University of Nottingham

I originally wanted to go to Birmingham University and has Nottingham as my back-up. I didn't have a huge amount of choice, as there are few places in the country that do my course (French, German and Russian). I never visited Nottingham before I came here, as I live in Bournemouth and it is a very long drive.

I have found the teaching to be superb, and they are always most happy to help you if you have any problems. The modern language office is also very helpful, although it seems to be shut at some odd times during the day so if you're doing languages it's always worth checking before you make a trip there specially.

I had fallen in love with Birmingham when I went there to visit, but I am so pleased that I didn't have the right grades and came here instead. If I had known what I know now, I would definitely have put Nottingham as my first choice. The grounds are beautiful, with a big lake by the Trent Building and the Portland Building, which means that it is not rare to see geese wandering across the road. There are a lot of trees on campus, which means that you also have squirrels running about and foraging for nuts. It makes you think that you're in (a slightly less smelly version of) the country.

The University is located a short walk from Beeston, where there are some shops, though if you want to have a wider selection, you can get a bus into Nottingham. Busses into the town centre go about every 5 or 6 minutes, though there are fewer busses at weekends. There are also a number of bus stops just off the university grounds if these are closer, and these will also take you into the town centre. One thing that I have found is that the busses do not give change, so make sure you have the exact money on you or you'll have to go back to halls to get some change. The driver did not seem to be particularly impressed when I tried to pay with a £5 note.

Nottingham as a city is nice. Having come from Bournemouth, where the selection of shops is somewhat limited, it is nice to be able to wander round the huge selection of shops that are there. I have found it a bit difficult to find my way around, so if you have a terrible sense of direction like I do, it is worth investing in a Nottingham A-Z.

If you are in catered accommodation, you have £4.50 to spend at lunch time, which means that you can get a sandwich or baguette, drink, crisps and fruit, still having some money left over. There are also foods such as pizza and pasta which can make a nice change sometimes. There are little cafes where you can eat in a lot of the buildings, so if they don't have what you fancy in one, you can always nip to another one to see whether they have anything that you would prefer to eat.

There are downsides to Nottingham University. I live in Ancaster House, which although seeming to have the most storage space, also seems to have the worst food. It is not unusual to see a pile of pizza boxes in the kitchen, or see people wandering in with takeaways of some sort. I chose catered accommodation because I thought that if I ran out of money then I would still be able to eat. I have found that I am now spending a lot more money on food than I would have done if I had more than a microwave to cook food in or chosen to live in self-catered accommodation. If you are vegetarian, and you have chosen self-catered accommodation, it is important to get down for food as soon as they start serving, as the vegetarian option usually looks the nicest and tends to be the first to run out, which, if you're lucky leaves you with a salad. I am a fan of salad usually, but I found that the lettuce was limp, the quiche was very solid, and as there were very few bits that I ended up eating, I was so hungry that I ended up ordering a takeaway.

Another thing that I was a bit miffed about what that I bought a TV licence as there was an aerial socket for a TV in my room. When I came to plug my TV in, it didn't work as the sockets in this building have never been connected, so it is definitely worth checking with the wardens first before you shell out any money, as I am now trying to decide whether to pay for cable or try and get my money for my TV licence refunded (an indoor aerial does not work).

If you are hoping to do languages then it is an awful lot of work, especially if you didn't do as much work in your A-levels as you should have done. As I had not worked particularly hard at 6th form, I have found that I am very busy learning everything that I need to for my course. It is very satisfying however, and if you are considering learning Russian from scratch, it is not quite as hard as you would imagine. They are very good at easing you in to it.

The university academic system is run using credits. Every year you have 120 credits which you can split between your department and other departments. Although I do not have this option, as learning 3 languages, with one from scratch means that I keep all of my credits in the language department, friends of mine have been able to pick up credits in other modules. You can use credits to learn a language from scratch, alongside your normal degree programme, and they offer a wide choice, including Chinese, Spanish, Greek and Italian. Non language modules can pretty much be anything you can think of, which means that you can tailor your degree programme to be exactly what you want it to be.

There are two banks on campus, HSBC and Natwest. The staff working in these banks tend to be very helpful, although the queues can sometimes be a bit long. There is also a campus bookshop, which sells all the books you might need for your course, and they also have a reward card, where you get £5 back for every £100 you spend (it might not sound like much but it certainly adds up).

The Student Union shop is good and stocks reduced price newspapers as well as the usual stationary, milk, food etc. Here you can also buy University of Nottingham hooded sweatshirts, which everyone seems to have, but they are very comfy, and as everyone else is wearing them you don't feel like too much of a chav. They do charge you for plastic bags though, so it is definitely worth taking your own bag, as it does start to add up.

As for the social side of it, there are plenty of events that go on, including a comedy night at the university. Every hall also has a very small bar, where the drinks are very cheap. There are plenty of clubs in town, and most people seem to like them. My situation is slightly different from most people's as I am a bit older than most of them and have already had my binge drinking days, so I do not visit these sorts of places very often, though when I have they have been good.

The students seem to be very friendly here, and it is amazing how many different people you can come into contact with. There are a lot of clubs and societies that you can join. I have recently started training to become a member if St John's Ambulance, and they are quite happy to train you up as much as you would like to be trained up for your £5 yearly membership. You can also join the Silver screen if you are a film buff, where they show popular films at a very discounted price. There is pretty much a society for anything you can think of, including the Pirate Society, though I am a bit unsure as to what they do exactly. There are a wide range of sports that you can participate in, and there are plenty of opportunities to learn new things. There are also societies just for socialising with people that have similar interests from you or have your religious views.

Overall, I would say that Nottingham is a very good place ot be and to study, and it is well worth looking at when you are deciding where to go and what to do, as now that I am here, I am so glad I didn't end up going anywhere else, as I can't imagine anywhere being better.