Nine things you’ll know if you live at Great Dover Street Apartments

Stamford Street could never

4 years ago | UPDATED 4 years ago

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After going through the notoriously difficult process of getting a room at King’s Residences, you’ve finally landed yourself a room at Great Dover Street Apartments. You probably tried to get a room at Stamford Street instead… but now you can’t see yourself living anywhere else.

Best known for its proximity to Dover Castle and being slightly grimy, here are nine things you’ll only know if you’ve ever lived at GDS:

1. The parcel search

Having all your parcels delivered to reception can sometimes be a massive pain. Each time you ask the night staff where it is, you feel guilty… and you try to find your Amazon package as quickly as possible. This entails looking through endless lockers filled with other people’s stuff.

2. Avoiding Tabard Gardens

You tend to avoid any route that goes through Tabard Gardens, especially at night. It’s just terrifyingly creepy. You’d do anything to steer clear of it, even if it means taking the long way back from Guy’s Campus.

3. Saving money on food shops… not

Each time you need to do a big food shop, you tell yourself that you’re going to be smart and save money by going to Lidl. Soon, however, you realise that the 15-minute walk is simply too much effort.

Eventually, you settle for Sainsbury’s right across the road. Remember they close at 11 pm– so plan wisely and run out of your flat with your reusable bag 10 minutes before closing!

4. The proximity to DC and the hangover cure

After ten rounds of shots with your mates at Dover Castle, you’re eternally grateful that home is just down the road. It’s one of the greatest perks that come with living at Great Dover Street.

Even if you wake up severely hungover the next day, you can go get some greasy chicken and chips from Morley’s across the road.

5. The weekly fire alarms

The practice fire alarms that happen every Wednesday are way too long for your liking. Plus, they happen so frequently that you forget which ones are real and which ones aren’t. Is this fire alarm in the middle of the day from a student burning a pizza, is the building genuinely on fire, or is this another practice one? Who knows!

6. One-of-a-kind facilities

You’re almost scared every time you open the fridge because you know you’ll be greeted with the mouldy loaf of bread your flatmate has seemingly left there for weeks. Other GDS facilities are just as unique – when you do your laundry, the machines are either in use or people have left wet socks stuffed by the door. Gross.

7. The view of the Shard

If you’re lucky, you’ll have a view of the Shard from the comfort of your own room. (Disclaimer: This will apply to less than half the residents.) These students take great pride in their view and will make sure to post the sunset and skyline on their Instagram story every chance they get. Whatever your room view, however, the one thing every GDS resident does when someone asks them where they live, is to reply with “right near the Shard!”

8. The struggle to study in the Common Room

The Common Room consists of some great study desks, computers, a printer and… loud people. You’re probably better off studying in your room or on campus because no one gets their work done in there.

Whenever the WiFi goes down, a state of panic will take hold across the residence as everyone starts using up their precious data allowance to frantically text on group chats. On the network list, you’ll start seeing a bunch of wifi names such as “Harriet’s iPhone” and “The Internet is down”.

9. The wet rooms

Lastly, the GDS experience is incomplete without mentioning the infamous wet rooms. Taking a shower soaks up your entire bathroom and takes more than half a day to dry. But hey, at least you’re in an “ensuite”, right?