Sleeping - or not - in Uni halls

[ECML180]

So, I'm bringing up what will, for many, be a all too relevant topic. Noise at night! I suspect I would mind so much if I lived next to a motorway, or near an airport, but my fellow students really get to me. They don't have to sing in the kitchen at 1am! There is no benefit to doing so!

Anyone got any good techniques for sleeping during noise?

 

[theblackwatch]

Earplugs? (Seriously!)

 

[ECML180]

Tried it once or twice but they are rather uncomfortable. But I do keep a set handy just in case!

 

[Bald Rick]

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. You might enjoy it.

 

[455driver]

Get up at 0700 and start singing outside their room!

 

[Flamingo]

i remember that the worst offenders were two who lived in the same end of corridor. So one night, after giving them half an hour to go to sleep after they had come in from the pub shouting and singing, I got every hoover in the place (there were about six), plugged them all in outside their respective room door, switched them all on, then went back to bed.

They took the hint, and it was quite a while before they came in partying hard again...

 

[Searle]

I'd get some speakers, and play some relaxing music. Try and get it loud enough to drown them out a bit, but not too loud to keep you up! I can send you some relaxing music if you need :P

I had this two years ago and it's very frustrating. They'll calm down eventually, I was living with 17 others so I have had the same experience.

 

[theblackwatch]

i remember that the worst offenders were two who lived in the same end of corridor. So one night, after giving them half an hour to go to sleep after they had come in from the pub shouting and singing, I got every hoover in the place (there were about six), plugged them all in outside their respective room door, switched them all on, then went back to bed.

They took the hint, and it was quite a while before they came in partying hard again...

How inconsiderate of you. You could have at least waited till around 06.00 the following morning...

 

[Flamingo]

How inconsiderate of you. You could have at least waited till around 06.00 the following morning...

Heartless, I know

 

[Tim R-T-C]

I'd get some speakers, and play some relaxing music. Try and get it loud enough to drown them out a bit, but not too loud to keep you up! I can send you some relaxing music if you need :P

I had this two years ago and it's very frustrating. They'll calm down eventually, I was living with 17 others so I have had the same experience.

This worked best for me. Living in halls in particular much of the noise was from outside (mail cages are amazing play things for drunks) so nothing you can do directly.

Search on youtube for chillstep mix and you can find hours of music to play.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

I have no idea how old my accommodation at uni is - I'll guess less than a decade - but I can hear absolutely nowt from any flats to my left, right, above or below; I can't even hear my flatmates in the kitchen when they have it full-blast at pre-drinks.

OP - You may say what is the point and I would agree, but consume horrendous amounts of tequila, vodka, Carling and anything else anyone offers and then tell me it ain't a good idea

 

[90019]

Anyone got any good techniques for sleeping during noise?

Personally, I used headphones.


The worst I had was a guy in a room above me with a subwoofer on the floor, who insisted on playing music late at night, nearly every night.
It annoyed a few other people in my corridor as well, and after many complaints it ended up going to the hall porters who gave him multiple warnings, then removed the speakers from his room.


Oh, and some arse over the other the side of the building had a vuvuzela. :roll:

 

[Trainfan344]

Just get a set of earphones or something, I have earphones which I plug in and listen to the radio.

 

[muz379]

Get up at 0700 and start singing outside their room!

0700 , that's quite late , what you really want is about 0430 or 0500 .

I had a simillar problem at uni , I let them get away with it during freshers week , hell even joined them a few times although I never have and dont drink much .
But once the term got started properly I was woken up at 2am only once by 2 of my flatmates and after that initiated some 0500 loud music retribution by putting speakers against their walls and blankets on top and around to direct the noise and then locking the door and going out for a run , the message was received loud and clear and I was never woken up again

The only thing with earplugs is id be worried about not being able to hear my alarm , and never did want to sleep listening to headphones because they get tangled up round your neck if you turn loads like I do when I sleep

The only other noise pollution I ever suffered was hearing the girl in the room directly above mine copulating . But In all honestly I felt sorry for her because it was all over so quickly that I never did complain .

 

[Greenback]

I lived in old accommodation for half a year while new blocks were being built. In the old hall you could hear everything, copulating, singing, music, shouting, dancing...I ended up with insomnia

When I moved into the new build the soundproofing must have been much better, as I rarely heard anything at all, even though I was right next to the kitchen.

 

[Tetchytyke]

A lot of university accommodation has appalling sound insulation. And if you're in private halls the owners couldn't give a rat's ass about complaints. University-owned halls tend to be better with complaints about noise.

I'd suggest either earplugs, some nice music on the radio, or an Uzi.

 

[ECML180]

Common theme of calming music so I'll certainly give it a go. I can totally understand where people come from RE soundproofing, the first halls I ended up in were built in the 80s and have yet to be refurbished...so not sound proofing, perpetually broken heating and a myriad of faults with everything! Problem was it as a privately owned hall contracted to the university...hence the owners were not interested and the maintenance team was based about 2 hours drive away.

I think the main problem with the Uzi theory, while it would be effective, is that it is generally frowned upon when re-applying to halls!

As for the early music playing it is tempting, I'm still in 'work mode' and wake up between 5 and 6 most mornings, after the next holidays I think I need to give myself a week or two away from early shifts before coming back!

 

[table38]

The only thing with earplugs is id be worried about not being able to hear my alarm...

Living in a room next to the kitchen where my fellow housemates used to come in drunk and start crashing around making toast at 3am, I used to make earplugs out of wet bits of tissue or bog roll.

They always dried up and fell out long before it was time for the alarm!

 

[NSEFAN]

I found that people in my block of halls were generally well behaved, with loud noises mostly on Friday or Saturday evenings. That said, on one occasion some decided to have a late night smoke in the stairwell, waking us all up with the fire alarm. This was particularly annoying, as it happened in the day the clocks went back, so we all lost out on the bonus sleeping time!

In my 3rd year, I shared a terraced house with some coursemates. Our neighbours enjoyed playing loud music and yelling at all hours of the night. One had a particular habit of screaming "OH MA DAYS". One evening, we came back from uni to find a mattress and belongings dumped outside their house, with a post it note attached, saying "YOU GONE F****D UP NOW TYRONE". I'm assuming that Tyrone was the noisy one, as the house was overall quieter since.

 

[DarloRich]

So, I'm bringing up what will, for many, be a all too relevant topic. Noise at night! I suspect I would mind so much if I lived next to a motorway, or near an airport, but my fellow students really get to me. They don't have to sing in the kitchen at 1am! There is no benefit to doing so!

Anyone got any good techniques for sleeping during noise?

A) get a bird - stay at hers

B) join in, socialise, mix with your fellow students then see A

C) Stay in pub longer, get more drunk, sing more songs louder

D) 6am, Stereo speakers turned to face outwards, volume all the way to 11, base all the way to 11, Sex pistols anarchy in uk album, turn on, have a - pressing engagement elsewhere

E) Boring - ask them if they wouldn't mind keeping it down as you have lectures

Oh and in the one of few (and i mean few!) times i manged option A at uni i selected a quite vocal partner and had her stay over

 

[muz379]

Oh and in the one of few (and i mean few!) times i manged option A at uni i selected a quite vocal partner and had her stay over

In my final year I had the bedroom next to the living room and there was only a paper thin wall in between and had a vocal Partner so did on many occasions hear the volume on the TV being turned up because of this "problem" .

 

[yorksrob]

I found that people in my block of halls were generally well behaved, with loud noises mostly on Friday or Saturday evenings. That said, on one occasion some decided to have a late night smoke in the stairwell, waking us all up with the fire alarm. This was particularly annoying, as it happened in the day the clocks went back, so we all lost out on the bonus sleeping time!

A friend on my floor managed to set the corridor alight one night (I was out on the lash, so missed the arrival of the fire engines).

 

[dmncf]

When I was in student halls during my first year I remember a couple of occasions where I had to ask some students down the corridor to turn the noise down. I remember going back to bed thinking 'how do they manage to keep on top of their uni work and lectures, when they stay up all night drinking and chatting?'

I discovered the answer when I started my second year and they didn't!

 

[table38]

A friend of mine used to be kept awake by a certain amount of swaying whilst her room-mate "entertained" her boyfriend in the bottom bunk

She was also late to lectures once, because her alarm clock didn't go off. It turned out that the boyfriend was annoyed by the ticking, so had wrapped it in a towel and stuffed it in the back of the wardrobe.

Re the noise, when I was in Halls, as Electrical Engineers, we worked out fairly quickly that if you plugged enough tasters and kettles in, you could blow the fuse for the entire corridor and scupper your housemates musical activities

 

[Heinz57]

Oh and in the one of few (and i mean few!) times i manged option A at uni i selected a quite vocal partner and had her stay over

Ooh matron!

This could go one of two ways, your flat mates might start making more noise to drown it out. Or you become somewhat of a 'god' amongst the lads in your flat and soon end up going out on the lash with them and becoming the route of the problem.

If the girl solution doesn't work. Chloroform or a rifle should do the trick.

 

[headshot119]

A friend of mine used to be kept awake by a certain amount of swaying whilst her room-mate "entertained" her boyfriend in the bottom bunk

She was also late to lectures once, because her alarm clock didn't go off. It turned out that the boyfriend was annoyed by the ticking, so had wrapped it in a towel and stuffed it in the back of the wardrobe.

Re the noise, when I was in Halls, as Electrical Engineers, we worked out fairly quickly that if you plugged enough tasters and kettles in, you could blow the fuse for the entire corridor and scupper your housemates musical activities

I always found a paper clip shorting the live and neutral pins at the end of a kettle lead a much simpler way to drop the power to the block I was in.

Asking people nicely never seems to work, however a sub woofer at max volume seems to do the trick when placed against people's walls!

 

[NSE]

Ahh I only graduated a couple of months ago and I already miss Uni. Sadly I was normally the one making the noise. Personally I recommend you go join in, its great fun. I lived in halls in London and they were well sound proofed to each side, but not through the floor. The girl below was the only one that complained if I made noise when she slept. However the up side was that if she was awake at 3am, she would let me play guitar as loud and as long as I wanted. Helps that she was a Korn fan too.

 

[PermitToTravel]

I always found a paper clip shorting the live and neutral pins at the end of a kettle lead a much simpler way to drop the power to the block I was in.

Asking the culprit to insert this paperclip for you is also effective