University of Sunderland Housing, Part 1: in the States

The process of becoming a full-time student at Sunderland is more complex than I remember it being at Whitworth. Of course, I don't actually remember what all I had to do, and they were sending me emails and reminder postcards by the dozen. Sunderland assumes that I'm a big girl and can figure out what to do from the email that they sent me.

So Whitworth had at least three websites to register for before showing up on campus: email, Whitnet, and Blackboard. Blackboard was actually after classes start, but still. 

Sunderland has at least three: the housing application, the "MySunderland" homepage, "enrolment" (because they only use one L in "enroll" – yet another charming surprise of the British version of the English language. I fervently hope that my papers aren't graded for spelling...), and probably more that I have yet to encounter. I'm betting on an email sign up by August. 

MySunderland is quite useful for checking out what campus life might be like. It can be personalised to include various kinds of useful information, although it's not really relevant yet because I'm... Well, I'm still here in Spokane instead of in England, and I will be here for another three months. And five days. 

I can't actually access my enrolment stuff, so that was frustrating but slightly relaxing. 

Housing is actually simpler than at Whitworth. I found the application website with relative ease, and decided to get my application going before finals hit. There are, I believe, six student residence hall-like things: Precinct, Panns Bank, All Saints, Scotia Quay, and Forge Village - UStudent.

The names are as incomprehensible as Whitworth's were before I got here. Warren? MacMillan? Du- what? (Duvall! Sorry. They've taken up chanting again) With any luck the names will sound as familiar to me as East and Arend by the time I leave. 

I looked at the information for the various "dorms" (whether or not they are actually classified as dormitory buildings, that's what I'm going to call them for now) and decided that I had no idea what I was doing. Sue Jackson had mentioned that all the Whitworth internationals had lived in Clanny House, so I decided that I would just go with that. Besides, half the other dorms had electricity excluded from their "rent" and I felt that this could complicate things. So, I hit the "Apply Online" link in the "How to Apply" section and got started. 

First, I had to register to use the site, hosted by "iPams Live" by getting a validation code emailed to me. I put in my Whitworth email. 

Once I had the code, I logged in, filled out some personal information (name, birthday, gender, etc.) and my Sunderland student ID. I'm registering for enough sites that I almost have the darn thing memorised. 

After that, I started my application. I was expecting to be confronted by as many options as I saw at Whitworth: pick your top seven dorms! I think Whitworth even left Mac and Ballard in there for both genders. I remember being confused, in any case. 

Step one: Accommodation Options. From a drop-down menu, I selected "Exchange student Autumn session" based on idea that I was in the ISEP Exchange program. Turns out, I was right! The "Contract Length" selection then automatically selected Clanny House for "Location" and put "17/09/2011 - 28/01/2012" for my start and end dates. I selected "Inclusive of electricity" for "Price Category" and "2 Single Beds, Shared Twin Room" under "Accommodation Type". 

Next, I filled out the "Personal Preferences" Page. Female, no early arrival, no health issues, no accessibility issues, agreed to the University No Smoking Policy (by selecting "You must agree to the University No Smoking Policy" from the drop-down menu), and "I agree to the diversity and ethics policy" that I didn't read. 

The last question asked if I wanted to buy a bedding pack from the university store. I quibbled internally over that, then emailed a current Whitworth student who is, at this moment, living in Clanny House. In fact, she's probably sleeping there right now. 

Actually, probably not. It's only 11 PM over there. 

Anyway, she said that having the cruddy little set that costs £20 was nice for a few days while getting all set up and orienting oneself in the town and school, so I clicked the little check box for "Yes, please purchase a bedding set from the University Store". 

I had already clicked "no", however, and clicking "yes" didn't remove the "no" checkmark. We'll see how this ends up turning out later.

I clicked "continue", reviewed it, clicked "save", agreed to the submission guidelines, clicked "Yes" when asked if I wanted to submit my application, and then settled down to write this post.