To leave a note on the door of my student flat asking my flatmates to keep their voices down when they come in

[unhappystudent]

...because it will be after 3am when they do and I'm sick of being kept awake all night because I refuse to conform to clubbing and drinking just because 'that's what students do'? It would be polite.

Sorry for using this website, my mum isn't around to phone tonight and I wanted some advice.

Radio 4 always goes on first thing in the morning on full volume :D

Right, so now you are admitting to winding them up too, and doing things that you know will annoy them ?

There often is more than one side to a story.

Oh, cross post. That isn't normal student behaviour!!

I always hear my alarm through ear plugs, just make sure your alarm is on the loudest setting. They don't eliminate outside noise but they do muffle anything I don't want to hear sufficiently to just disturb my sleep a bit not ruin it totally

I would have left a note (I left notes a couple of times in student houses.) I wouldn't honestly expect it to make any difference, and it won't increase your popularity or improve relationships. They do sound particularly bad.

Is there any chance you could find somewhere else to live?

BTW, don't listen to R4 when writing essays - it creeps in. I had one essay going on about Humphrey Lyttleton, rather than whichever Victorian Humphrey I was meant to be talking about...

Yeah, coming in late and noisy is normal student stuff. But tipping your stuff out of the window and calling you a bitch? Seriously not normal or OK.

My friend had this problem at uni. Her flatmates in halls were total morons and basically bullied her until she had to move out. Some people just have massive inferiority complexes and can't stand anyone they see as being 'above' them (I'm guessing from your posts that you are a responsible/sensible type and probably cleverer than them).

I don't think they will respond well to a note. People like this only stop being twats when they are intimidated out of it by someone 'bigger' (by which I mean, louder, less predictable, more confident). Do you have any friends who fit the bill? They may feel you are an easy target because you are a responsible type...

You can also get alarms that work by vibrating - either round the wrist or under the pillow, so maybe that would work in combination with ear plugs?

Can you not give notice to leave the tenancy early? I had friends who left at the end of a term in order to go and live with like-minded people. Their places were taken by final year students glad to get back into university accommodation. Seek help from accommodation office.

And no notes! It just makes them act more like dicks.

I always hear my alarm with ear plugs, I really recommend them.

Sorry about your woes, I loved halls and still miss it 18 years later. Utter madness, constant noise but so much fun. I must have been an animal!! But it must be hell for someone of a quieter disposition.

They sound very inconsiderate at best, and like bullies at worst. Not all of this can be put down to typical student behaviour. Throwing your things out of the kitchen window was downright disrespectful, even if they did offer you a begrudging "apology".

Speak with the resident tutor for your halls. Speak too with your university's accommodation office to see if they can help. You never know, there may be other students needing to leave their rooms due to being unhappy with their flatmates, and for a whole variety of reasons.

I know that the student lifestyle is generally categorised by non-stop partying, but that is a bit of a well worn cliche too. Many students do love it, but equally, many don't and some feel they can't fit in with it. When I was a student (more than 25 years ago now) I did like being reasonably sociable, but I wasn't at all a party animal (I'm still not) so I do sympathise with you. I was never bullied like that though. I was left to my own devices when I wanted to be, which suited me well.

Your resident tutor/warden and also the accommodation office or student welfare may well be able to reassure you and put you in touch with other like-minded students who are in similar difficulties. It may even be possible to move to different accommodation if anything is available, and if you can find someone wishing to move into your room and take over the contract for it.

Right, you need to go to the accommodation office and be mega assertive. Take the messages they left for you calling you a bitch, and refer to the incident the other night. Tell them they need to find you an alternative place right away, within the next week, because you are being threatened. If they are less than helpful, tell them you will be contacting the union, and the uni police liaison officer, for help and you will be posting very frankly on the Student Room website and others to warn future students that the accommodation people are not helpful to you.

They are behaving like dicks, but they sound like they will be hard to reform, and the quickest way out of the misery is to persuade the accommodation office that the way out of any trouble is to move you somewhere quieter. Good luck tomorrow.

Also, they were actually committing a criminal offence by sending you that note. Malicious Communications Act

You could report it to the police who may come round and have a word with them. Then watch them shit themselves.

I do agree with the previous poster, you should get the accommodation people to move you. It's entirely possible.

YANBU my first year flatmates were Twats. No good asking them not to be because they hadn't enough good manners (flatmate A) or self confidence (flatmate B) not to be twats.

Because I choose the wrong course I ended up taking a year out and when I came back the university put me in with a couple of mature students and a couple of American exchange students doing a year here.

They were much better and I lived with one of them the following year too.

After that I cheated and got married and had a flat above a silent French lady, who DH woke up at 5am every morning

This was actually easy to cure, DH just didn't put his size 11 shoes on until he walked out the door. Our stupid kitchen floor wasn't soundproofed at all.

And yes to moving, my quiet first year flat mate did and the other nice one spent a lot of time at friends.

I didn't ask to move because the twats were better than hall food.

As EverythingCounts says, be very assertive with your accommodation office. They will almost certainly have been asked to resolve this type of issue before, as it isn't unique.

The Student's Union should also have some counsellors and liaison officers whose job it is to intervene in these sorts of issues. By that I mean putting pressure on the accommodation office to sort new accommodation for you, and also perhaps introducing you to students who have had similar problems.

All the best.

Unfortunately, leaving a note would just make you a Note Wanker

We all know that the student culture, especially in halls, is a law unto itself and defies common decency frequently.

May I suggest a very good set of earplugs in combination with a Sonic Boom alarm clock? It is louder than a pneumatic drill, has adjustable frequency, flashes and vibrates the bed too. Trust me, you WILL hear it and you WILL wake up.

When you go out early, leave ur alarm on full vol with a snooze every 7 mins....

For the future, I wouldn't call be wakened at the weekend in halls bullying.

Throwing food out a window and fuck off notes is serious bullying. Don't take it to residential services, they won't care after you have paid up. But the head of the students course will care, will count for a lot more and be a lot more effective.

A polite but strongly worded email is all that is required.

Hope you're ok! And sleeping soundly

Ew, we really started something when we started encouraging idiots to go to university.

I hope you didnt leave as it sounds like they would just laugh at it.

My advice is move out ASAP.

Get a flat with older post grads or a room in a family home.

*leave a note

Speak to the housing department if they are able to they should move you. They will at the uni I work for.

Also I wear ear plugs (dh is a snorer) and hear my alarm. Try wearing one in your outside ear and none on the inside will more likely hear the alarm clock.

Agree with others rise above it, be tge bigger person! Don't do tit for tat. You can then leave with your head held high.

Good luck

I totally sympathise. I spent a horrible year with three flat mates who regularly kept me awake into the small hours.

I did ask them, several times, to keep the noise down but they paid no attention.

I also recommend earplugs.

OK, so you need to get through the rest of the year. I would second the earplugs idea, and if you are concerned about waking up in the morning, invest in a vibrating alarm clock (available on Amazon) that you put under your pillow.

No notes, that would give your noisy flatmates ammunition. You don't want your last few months in halls to be more hellish than they have been.

I would also second the poster who advised speaking to the halls management to see whether you can move to a quieter flat. Good luck!

I agree with everyone else. Short term earplugs and vibrating alarm. Medium term move into the housing office waiting room (with your books) and stay there hassling them every day until they move you.