Things I Appreciate Most About Living in a Private Dormitory

5. I feel safe here

At number 5: safety. It may sound very serious, but when you move to a new city and live away from home for the first time, you really start appreciating the fact that you can feel calm and safe in the place where you live.

At Student Depot, I simply feel safe. There is 24-hour security at reception, so I know there is always someone in the building I can turn to if something happens or if I need help.

On top of that, we have entry gates that you can only pass through after tapping your key fob, so uninvited guests - thanks, but no thanks. It may seem like a small everyday detail, but it gives a lot of comfort. Especially when you come back late from classes, work, the city or meeting friends and simply want to enter a place where you feel at home.

For me, a safe dormitory is a huge plus. Especially at the beginning of university, when everything is new: the city, the university, the people and independent life.

4. I do not have to worry about utility usage

Number 4 is something that may not sound exciting until you start living on your own: utilities included in the fee.

This is really helpful when it is your first place away from home, because suddenly adulthood is not only “I have my own room and live my own way”, but also electricity, water, heating, internet, bills, deadlines and other things that used to somehow magically take care of themselves.

At Student Depot, no matter how much water or electricity I use, the cost stays fixed. Ufff, if I also had to check meters, I would probably need to create a separate Notion folder called “adult things I do not understand”.

Fixed fees make budgeting so much easier. I know how much I pay, I know what to expect and I do not have to stress about extra settlements at the end of the month. For a student, that is a big convenience, because money is usually watched even more carefully than sleep during exam season.

3. I have a gym close at hand

At number 3: the gym. I will not lie — staying in shape matters to me. But let’s be honest: sometimes getting to the gym is more tiring than the workout itself. Seriously. Just the thought of packing a bag, commuting, working out, coming back and still dealing with the rest of the day can kill motivation pretty effectively.

Because Student Depot has a well-equipped gym close at hand, excuses like “I do not have time to commute today” are over. The workout actually takes as long as the workout, without adding a 30-minute trip there and back.

My muscles are happy, and the summer body starts being built in September. But let’s also remember that sport is not only about shaping your figure. The health aspect is the most important part: movement helps release stress, improves your mood, gives you a reset after classes and helps clear your head after a whole day sitting at a laptop.

A dormitory with a gym is a huge convenience for me. It is easier to take care of yourself when working out does not require a trip across half the city.

2. Things that make grey days more fun

Number 2 is all the things that make it genuinely hard to get bored at Student Depot.

Sometimes I feel like I am on permanent all-inclusive holidays here — just in the student version. Billiards, table football, PS5, ping-pong, board games from reception and plenty of people in the shared spaces. All of this means that life at Student Depot simply cannot be boring.

Today we have a billiards tournament, tomorrow I will beat my friends at table football, on Sunday we will absolutely butcher ping-pong, and on Monday we will borrow a board game from reception and laugh, argue about the rules and pretend that everyone had a brilliant strategy from the very beginning.

These are exactly the little things that brighten up grey days. When it is raining, when classes were exhausting, when you do not feel like organising a big night out in the city, but you also do not want to sit alone in your room. Then all you need to do is go down to the shared spaces and see who is around.

For me, shared spaces in a dormitory make a huge difference. You do not have to plan everything a week in advance. Sometimes the best evenings start with a simple: “Hey, are you coming downstairs?”

1. I live close to people and never feel lonely

And now number 1 — the most important thing: people.

Moving to a new city was something I was really afraid of. I was scared that I would be alone, that I would not meet anyone and that I would simply miss home. Choosing Student Depot in my first year of university turned out to be a perfect decision, because from the very beginning I could meet new people who, just like me, were new in a big city.

That changes a lot. When you know that people at a similar stage of life live nearby, it is easier to leave your room, start a conversation, ask about something, go down to the kitchen or hang out in a shared space. Suddenly, the new city does not feel quite so unfamiliar.

Now that I have been living at Student Depot for 3 years, I feel like we are a little bit like a family. In the evenings, we play board games, go out into the city together, have picnics, spend a lot of free time together and are simply close to one another in everyday life.

Because let’s be honest, it is much easier to write in the group chat, “hey, are you coming downstairs?” than to organise a big night out and align everyone’s schedules like a board meeting. Sometimes someone comes down for billiards, someone for tea, someone just to sit for a while — and somehow it turns into a great evening.

For me, this is the biggest advantage of living in a private dormitory. I have my own space, I can close the door and rest when I need to, but I do not feel lonely. People are close by. And that is exactly what makes Student Depot more than just a place to live.