wycl0768

Oh yah, Oxford College ratings of rooms really don't mean much, just ask these things as they are the only ones worth paying for IMO. 1. Ensuit or not? (i.e. your own bathroom) 2. Private Kitchen? 3. Windows (I go insane w/o natural light) 4. Is it next to a laundry room/boiler/anything which makes loud noises (happened to a friend at St. Ants. drove him mad) I don't think 1 & 2 are options at StX St.X is a very neat, tidy college in my exerperiance, so you shouldn't worry about filth with them. Only one girl had problems 2 years ago, with a phantom smell, and the college bent over backwards to help her. All there buildings are new so they haven't developed Oxfilth yet. If you live out and want a nice place w/o breaking the bank, live in Summertown and accept the long commute or get good at biking. Jericho and Cowley are mega popular w/undergrads and thus have only expensive or otherwise bad places left. EVEN IF THEY LOOK GOOD ONLINE IT IS A LIE. Undergrads que for days in november to get the good places in Jericho/Cowley. The good stuff is gone by now. Trust me, its true. Summertown is quiet, too quiet for undergrads, and has a nice set of shops, pubs, restraunts, and grocery stores. It's knid of its own little town. Bus passes are not worth it, though, if you live there, accept you will cycle. If that is not OK, live in college for a term, then try and move out if you hate it.

No idea, but non of the rooms would be filthy, generally colleges employ cleaning staffs. Again, i never lived in, just visited, and EVERYTHING my friends had at StX was way better than where I was in Jericho. at 450 pcm. If you don't have some you trust physically check out the private place you are looking at, I would avoid it. Literally I was paying 750 USD for a 15 foot x 15 foot room with peeling paint, sharing a dank bathroom with 3 others, and a kitchen that often fell apart. One flat mate and I spent 2 days cleaning the house to make it livable. Those were the first two days. I lived in my car for along time dirtbagging across the west before grad school, and even I found the house foul. All the StX housing was clean, convienant, and safe. Abingdon road is nice, I hear, but way out of the way. I would shoot for Main Site or Annexe at worse and care less about catagory of room. Non are palaces, non are shit holes. Private letting agents in Oxford are notorious for taking the piss on Int'l students b/c we have WAY less recourse. And the community of living on the main site is nice, judging from my friends that lived there. StX also has the best lunch of any college. It's pricy for college grub, but so good.

I didn't stay in StX, it was all full up when I arrived, so I paid 450+ p/mo in Jericho for a rat eaten worm hole and got out as fast as possible by applying to be a sub dean at Wadham College where I am now. Basically, the StX housing is close and clean, from everyone's room I visited, whether you are on the main site, the annex or Wellington Square, and those are both good things and worth the price, IMO. Basically all the cheap/good accomadation is locked up in Nov/Dec by undergrads/returning grads so as an intl student you are better off starting in accomodation rather than looking online.

Watch out in rugby land, aka teddies hall. St.X accomodation is worth it. I started there, it is much nicer than what you will find at this point if living close is a priority, and it's easier to meet people if you live in.