Having experienced two Universities in as many years I can definitely say Nottingham is awesome. After a fairly unsuccessful first attempt at Uni elsewhere I decided to venture to pastures new and ended up transferring to the University of Nottingham. Having visited Nottingham quite a bit I knew the city itself was pretty ok, contrary to popular belief you can actually go out into the city and not fall victim to any random acts of violence.
Campus - University Park
So I started out in Nottingham as a second year in September and have been enjoying it ever since. I'm based at University Park which is the focal point of the university for over 26,000 students. One of the most impressive things about the university is this amazing campus. The surroundings are really conducive to education; you have the benefits of being close to a big city but are far enough away to soak up the calm of such an amazing campus. All the buildings are really well equipped and kept in a really good condition, you can tell that a lot of money really does go into making the university an excellent place to study. The campus seems to stretch for miles and can be somewhat of a maze at times. In the centre of campus are possibly the two most notable buildings, The Trent building (the one with the big clock on it) and the Portland building. The Trent has a few lecture theatres, seminar rooms and houses a couple of schools, it's also home to visiting uni staff and the pro vice chancellor (I think that's something important). The Portland building is home to the Students union which has its own shop which by most standards is pretty well stocked with all manner of student essentials from stationary and clothing to coco pops and Lambrini and if you can't find what you want in there you can just nip across to boots which is also in the union building. As well as this all the usual notice boards and various important over excitable union types all live in this building. On the upper floors is the more important stuff, credit control and that sort of sombre thing.
At the back of the campus (that is the north) there all 12 halls of residence which accommodate around 3000 students. I haven't really seen much of these but know that they all have limited parking facilities and
I believe the majority are catered.
Here there is also a large sports complex, with floodlit outdoor facilities including hockey pitches, tennis courts and a field which is not lit. Next to this is the
swimming pool and around the corner is the
fitness centre which is the on campus gym. Also around the North area of campus is the
East Midlands Conference centre, which when it's in use can cause a bit of congestion so beware! The north area of campus and all around the north entrance is mainly the science area, then towards the east entrance facing the QMC and part of it is the med school.
Academic
So far the academic side has been really good, all the staff are really helpful but without getting on your case all the time.
There is plenty of easy access
computers on campus including rooms in the libraries and most of the major buildings. These all have
free internet access. The main library on campus is the Hallward library, considered to
be one of the countries finest its four floors house the arts, humanities, law and social science collections. Also on the University Park campus are the George Green library of science and engineering and the Denis Arnold
music library. The
teaching on my course consists mainly of lectures and seminars which is great, Lectures are quite arbitrary and give you the raw details of something and seminars combined with reading help you engage with the material and explore and discuss it.
Social
There are also loads of clubs and stuff to join...too many to mention and too random to be able
to spell. There are also small cafes in nearly every major building, including the library. and yes...sometimes students go on the occasional drinking session, for this there is the union bar The Ark, which is on campus and I can't tell you much about it because I haven't arsed myself to go...I live a 40 minute walk away from campus, there are closer bars. The best part of Nottingham is the Lace Market, thats the "nicer" area of town, there are some bars out there for those who like to take a more
chilled out approach. Pitcher and Piano is pretty cool and I quite like Tantra which is a club up that way and Geisha looks pretty good. If you want a cheaper and more sweaty night out then student favourites are Ocean, Oceana and Isis (but only on a wed...it's a
strip club the rest of the weak), and obviously Media has been taken over by Gatecrasher recently which is apparently supposed to be quite good,
I' m too poor to find out...or maybe to lazy. If your into something a bit more chilled out than a tart fuelled
mini skirt in middle of winter rager then there are a couple of cinema's around. One called the Savoy which I have been told to avoid at all costs...so have. Then there is the Showcase which is pretty cheap (£4 for students) and of a fairly good quality and has some nice
places to eat around it including
Frankie and Benny's and Chiquito's. There is also the cinema in the Corner House right in the city centre, This is a lot more expensive but very plush. If your going to have your family to visit or something you might want to take them to The Caves which is in one of the centres (Broad marsh or Victoria...can't remember which) this is a look around the caves under the city...its bit of a gimmick but quite fun. Also The
Tales of Robin Hood is really interesting, its just a walk/ sit through type thing but can be a laugh and is especially entertaining for young kids.
Accommodation
I live at
Raleigh Park which is about a 40 minute walk from University Park Campus and about 15 from Jubilee Campus. It's pretty good, although lock your doors...we were robbed of beans, pans and towels in the first week because someone left a door unlocked! Despite this the rooms are well furnished even if on the small side.
In the houses there is one bathroom to three people and a kitchen to 6. I'm not to sure about living in Halls on either of the campuses but I hear that the food is pretty dodgy and after having lived in Halls at a different Uni last year I can well believe it. These halls mostly house freshers so and by all accounts can be a bit rowdy....so not that conducive to work I don't think lol :)
Facilities
I personally think the facilities are pretty awesome. I've talked about the libraries which are great. The student network services are also pretty good, you get username and password to get onto the university portal which has pretty much everything you need. You can find and reserve books online, communicate with your tutors and lecturers, find reading lists, get updates on module announcements etc...and access is everywhere, some sites even have wireless access.
Sports facilities are pretty good, the campus gym is well equipped with a lot of cardio equipment, fixed weights and a free weights room. The lecture theatres all have
projectors mics etc...and fairly new furnishings and best of all they are mostly all above ground! Essentially this is a really well though out uni which is rally well maintained and have everything you could possibly ask for all on campus and if its not on the campus you on you can jump on the free hopper bus which comes every 15 minutes and takes you to the other campus...Jubilee.
On the whole the University is pretty awesome and I can say that from the privileged position of having another Uni to compare it too. If you want to learn at a well respected university that offers pleasant surroundings as well as many and varying social activities then Nottingham is perfect for you.
And just to add...Nottingham is the Times University of the year 2006/2007...well deserved!!!
Thanks Nottingham! 
