Someone made an interesting post on the course forums today, who has just come back from residential school. I've taken out some irrelevant bits, but otherwise it is presented here in full:
Let me start by saying the lecturers are excellent, better than some other schools I have been to, approachable, knowledgeable and fun. The people here are great, a nice mix of friendly types. couldn't want for more in these respects.
The experiments are fine too, but don't make the mistake of either not preparing or thinking you can wing it on the day, reading as you go. It is labour-intensive, there is a lot of data to collect and crunch, so much so in some cases that the learning can get lost in the noise.
Food, well if you enjoyed school dinners you should be OK, but if you are used to fine dining you might need to reset your expectations. Meat and two veg can on some days be meat and one veg! Also vegetables are usually "al dente'", not stick in large pot, boil guts out of it for an hour stick in hot steamy tub for 45 minutes before serving! The food does improve after the weekend as I imagine that is when the fresh stuff comes in. Breakfast is fine, but it is hard to muck up egg, bacon, sausage and corn flakes!
Rooms. Noisy! The problem is the doors, they slam all too easily and the noise echos throughout the building. Please think of others and don't slam the doors!! It is beter in some areas than others, but it beats me why they desing buildings with doors that automatically slam, door closers can have a soft close mechanism and still meet fire regulations! Ear plugs might work!!
Internet. In two words patchy, unreliable. For an organisation that requires computing, Durham has not got it right. They release limited connectivity at the start of your week and increase it as demand quickly outstrips supply. Then the internet goes down or the speed goes down. Best to bring a LAN lead as wireless is awful, low power or non existent, and if you are desparate to get on line, bring your mobile broadband dongle. When it works its great, when it fails it is a nightmare!
Shops / cash machine. None on site! Solutions, a 30 minute round trip to town and bring plenty of cash if you want to drink in the evening as the cashless society has not reached Durham Uni yet!
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