moving in

it's two days from the end of the year, and everyone's moving in.

09 is going to be interesting...

i'm still in hk, but i'm leaving tomorrow. can't wait to see who's in my cluster, and where everyone else is rooming. just talked to shudder, who's packing and stuff.

i realise i forgot to provide the handy guide to hostel life.

A BRIEF HANDY GUIDE TO HOSTEL LIFE

(might as well start now)

So, you're moving in. What do you bring? Quite an important question really, because it will determine many things about your stay at the hostel, including, but not limited to, your personal comfort, your ability to sleep and the safety of your socks.

First, the basics.

Clothes - Your uniforms, some home clothes, and one or two nicer things to wear out. Remember that you're only staying during the weekdays mostly, so don't bring your whole closet.
Toiletries - Toothbrush, shampoo, etc.
Towels - They don't provide those.
Shoes - School shoes, and sandals/slippers to wear in the hostel
School stuff - Like your bag, books, notes, stationery. Indeed.

With these, you can probably survive alright, however inconvenient it is to live without a computer. Here are some more things that you will also probably need, from experience.

Laptop - There is a com lab, yes. But this means that you can work at any time (and play games and music too XD)
Handphone charger - duh.
Multipin adapter - There are only two sockets in the wall of your room. Actually four, but the other two are for your roommate. After plugging in your desklamp (provided) and laptop, you might be a little inconvenienced when you need to charge your phone or something.
Earphones/headsets/speakers - Depending on your roommate and your taste in music, you might need these.
LAN wire - There's a LAN port in every room. The wireless works in some rooms (nearer the canteen) but it's not gauranteed. For alternate Internet access points, try the canteen and library.
A cup - The pantry dispenses hot, cold and inthemiddle drinking water. You can bring your instant coffee and stuff for late nights. Sometimes they give free milo.
Insect repellent - This is not always necessary, but bring it just in case. In previous years, certain rooms have been known to be prone to mass flyinginsectsofvarioussorts attacks. And ant infestations. It got better last year though.
Clothes hangers - For your clothes. They provide a decent closet, so don't worry. Also handy if you're doing laundry.
A rag - For cleaning.
A small suitcase or big bag of some sort - When you go back and forth from home, it's easier to bring your laundry and stuff around if you have something to carry it around in.
An alarm clock - If you really don't like using your phone alarm.

I think that's pretty much all that's necessary. If anything's missing, don't worry because you can always go home to get stuff over the weekend or after school. Especially for those of you who live right next to it...

Anyway, here are some other stuff that are completely optional.

A printer - If you're rich. Actually no, if you're poor too. Hostel printing is 10 cents a page for black and white, $1 for full colour. If you have a friend who's nice enough to print your stuff for you though, it's fine then.
Snacks - They're good!
Boardgames - The whole point of living in the hostel together is that we get to bother each other all the time.
Cooking utensils - I can't remember if they provided pots, but there is definitely a microwave and a hotplate. And a fridge. If you're the cooking sort.
50 cent coins - If you plan to use the machines (not the send-in laundry service), they operate for 50 cents per wash. Exact change, no smaller denominations.

And anything else that you feel like bringing. Whee...

Ok, so maybe you're still not so sure about what to bring and what not to. Here's a quick list of what they -do- provide so you can figure it out for yourself.

Bed
Blankets, bedsheets, pillow (If you're planning on bringing your own, don't bring anything too thick. There's no aircon, after all)
Desk
Drawers, cupboards
Bookshelves
Closet
Desklamp (Very very bright. Like ouchmyeyes bright)
Shower
Toilet
Toilet paper (Obtainable from the office whenever)
Sinks (Two) with wall mirrors
Shoerack
Bin
Pedal bin (For toilet)
Full-length mirror
Notice board (White board with pin-board beneath)
Ceiling fan (Very loud)
Curtains (Removable)
Chair (For desk)
Clothes rack (For laundry. Portable. Must remain inside room.)
Broom, mop, dustpan (For cluster use)

And... I can't remember if they provided a laundry basket.

Hostel life is ok really. It might be uncomfortable the first few weeks, but after that you learn to deal with it. Or fix it. Heh.

There's going to be a briefing on the first for everyone that will probably cover the stuff after this, but here it is just in case you need it in advance.

Meals are served at the canteen. On weekdays breakfast and dinner are provided. Breakfast is usually quite bad, to be honest, but there's freeflow bread and a toaster. Dinner is ok, though sometimes it's quite bad too. On Wednesdays and Sundays they serve Western cuisine, which is quite a lot better than the usual food, in my opinion. Unless you don't like pasta and lasagne I suppose.

On weekends three meals are provided, for those of you who are intending to stay. Lunch isn't all that brilliant usually, but I haven't had that many lunches there really. Chicken rice and hor fun... that kind of thing.

There are always two choices of the main dish - like fish or chicken (dinner), or sandwich or porridge (breakfast). Rice is freeflow and drinks are provided. You can opt for vegetarian or halal food if you want to.

Meals are only served during a certain time period, but it lasts for ages so don't worry. Breakfast is all the way from 6 until the bell rings. Dinner is at 6, ends at 7.30. Lunch is from 12 to 2.

The hostel has a computer lab (about 30 coms I think), a gymasium (it's new! I haven't been inside it), two music rooms, two TV rooms (one for each gender, so technically there's only one I suppose), a study room (which serves as a sort of meeting for fun room), and an office. There are letterboxes so you can get mail there if you need to. It's also next to the track and you can go down for a run whenever you like.

The hostel also has what they call study time and roll call. School evenings go something like this:

6pm: Dinner
8pm: Study time starts. You should either be in your room, or the library (it's open then, specially for YOU). They do checks.
9.30pm: Study time is over. You're allowed to run away now. This is also when you're allowed to go get supper from the office.
10.30pm: Roll call. You get 15 minutes to press your finger at the fingerprint reader thing. If you don't they'll call you up and after 3 times you get an hourly report (explained later) so you should do it.
11pm: Lights out. Shh... (Actually, no one really cares about this. Just keep your volume adequately low)

This happens from Mondays to Thursdays. On Fridays and Saturdays, there is no study time, and roll call is at 11pm instead. This means you can stay out til then. On alternate Sundays, there is assembly at 9 or so, and roll call at 10.30. If there's no assembly, be back before 10.30pm.

Which brings us to the topic of hourly report. In order to maintain a good level of discipline when it comes to the rule keeping and stuff, there are punishments. Fair enough. This works on a three strikes, and you're out kind of thing. Let's just say you honestly forgot to go for roll call one day. They call you up and you go down to the office, and they record your first offence. This is alright and nothing happens to you, unless you do it three times in a semester or something. Then they give you hourly report.

For one day (you get to choose when), from 9am to 9pm, you have to remain in the hostel. Once an hour, you have to get the signature of the guard at the office to prove that you were there. It's like getting grounded, only more bothersome.

A complete waste of time you say? Well then, try not to be late.

There are of course other consequences for other offences, but that's by far the most common one. Other rules will be covered when you go for the briefing.

Other things to note:

The backgate is open to you until 8pm on weekdays, because of study time. After that you can either try calling the office (there's an intercom sort of thing) or go by the front gate. On Saturdays and Sundays, it's open until 11.

There are two ways to get your laundry done at the hostel. First is the send-in laundry, where you have to label your clothes with a number you get later, and get them back two days later. It's quite an alright system, the clothes always come back clean. They don't wash underclothes though, so you need to wash those yourself. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are the send-in and collection days for the guys, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays for the girls. It's open from about 5pm or earlier til study time at 8.

The second is the coin-operated machine, where you must have at least one 50 cent coin on hand. There are also dryers, which require another 50 cents.

TV rooms are located on the 5th floor, laundry rooms on the 7th. For both these facilities, RA is for the guys and B is for the girls. You can't get into the other side.

Music rooms and other rooms are all on the first floor. These require you to sign in at the office before going in.

All doors, except for the room doors, have the fingerprint lock installed. This includes the cluster gates, the main gate, the function rooms and the com lab.

Each cluster is likely to have an RA - Residential Advisor - living with them. This person is basically a teacher, or a student from NUS, here to supervise you and help you with stuff. A mentor, basically. If there's anything you need or something you want to ask, you can go to them.

And I can't think of much more to say here. If they's anything you still want to know, just ask me online or wait til you get to see it for yourself. School's starting in a few days, after all. Wishing you a really good year at the hostel!



Oh wow it's going to be so weird with you guys all in there with me.