looking on to the town, new hall, "the lake" or car park?

Thanks

[BenEsq]

B block is a view towards the golf course, but sadly the North Haugh features most prominently, or on the otherside is a row of trees. There are rabbits a'plenty. B80 ay? I was in B81 and believe me, you do not want to know what happened in your room. Good luck.

[hr]

Lions and tigers and bears...Oh my!

[rgerrard]

Quoting benesq from 02:57, 31st Jul 2005
B block is a view towards the golf course, but sadly the North Haugh features most prominently, or on the otherside is a row of trees. There are rabbits a'plenty. B80 ay? I was in B81 and believe me, you do not want to know what happened in your room. Good luck.

[hr]

Lions and tigers and bears...Oh my!

Please tell - I really think I should know...not a murder was it...

[Steveo]

Knowing last years residents, being one myself, I would imagine something much more horrific than murder.

Also, sorry rgerrard if it's taking a while for your messages to appear, I'm not moderating all that well over summer with my dialup internet.

[Louis]

I'm in Andrew Melville, and it looks like I'm in block E, which I thought was all female. Am I just wrong about that?

Trying to figure out if me being there is a good thing or a bad thing

[ned6]

Quoting Louis from 17:32, 8th Sep 2005
I'm in Andrew Melville, and it looks like I'm in block E, which I thought was all female. Am I just wrong about that?

Trying to figure out if me being there is a good thing or a bad thing

Half of C, all D and all E blocks are all female except for the boyfriends of the girls sleeping there. There are many of these towards the end of the academic year.

If you like boys, A, B and half of C contain plenty and there are many opportunities to be around them. If you don't like boys, it's not hard to avoid them mostly in E block which is as female as it can get in AMH.

There is still one all female Hall in St. Andrews, but it's tough to get into. And it may not last for much longer with EU human rights legistlation.

Cheers,
Niall
(AMH Committee Secretary)

[ned6]

Quoting rgerrard from 21:43, 5th Jul 2005
Hi! I just found out last week that I will be staying in Andrew Melville Hall this coming September and was wondering if who else will be there?

I'm on B-Block bdw - please let me know if you have any experiances there (good or bad!) so I can prepair myself!

See You All later!

There really isn't much to prepare for - St. Andrews is conservative with a small "C" and you won't find many student excesses no matter where you live. For example when I was an undergraduate in Hull, we all lived in mixed accommodation with mixed toilets and showers and there was considerable & regular use of class A and B drugs, a huge amount of drinking (the most per-student of any in the UK) and an awful lot of casual sex - especially by women who I would regularly find shagging in my kitchen which is most offputting when you want to cook sausages at 4am. We used to run competitions to see who could have public sex in the weirdest place - but there was the upside of a very vibrant student union and interest in student politics.

Now you won't get any of that in St. Andrews. There is very little drug use, not much casual sex and people get drunk only once or twice a week. If this isn't your thing, consider going to Hull, Manchester or Leeds unis instead of St. Andrews. But if you're committed by now as you surely are, you'll just have to make do!

In terms of living in AMH versus other halls, the advantages IMHO are probably the best atmosphere of all the Halls, fairly sound-proof single rooms and some good intellectual discussions if you like that sort of thing. On the bad, it's a fair trek from lectures, cliques can make some people feel excluded and the kitchens close at 12pm which means late night essay writing is really hard because you're so bloody hungry.

But that's my own personal list - others have different priorities. One thing I will add is that the average student at St. Andrews is from a far more privileged background than most students at most UK universities. This means it can take some time to adjust to how things work there which is quite a bubble apart from reality. Once you learn the contours of that bubble, you'll be fine - but it can be unpleasant initially. And I speak as a 27 year old mature student who has lived in several countries and spent time in countless social groups - despite all that experience, I still found it difficult.

Cheers,
Niall

[Louis]

Quoting ned6 from 22:42, 11th Sep 2005

Quoting Louis from 17:32, 8th Sep 2005
I'm in Andrew Melville, and it looks like I'm in block E, which I thought was all female. Am I just wrong about that?

Trying to figure out if me being there is a good thing or a bad thing

Half of C, all D and all E blocks are all female except for the boyfriends of the girls sleeping there. There are many of these towards the end of the academic year.

If you like boys, A, B and half of C contain plenty and there are many opportunities to be around them. If you don't like boys, it's not hard to avoid them mostly in E block which is as female as it can get in AMH.

There is still one all female Hall in St. Andrews, but it's tough to get into. And it may not last for much longer with EU human rights legistlation.

Cheers,
Niall
(AMH Committee Secretary)

What I'm saying is that I'm in an all female block, and am male!

[Bam]

What I'm saying is that I'm in an all female block, and am male![/quote]

Don't complain mate - showertime will be fun!!

Melville is what you make it - thats why it was so awesome last year!!

[ned6]

Quoting Bam from 22:56, 16th Sep 2005
What I'm saying is that I'm in an all female block, and am male!

Don't complain mate - showertime will be fun!!

Melville is what you make it - thats why it was so awesome last year!![/quote]

Sorry about the mistake Louis, but it looks like you have scored - a bit of E block is male this year for some odd reason, and so you get to be surrounded by women - able to bump into them into corridor, short walk back to your room etc. etc. Lucky you!

Meanwhile, why the hell are there less women this year?!?

Cheers,
Niall

[JAK]

Quoting ned6 from 16:15, 18th Sep 2005Meanwhile, why the hell are there less women this year?!?

Cheers,
Niall

We scared 'em all off last year? Or maybe so many guys returned that there weren't enough rooms for first year guys as was needed.

[hr]

I got my BBC