Y'know, in Australia it's considered very daggy to live in a - what are they called? Dormitory? My uni had two, the Jane Franklin Hall and something else, about a ten minute walk away. They were generally for people who'd never lived out of home before and didn't know or want to look after themselves. They tended to stick together. Everyone else flats independently. Actually, my uni owned or rented for others over 100 houses around the university, and in my second year I flatted with four other people in one big house. It would've been cool - one of them was my best friend from college who'd just spent a year in Germany - but they were all first years and except for one nice girl they spent the year smoking pot and bringing back stranger from the uni bar for parties. I moved out in second semester, I couldn't take it any more. I actually dreaded going home, which is always a bad sign. But most of my other flatting experiences have been great (I first moved out in a semi-permanent way for college, at 16).

Ah, where was I going with this? Oh, yeah - why don't you try that instead? Much more independence and better food, cause you can cook for yourself!