Small Update: Things have certainly calmed since my last post. My classes for the most part have been sorted. I understand the required assignments, and I attend the classes necessary to get these things done.
With that being said, I want to talk about my accommodations. I may have mentioned this before, but there are three campuses at Liverpool Hope University: the Creative Campus, which has some student housing but mostly the performing and creative arts classes; Hope Park, the main campus with student housing; and Aigburth Park (locals pronounce it “Egg-birth”) has only student housing. I live in Aigburth Park, so I must take the shuttle to attend classes at both the other campuses. I don't know much about the other residence halls, Aigburth has a kind of apartment or flat style housing that is kind of similar to the suites at West Village on Susquehanna University. (It is probably more comparable to 18th street housing, which is typically meant for juniors and seniors, but I haven’t lived there before and don’t know what it is like.) Instead of three rooms (two singles, one double), one bathroom, and a living room at Susquehanna University, there are nine singles, two bathrooms, and a lounge.
Both have a kitchen, but there is an oven and stove (or a “hob” in British English) in the flat at Liverpool Hope University. There are extensive protections against fires, and if what you’re cooking creates too much steam or smoke, it can shut off the hob. You can tell that they take a lot of precautions to prevent fires.
If you want to use the oven at Susquehanna, you need to share the one in the basement with all the other residents, so Liverpool Hope University is a nice upgrade. There are two large refrigerator/freezers, but you may not get a large refrigerator/freezer at Susquehanna. You are more likely to get a small one in the suites; It depends on which building you live in at West Village. Of course, the main difference is that you don’t have to rely on cooking or providing your own food to eat at Susquehanna. You must pay for a meal plan there, but how extensive your meal plan is is up to you. There is no meal plan at Liverpool Hope University outside of getting a Catering Card, which is a card that has money that you use to buy things on campus. I've never seen anyone other than the international students use one, but I assume it is an option for other students because you can use credit cards. The Catering Cards come with enough funds to buy £7 lunch five days a week for the 12 weeks we are studying there, totaling £420. It’s like flex dollars at Susquehanna University; you get the funds all at once, but you can also use it at the school store, where you can buy more than just meals but also toiletries and school supplies. When not on campus, you need to buy food at grocery stores. If you end up studying abroad at Liverpool Hope University, I highly suggest investing into a wheeled shopping trolley. It will save you from having to carry your groceries in your hands. It’s not a long walk from the nearest Tesco to Aigburth, but it will certainly feel long carrying your weight in groceries.
Accessibility is also an important question when it comes to housing. I think there may be more accessible housing located at Aigburth Park, but I am not currently living in one of those places. Our building is not accessible for those who use wheelchairs. There are a set of small stairs in front of it, and there are no elevators to access the two other flats above mine. The showers are inaccessible; you need to be able to step up into the shower, and there is only a small gap that allows you to enter. I’m plus size, and I can barely enter the shower without hitting the door. It’s an all-around small shower with no seating or place to put your products when you’re showering other than on the floor. Plus, the water is never hot, only warm, which is just a travesty.
Some flats have an ensuite bathroom, one connected to each room, which is possibly more accessible (I haven’t been in one), but those are more expensive.
The size of my bedroom is decent. It comes with a wardrobe, a drawer, a large desk, a lamp, a small trash bin, a decent chair (which is much better than the wooden blocks we get at Susquehanna), a mattress (and a mattress cover), a pillow (and a pillowcase), and a duvet, and… a sink. I know, I know. It’s kind of weird, but my goodness, is the sink convenient? You can wash your hands and brush your teeth without leaving the room and taking up space in the limited bathrooms, and you can fill your water bottle up at the faucet. Plus, there’s a little shelf to keep soap, toothpaste, and other toiletries.
And that’s my… not-so-brief overview of the residential flats at Aigburth Park. I honestly wish the international students lived at Hope Park. It would make clubs and societies accessible since they happen after the free shuttle ends, so you need to pay for transportation in order to get back. I thought the whole point of having Wednesday afternoons off of classes was so you could attend clubs.
Edit on 10/28/2022: I added an audio version of the post.
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