Tag Archives: housing

April 24, 2013 · 10:03 am

Living With a Room Mate

Having successfully survived the year without killing my room mate (or being killed by her :P), I feel like now would be a good time to reflect upon what it’s like to live with a room mate.

I think it’s important to say that Christie and I don’t share a room, so I can’t comment on what it’s like to have that kind of room mate, but we do share a kitchen, living room, and bathroom.

Christie and I have gotten along very well over the past eight months, which I attribute to two main factors: a) we were good friends before moving in together, and b) we have similar personalities.

Both of us are pretty quiet people, so noise has never been an issue. She likes to shower in the morning, I like to shower at night. We’re both good at having open lines of communication so that things which could potentially turn into problems are dealt with before it gets to that point.

Living with another person has also made me learn about myself: I never new how neat I was until I was sharing a space with another person. Christie is… not as neat as I am, but she’s been doing a really good job of being as neat as she can manage, and I’m doing a good job of letting it go if things aren’t always as pristine as they could be. Originally, we had a cleaning policy of “clean up the mess right after you make it,” but that didn’t always happen, so we made up a simple cleaning schedule, which meant one of us cleaned the counters and the other cleaned the floors on alternating weeks. We both found that a schedule was a good motivator for cleaning.

One thing I loved about having a good friend for a room mate was that if I ever wanted to talk to someone, I could just stick my head out my bedroom door, and then I could go back to studying. I loved the impromptu trips to Menchie’s or outings for Mexican food, evenings spent baking, and afternoons spent lying around and talking. I loved having a place that actually felt like home (the dorms never quite did that for me), and I loved having someone who was waiting for me to get home and caring where I was.

Overall, it’s been a great year and I’m very excited for the next one!

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June 20, 2012 · 6:54 pm

Housing After First Year

It’s the question on everyone’s mind – even before they start at UBC. “Where will I live after first year?” UBC is fabulous and guarantees housing for all first year students, which definitely makes first year a bit less stressful, but after that year is over, the remaining housing on campus is basically a free-for-all between all students of other years, not to mention grad students (although there are some areas designated for grad students).  So housing after first year will typically go one of a few ways:

1) You win the winter session lottery. You lucky bum!  Housing is now taken care of for you.  However, most of the people who apply for winter session housing don’t get it. So what then?

2) You get year-round housing.  Year round housing is often the next stop for people looking for housing on campus.  And it’s what it sounds like; you sign a year lease and get to live there for the whole 12 months, and you can renew at the end of the year without having to go on a waiting list again. But let’s say you don’t get into year-round either (or don’t want it). What happens next can be quite different for different people.

3) Stay with family. People with relatives or friends of the family who live close to UBC will often try to rent out their basements. Pretty solid plan, if you’ve got a relative with a vacancy. I however, do not.

4) Find an apartment/basement suite for rent off campus.  Plenty of people in the Kitsilano and Kerrisdale areas (and other areas surrounding UBC) will rent their rooms out to students. However, if you want to be close to the university it can often be very pricy, so finding something suitable can sometimes be tricky.  There are plenty of sites to look on for places though, such as amsrentsline.com, kijiji, and Rent BC.

5) Get a condo. This is what I’ve ended up doing. Now, I know what you’re probably thinking: Oh my goodness, your family must be rich! Well, no, middle class really, we just happened to be able to afford getting a condo.  And it’s what’s best for us, I mean, I’ll be sharing with a roommate to share the cost of the mortgage, I won’t have to worry about paying high rent during the summer of a 1-year lease, I won’t have to find new housing every year, if I want to go on exchange the condo will be waiting for me, and all the money we put into the mortgage now, we’ll get back when we sell the place when I graduate, instead of money that we never get back from rent.

 

Okay. I’ll be honest. Every time I said “we” there I really mean my parents…

 

I feel sure there are other things people have done for housing over the years, and if I’ve missed any please let me know in comments!

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February 10, 2012 · 10:03 pm

Residence Lottery Results

Around campus, in the dorms, on the buses – all people are talking about are the results of the residence lottery.

It is well known that here at UBC, first year students are guaranteed a place in residence – it’s a nice, secure feeling, as a freshman coming in.  However, once first year is over, it’s gamble everyone from 2nd year students up have to take part in if they want to live on campus.  The lottery is about as fair as they can make it, but the majority of people I’ve talked to or heard talking didn’t get in.  I didn’t.

It’s fine, I’m not panicking (unlike some of my friends).  There will be plenty of places off campus I can look into closer to fall, and I’m not too high up on the wait list for year round housing.  Honestly, I’d rather not live in year round housing, because it’s a lot more expensive than many off campus sites, but if everything else falls through, there’s a chance I could be in Thunderbird or Marine next year.  I have an idea of where I want to live off campus, but I won’t know if it’s possible until late May or early June.

Either way, I’m not about to freak out and get upset.  My friends and I (probably) won’t spilt up just because we aren’t living together. (Who knows, it could actually be better for our relationships.)  I won’t die if I have to take a long-ish commute.  Getting to know new people won’t be so bad.

If anyone else is in the same position as me, I mean, I’m not experienced in this situation, but I feel safe in saying that everything will be all right. :)

-Samantha

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