I am going to the UK for my university, and I am from South East Asia. I do not have any relatives or close friends who are currently residing in the UK, so for people like us, we will often opt for university accommodation, at least for the first year, until we settle down and adapt to the new environment.
While looking through the different accommodations provided by my university, one thing stood out to me: en suite. If my accommodation is en suite, it means that I will have a bathroom in my room, else I will be using a shared bathroom with other people. Hence this got me thinking: am I carved out to be a person who can tolerate a shared bathroom, or do I have to resort to an en suite room?
Price
If the price difference isn’t that big, I would’ve definitely opted for the en suite option. However, looking through the list of accommodation provided by my university, the average difference between the prices of an en suite accommodation and a non-en suite accommodation is approximately £50 per week. That will be approximately £2000 per year (my yearly accommodation covers 40 weeks per year) that I could save.
And on a side note, while £2000 is a large amount to most British people, it is an even larger amount from my perspective, because if you convert £2000 into my local currency, it will be an even greater amount.
So, is it really worth it to pay an extra £2000 per year just to have a personal bathroom?
Personal Considerations
Now of course, I have used shared bathrooms before. When I was 10, I went to a youth camp where we all lived in dorms, and had to share a bathroom down the hall. I don’t remember much from it, but I remember that it was generally fine; it was just like showering in the locker rooms after swimming. However, that trip was for 3 days only, and we were a bunch of tweens who have similar lifestyles.
In university, that all changes. We all come from different cultures and grow up in different lifestyles. While there is nothing wrong with that, certain lifestyles may not be compatible with other lifestyles so both parties may have to compromise for each other. That is the ideal. As much as I would love to live in this best-case scenario where we respect each others’ differences, there are chances that I am bound to share a bathroom with an unpleasant and inconsiderate person who will not bother to maintain the hygiene and condition of the bathroom for other users. While I may be able to tolerate that for a few days or even weeks, when stresses from other areas of my life such as assignments, exams and social life pile up, will fearing to go to the bathroom be the final straw that crushes me?
Okay, I may be exaggerating a little bit, but you get the idea. Going to the bathroom is an everyday necessity and I do not want to be stressed out just because of that. A shared bathroom is unpredictable: you never know how responsible and considerate the people who share the bathroom with you are. Are they heavy drinkers who will throw up in the bathroom after having too much to drink at the pub, and not clean up after themselves? This is a university, after all. I have heard stories of undergrad students who do not even have the decency to flush the toilets after they use them, so I don’t really have high hopes and expectations that all the students will behave appropriately and be responsible.
And before you go:
So far, I have not made up my mind yet on if I want to go en suite and go for the shared bathroom option. My next plan of action will be to look up other people’s experiences on this so that I can make a more well-informed choice. If you have any experience on this, feel free to leave a comment or send me a message. I’d appreciate that a lot!
Until next time.