As the first place I stayed after leaving home this will always hold a place in my heart and…read morerightly so. It's a great place to stay if you are based in Kings and is one of the nicer University Houses I've seen. It's best asset is the space on offer, it has large kitchens and common room whilst the rooms aren't too small either. I had reservations about coming here due to the number of people per kitchen, but it does actually work out really well. The only downside is the walk to town (30 min) so you would have to think about cycling or busing if you don't want to walk that far.

I lived in Kitchener House for my first year at Edinburgh University while studying biological…read moresciences at the Kings Building Campus. This accommodation is University owned and was a great in so many ways! The building has approximately 60 rooms including doubles which span the older house and a newer extension onto the side. The rooms are of a good size which include a bed, cupboard, desk, chair, bookshelf and in most cases a sink each. There are 4 kitchens, many toilets and showers and a large spacious common room. There is also a large garden with grass and a picnic table outside. There is also a central bike storage area with metal bars to attach bikes and a large and sturdy gate which can only be accessed with a key that is given to residents of the accommodation. In each person's allocated kitchen they have their own dedicated storage cupboards, fridge and freezer compartments. Everyone was very social in my first year which was made very easy as it is one of the smallest university accommodation buildings which made it feel like a home rather than a large student block full of unfamiliar faces. The common room was a great area to socialise in the first few weeks when events like coffee and film nights were put on by the resident assistants (The common room has a TV). The kitchens have large tables in the centre which are also great points to socialise when everyone is cooking and eating. Many a night was spend playing beer pong and having pres in the common room and kitchens! One of the downsides of this accommodation is the distance from the centre of Edinburgh. It takes 30 - 60 minutes to walk from Kitchener into the town where the shops, restaurants and pubs are. This is very manageable if you have a bike though (which a lot of us had) and the buses have regular departures into the town. If you are studying any non science/engineering subjects, for example business, politics, religion, art etc, I would not recommend Kitchener as it is one of the furthest university accommodations from the George square campus in town. There is a shuttle bus service that runs from kings buildings to George square, free of charge to Edinburgh University students, but it can be unreliable and overcrowded with no guarantee of getting on the bus and getting to lectures on time. I knew people that stayed at kitchener house to go to the George square campus but most were unaware that their classes, or at least the majority were in central Edinburgh. I have made many friends in Kitchener and have formed some of the strongest friendships I have ever had with people from here in this very accommodation, even more so than high school friends that I have known for years. I have made friends here that I will know for my entire life. I cannot explain just how great kitchener was for me socially and academically. I hope this will help any students who are contemplating moving into kitchener house and studying at Edinburgh University. If you are lucky enough to get into kitchener, have a great time and take advantage of every opportunity, meet new people, join clubs, study hard and party hard. The lease only lasts for less than a year and time will fly by. I know as it did for me. I have so many cherished memories from kitchener house. Good luck! Callum

Ah, Pollock. The memories. Most people who've stayed here did so as freshers although the uni does…read morerent out the nicer blocks to tourists or people attending conferences at the on-site conference centre, St. Leonard's Hall. The tourists only ever get put in Chancellor's Court or John Burnett House, as the others are pretty skanky breezeblock cells housed in ugly 1960s wannabe tower blocks, and also because these two are the most expensive. When the rahs go home for summer and aren't cluttering up the quad with their stupid huge hairdos and jack wills tracksuit bottoms, this place is pretty good. There are a few grassy areas for lounging on during the rare suny days, there's an on-site pub and there's also a little corner shop which is fairly well-stocked. Just don't eat in the JMCC canteen. They like to dress it up and call it a restaurant, but it will always be a canteen. And not a very good one at that.

POLLOCK! I think…read morePollock Halls hold a special place in the hearts of all Edinburgh University students. It certainly does for me. The entire area is huge, fantastically huge and it is easy to get lost. There are several different houses - Chancellors, Baird, Lee, Turner, Grant, Holland (Blocks A, B, C, D and Annexe), Masson and Fraser court. I'm sure there's more I've forgotten about...! Here's the scoop - when I was here in 2007 there was a distinct seperation between each house. Chancellors Court was generally reserved for the yah's at Edinburgh Uni - I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, but the rooms are lovely, modern and clean. All en-suite, naturally. Chancellors Court and Holland are the only two houses with en-suite facilities. I stayed in Holland B block (following my brothers recommendation) and loved it. Yeah, the rooms weren't huge and the toilets were tiny, and the walls were really thin, and it got cold (wow, I'm really selling it) but it was fantastic. Because Holland was one of the older houses it had a real sense of tradition about it. I've made some brilliant memories in Holland Block! The JMC food-court left a lot to be desired, I'm afraid to say. Their breakfasts were good, always a great selection of fruit, cereals and cooked breakfast,but their dinners went steadily downhill as the term progressed. Don't get me wrong, it was all edible (but i once got a bad bug from the beef goulash) and if there was nothing you fancied there was always salad and cold meats, but it wasn't amazing. Overall, however, I thoroughly recommend Pollock Halls. I recently went for a drive and saw that the whole place has been updated with a whole new house being built, so I'm sure it has just got better!

I spend a year living here, I felt it was only fair to review for the benefit of those looking to…read moreapply for first year accommodation. Hermit's croft wasn't my first choice. It wasn't even my second. I was gutted when I found out I was going to be living in my third choice accommodation for the whole of my first year of uni. But fear not! It's really not that bad. It's actually in a great spot - you can join in the Pollock crowds on the walk to uni (if you like yahs) and it's only 10 minutes to George Square. It's also really close to all the local amenities you could want. My only problem, and it was a big one, is the lack of washing facilities. There are 18 flats in Hermits Croft, each with an average of 5 people in. That's about 90 people. There are 2 washing machines and 2 dryers (honestly). But who does washing in first year anyway?

Picturesque building in a great location overlooking princes street, the courtyard although small…read moreand quite busy with tourists, holds a statue of John Knox. You need ID to access the library but if you wait around for someone to come in or out you might be lucky and once inside you will be greeted by beautiful stained glass windows. It's unclear though where visitors are allowed to roam so some info on this would be helpful.

As well as being a stunning building to admire from the outside, New College is an excellent venue…read morefor hosting events as well. It stands on top of The Mound and so has an imposing look, visible from Princes Street and beyond. Like Edinburgh itself, which has old and new towns, the university has Old College and New College. Also like the city, both old and new are quite old indeed. The building dates from 1846 and houses the School of Divinity at the University. However, there are also rooms that can be rented out for events, and that's what brought me here. Our ball happened in Rainy Hall, a stunning hall, with crests and coats of arms all around. Walking in through the main gate of the college brings one to the very Hogwarts-like quadrangle, which makes for some great photo ops. Once inside the building, all of the interior architecture also captures one's attention. However, I am far from an expert on this, so that's quite enough comments about architecture! Rainy Hall is an intimate venue for events. It comfortably accommodated our ~60 attendees, but much more than this and ceilidh dancing would become somewhat difficult. Catering and bar service are provided by the University's own Edinburgh First, with friendly, efficient staff, and a good selection of drinks at the bar. The food quality is very good, though portion sizes leave a lot to be desired. My recommendation to visit New College is twofold. As a tourist, the astoundingly beautiful building makes for excellent photographs. On top of this, for reasonably small events of up to 70 people, the Rainy Hall is an excellent venue to consider.

Paterson's Land is a very recent discovery for me and I'm still not totally sure what it is. This…read moreis what I know so far: it's the same building as the Bongo Club. It's owned by the University of Edinburgh. It's kinda cool looking, with a big inner courtyard. And it seems to be overrun by tourists during the festival. Paterson's Land is also home to the office for the Edinburgh student newspaper, The Journal, and the magazine that covers the Edinburgh Festival, Fest Mag.

WOWZERS I have…read morepassed this place a hundred times, shame on me, shame on me. This is another really cool unique venue in Edinburgh, home of numerous indy arts groups etc. We were there to see the National Theatre of Scotland's performance 'Menage a Trois', which was a pretty special experience. The theatre was small, and they encouraged the audience to sit as far up as possible as there was a sort of TV screen between them and the stage. The show itself was spellbinding, I can't describe it myself, but NTS said it is 'A hauntingly beautiful study of love, obsession, loneliness and manipulation. A visually stunning piece of dance theatre from award-winning performer Claire Cunningham.' Anyway, if you like your arts in all shapes and sizes then keep an eye on this venue

My friend gave me a guided tour and all I can say about this University is I really wished I had…read moregone here (and could afford it). It's so amazing, and pretty, and people are friendly, and they have all these cool events advertised (like a cheese party!!!). Teviot row house is also the oldest student union building in the world (My friend told me) and it looks great! they have a sports bar, library bar, and other various bars for different functions and settings.

Home to some of the ugliest buildings on earth (can I get a round of applause for Appleton Tower's…read moresheer foulness please?) the University of Edinburgh was the place of my 'further education'. Superficially the Uni does well in the league tables (23rd in the world I think) but the real student experience is pretty patchy. The main library is probably the best example of this. Spanning over six floors this building houses millions of books and resources but for some reason there never seemed to be any of the ones I wanted! At the beginning of every year at least one of my courses was complaining that their books hadn't been put on short loan and that keen students had already checked out the course work for the year. There was also a constant issue of people hogging computers, leaving their books and coats on the table and then heading off to Bristo Square for a leisurely lunch. Annoying! Nonetheless I did enjoy my studies at Edinburgh a lot. The uni attracts some brilliant lecturers especially in the History and Politics departments (my degree). Dr Day, Dr Cogliano and Dr Bates were my favourite historians although I would have to say that the international relations and politics of human rights courses were very impressive. In recent years the University has come out quite badly in 'student satisfaction' surveys primarily because of the time it took to get coursework marked and returned. As I left I could see that there were real efforts being made to reverse these patterns but as far as most of us were concerned it was a bit too little too late. Despite this I would still say that Edinburgh is a great University and I miss it a lot!

I'm a part-time PhD student at Moray House and have had a good experience thus far. My supervisors…read moreare excellent, the library is convenient, the buildings are good, and they're currently doing build building works to convert the parking lot in the centre of the 'campus' to be a lovely garden. There could be a better sense of community facilitated by the staff, but I think things are generally pretty good and improving compared to the last reviewer's remarks.

I'd heard of Moray House School of Education way before I ever approached it: through people I knew…read morewho studied there or had offices there; and through the Edinburgh University Library's catalogue that kept trying to send me there to pick up books (which is just unnecessarily out of the way, really). So, the Moray House School of Education is, duh, the School of Education. It's located right next to Paterson's Land and the building where the Bongo Club, aka between Holyrood and Canongate.

Old college is part of the University of Edinburgh so I tend to come here often due to lectured and…read moreadministrative stuff. However, this I place I think is one of Edinburgh iconic buildings and a "must see" by visitors. The square has various decorations during the time of year or the festivities. For example during Christmas they had A huge Christmas tree while on Chinese New Years they had replicas of statues of the terracotta soldiers. If anything, this is a great spot to take that selfie or pic to capture the beauty of the buildings that can be found in Edinburgh. It's also free entrance so why not take advantage of the beautiful backdrop?! What's also nice is after taking 5-10 min to come here (not much to see really), you can head to the national museum. If you're a student at the University of Edinburgh this place is where you can find big lecture halls and the important registrar office.

Some years ago, when I was considering becoming a student at the University of Edinburgh, I…read moreremember being dazzled in the prospectus by glossy photographs of magnificent quadrangles, ancient libraries, and walkways adjoined by rows of impressive granite columns. "It really is the Athens of the north," I thought, and promptly completed my application. Little did I know that I would spend most of my university career on the 12th floor of a concrete tower block on the corner of George Square, holed up in the 1960s architectural travesty that is the main library, or frantically typing essays in an underground computer lab commonly known as 'the bunker.' However, those enticing images in the university brochure were not complete fabrication - such elegant structures do exist in the university's extensive property holdings, and Old College is one of the most impressive. Dating from the 18th century, it is built on a grander scale than its spin-off, New College, with a conspicuous dome, arched facades and balustrades built around a wide open courtyard, all very imposing in Edinburgh's trademark grey stone. Today, only a privileged few law students actually get to come and have classes here. But I often make excuses to walk through Old College, just to briefly admire the sweeping scale of the place and delude myself that being a student at Edinburgh really does involve inhabiting such majestic environs on a daily basis.

Whoop Whoop a handy dry cleaners! If you ever need anything properly and professionally dry…read morecleaned, Euroclean Dry Cleaning is the place to go. Situated in the Newington area of Edinburgh, Euroclean Dry Cleaning is very central and a convenient place to reach. It is just a short walk from the first year halls of residence, Pollock Halls, and so it is a terribly handy place for students to go to get nasty stains out of their clothes. I have been to this store several times over the years to dry clean my jackets and some skirts which can't be put through the wash, and I have received excellent service with every visit. The prices are incredibly reasonable and pretty competitive, with it costing £16 to dry clean 2 suits - what a bargain! Euroclean Dry Cleaning also offer a FREE pick up and delivery service which is handy and you don't have to actually go to the store to get your clothes cleaned. As well as suits and clothes, they also do carpet and curtain cleaning. A great place to go to get your clothes perfectly clean.

After being on the road for nearly two weeks, we were ready to get our clothes cleaned! Our luck…read morethat we were here during Fringe Festival with a Bank Holiday looming on Monday. The wonderful woman running the shop took pity on us and got it all done perfectly in one day. Absolutely wonderful and kind! Thank you so much for your hospitality and great wash on top of it all. Highly recommend for quality service