Moving into residence in September? Here are some tips

Residence life at BCIT is pretty convenient for students. It comes with a lot perks such as:

• A 5 minute walk from classes (which means more sleeping and less commuting)
• Furnished rooms so you don’t have to buy furniture
• A common living space with a TV and cable
• Periodic free food and activities put on by the RA and housing staff
• Daily housekeeping so the kitchen and bathrooms are always clean
• Access to busses and parking right outside your door
• A community of students all living around each other
• Close proximity to Deer Lake Park, Burnaby Lake, Metrotown & Brentwood

If you are moving into residence in September for the first time, I have a few suggestions for you based on my own experiences:

• Don’t bring very much stuff! The room is furnished with everything you could need:
  • Bed
  • Desk
  • Chair
  • Book case
  • Dresser
  • Closet

And there is more storage than I could even fill so don’t bother bringing much extra when it comes to furniture! You also don’t need a lot of kitchen items. There is an oven and stove provided and from there the people who live in the suite tend to share things like toasters, coffee makers and kettles. I would suggest waiting until you get there and see what is missing instead of showing up fully stocked.

• Invest in some ear plugs. This is the reality of student housing. Everyone is on different schedules and sometimes people are noisy. If you are a light sleeper or like to go to bed early I would suggest having ear plugs close by. It will save you from losing sleep!
• Grocery shop lightly. Each resident gets a few cupboards in the kitchen and 1/3 of a full sized fridge. From my own experience it is better to have less food around only because there isn’t a lot of space to put it. Not everyone is like this and I have had roommates who store lots of food but realistically, with student life it is better to eat what you have and go get more instead of storing a while bunch of extra items.
• Arrange your room the way you want it to be. I changed the furniture around in my room so I could have more floor space and I like it a lot better. I suggest moving things around so it fits your taste and moving them back when you leave.
• Bring slippers for walking around the suite and flip flops for the shower.
• If you are staying for the spring/summer bring a fan. The upstairs bedrooms get very hot in the summer.
• Hope for good roommates. You don’t have any control over who you live with but if you get lucky you could end up with some really great people.
• Don’t do all your studying in your room. The desk is great but there are lots of places close by where you can study so I would suggest changing the scenery every now and then.
• Use the gym and recreation facilities. They are only a 2 minute walk away!