Living at The Railyard, Cambridge

A Student Blog by Barbara Underwood

I came to the university through clearing, so I didn’t have a chance to look around The Railyard before applying to be a resident, it was a huge leap of faith that totally paid off!

Finding out that I had a place at The Railyard was an amazing moment because it meant that I had somewhere safe, well looked after and with awesome staff to live and call my home for the next year.

When move-in day came for me it was really stressful, until I walked into the reception area to be greeted by the smiling faces of the awesome staff. I was jetlagged, hungover and stressed – they made it so easy by explaining what needed to be done and gave me the cutest little welcome box!

Once I got my key and had moved most of my stuff in, it was time to meet my flatmates. I was worried about moving in with 5 strangers, but I was so relieved to find that they’re all ‘delightful idiots’ and now I couldn’t live without them (how we met are some of the most amusing moments of my year!).

Once everyone had arrived we went about seeing who wanted what cupboard in the kitchen and it was a much easier process than I thought it would be. We all picked our own space and no one has ever had an issue with the choices we made in that first week.

It took me a bit of time to arrange my room and make it feel like home, but by far the most amazing and most favourite part of my room is my notice board, it holds photos of my friends and family, show tickets and cool things like the BSL fingerspelling alphabet.

When it comes to the worry of not getting along with your flatmates, I believe the best thing we did as a flat was to accept everyone from the very start (flaws and all). You can address people leaving mugs out etc later once you’ve gotten to know each other. The first week or two is mainly about learning who everyone is and how the dynamic is going to work, so go out together, have nights in together and even cook meals together.

We won the cleanest and most festive kitchen contest ran by The Railyard team at Christmas, this was a fun thing for us as a flat that everyone got involved with, everyone came together to put up Christmas decorations and do the boring cleaning jobs. We did so well because of how well everyone gets along and how well we fit together as a team.

The team continually think of new ways to make every resident’s time living here enjoyable. They run some cool social events throughout the year like movie nights, contests, prize draws, game nights and even pizza and prosecco nights. They do so much for us and they are the best staff ever! They sign for all of our parcels, help with maintenance stuff and if we have a problem we know they will do all they can to help us.

We have an awesome new gym which is so convenient, if you want to you could be in there at 10pm getting a sweat on!

The laundry room is easy to use so it’s not that difficult being away from our parents and having to do laundry for the first time.

When I think about the things I need for Uni that I couldn’t live without I automatically think of things like my laptop or my Fitbit but really thinking about it I wouldn’t survive without my planner and my bullet journal, I’d be a disorganised mess!

From The Railyard, it takes me 25 minutes to walk to ARU and 30 if I fancy a slower walk that morning. It takes even less time if I cycle but I much prefer the walk with my course mates and flatmates.

Within an even closer distance, literally just the other side of the railway bridge is the Cambridge junction which is convenient for me as a Performing arts student. I’ve got an abundance of theatre, comedy and music almost right on my doorstep. Around the area where the junction is there are some nice places to go for dinner with friends, the light cinema and even a ten-pin bowling alley! The station is literally just next door, and a Co-op and a Sainsburys are within a 5-minute walk for super quick shopping (like when you’ve run out of milk).

My entire flat has got on so well and loved living here so much that we have decided to come back next year to continue to live together in our flat! Although accommodation in Cambridge is quite expensive I think the price you pay at The Railyard is well worth it – you get comfy rooms, big kitchens, awesome facilities and hilarious and helpful staff.

Thanks for reading!