'Overnight Guests' and College rooms

pendragon

I notice the agreement for accommodation includes all this crap about having to register 'overnight guests', having to get permission and not having them too often. Is this like at my undergrad college where if it is another student (who is your gf/bf) then in practice nobody bothers about it. I was practically living in my gf's uni room in my final year, do they really do anything to stop that kind of thing? Is there any difference in how they treat postgrad and undergrad students if they are in the same accomadation? And is there any difference between how they deal with overnight guest issues in the campus rooms versus the Trinity Hall rooms?

nutball

Strictly speaking, if someone's going to be staying you have to have him/her signed in in the overnight guest book at Front Arch before midnight that night. In practice, it only really matters if you need to get back in after midnight when the gate's closed. Some nights you might say "X is signed in" and they just wave you by; other times, they're there with book in hand. I've known people to get into ruckuses trying to get guests in unsigned. To my immense surprise, I once got away with ringing Front Arch at 11.30, and asking the guard nicely if he would sign someone in for me . To be honest, it's not as big a pain as it sounds - although it is completely pointless.

As for the bit about not having them too often, I really don't think they actually keep track. If you were acting the maggot in some other way they might check it and use it as a stick to beat you. But I've never heard of it happening.

If you live in Goldsmith Hall facing out to the street you'd possibly manage to avoid it all by tossing your keycard out the window to your waiting guest in, say, a cigarette box. Not that I speak from experience.

Don't know what the story is in Halls.

pendragon

Hmmm not as bad as I thought it might be, but sounds a bit worse than at my undergrad college... sigh Would you advise trying to rent a flat instead?

cuckoo

pendragon wrote:

Hmmm not as bad as I thought it might be, but sounds a bit worse than at my undergrad college... sigh Would you advise trying to rent a flat instead?

www.daft.ie gives quite a good overview of what the rental market is like in Dublin, it's a listings site for flats, houses, apts and spare rooms.

Location wise the campus is hard to beat, two minutes from pub to bed can't be bettered. But, if you want to get some absolute peace and quiet, get some fresh air (the air pollution isn't really that bad, but the college is in a city centre. My college window opened out onto the outside of college and i was washing the net curtain every 3 weeks) and need to get away from the college and 'work' there are some nice areas a bit further out.

Fundamentally, imho, if you like city centre living and aren't too pushed about having huge amounts of space and don't mind the rules and regs the campus could suit you. Few (if any) 1st years live in the campus, so it's a little bit more relaxed. There's a nice sense of history in some of the buildings as well.

The Trinity Hall site is predominantly for first year students, some second years, one year international students and has some areas reserved for post grads. It's in a suburb, not very far from college, so does strike a balance of sorts: the convenience of college organised rooms with internet, etc, with (again) the rules and regs, and the slight distance from the coll itself. There's a thread somewhere here on the board ('the trinity hall thread' - imagination is something us tcd students don't lack) about halls.

Stargal

Elytron wrote:

This is a nuisance if you're going out with someone who lives on campus because it's such a chore to declare you might stay the night.

I've never seen it written down anywhere that you have to sign someone in if you're both living on campus.

cuckoo

stargal wrote:

I've never seen it written down anywhere that you have to sign someone in if you're both living on campus.

I think if falls under the all encompassing, nothing defined, but it can be invoked at the drop of a hat - 'fire regulations'.

Andrew 83

cuckoo wrote:

I think if falls under the all encompassing, nothing defined, but it can be invoked at the drop of a hat - 'fire regulations'.

Last year I was fined 25 euro on the spot for having a bike in my room (having had 2 robbed I was in ultra-precautious mode). When I queried it at the time I was told it was in the rule book. I've forgotten what the rule books' official name is but there's two - one from accomodation and one form housekeeping. I went through each line by line and found absolutely no reference to anything to do with not being allowed bikes. I went to accomodation to complain and was sent up to hosuekeeping. I was then told it was in the books but when I went through them with them they saw that there was in fact no rule about it. They said that there should be but accepted that they had to revoke the fine. They then said though that I couldn't keep my bike there as it should be a rule and that they'd try to have it in this year's rules. Don't know whether it is or not but if you're ever given a dodgy fine and can't find reference to it it's defintiely worth chasing up.

Right_Side

Andrew 83 wrote:

Last year I was fined 25 euro on the spot for having a bike in my room (having had 2 robbed I was in ultra-precautious mode). When I queried it at the time I was told it was in the rule book. I've forgotten what the rule books' official name is but there's two - one from accomodation and one form housekeeping. I went through each line by line and found absolutely no reference to anything to do with not being allowed bikes. I went to accomodation to complain and was sent up to hosuekeeping. I was then told it was in the books but when I went through them with them they saw that there was in fact no rule about it. They said that there should be but accepted that they had to revoke the fine. They then said though that I couldn't keep my bike there as it should be a rule and that they'd try to have it in this year's rules. Don't know whether it is or not but if you're ever given a dodgy fine and can't find reference to it it's defintiely worth chasing up.

That's fairly impressive. You should consider law.

Andrew 83

Right_Side wrote:

That's fairly impressive. You should consider law.

Yeah i'm not really sure why I went so intense on investigating it. I suppose I must have really needed the money that week!

Right_Side

Andrew 83 wrote:

Yeah i'm not really sure why I went so intense on investigating it. I suppose I must have really needed the money that week!

I'd say the satisfaction was worth more than the money.

Crash

Shoulda just kept it there until the end of the year andrew- if theres no rule... *hangs ducks from the ceiling*

edibility

I'm in hall's out in Rathmines and have actually been called to talk to the warden about my boyfriend staying over too much. I wasn't fined, or anything of the like. but he did tell me I could be if I didn't cut down on the amount of time he was staying over. He has stayed some nights without being signed in and I've never got into trouble, but as people said if you want to have them back late, etc, you're running a risk.

xeduCat

There is actually a regulation on bicycles in College (I have also had two stolen), but it's very badly worded...

'It is forbidden to park bicycles in hallways, staircases, or landings of houses. Bicycles must not be ridden either through the Front Gate or Arts Building entrance. Bicycles must be parked in the bicycle racks provided'.

(Calendar, General Regulations, regulation III-19).

The last clause is not enforced fully (see Front Square), but the second clause mostly is (when I lived in TH I had perfected lifting myself off the frame of my bicycle as I reached the entrance by pulling my left leg over to the right side and landing just in time to technically walk it through, then hopping back up onto it ASAP). The eagle-eyed will see that rooms themselves are not covered - in fact, a standard rule of legal interpretation* means that bicycles are positively permitted, as Andrew found out :-)




* You don't have to read this bit if you're not interested. So stop now, before it's too late. Still with me? OK, it's expressio unius est exclusio alterius - to express one or more things excludes others. So the fact that they wrote an exhaustive list means that they meant to exclude places not on the list. Ejusdem generis is when you have something like 'attics, halls and other spaces' which means that the other spaces have to be in the same category (genus) as attics and halls. But without a clause making it non-exclusive, any lawyer would that provision as absolutely subject to expressio unius. So there!

europerson

xeduCat wrote:

* You don't have to read this bit if you're not interested. So stop now, before it's too late. Still with me? OK, it's expressio unius est exclusio alterius - to express one or more things excludes others. So the fact that they wrote an exhaustive list means that they meant to exclude places not on the list. Eujsdem generis is when you have something like 'attics, halls and other spaces' which means that the other spaces have to be in the same category (genus) as attics and halls. But without a clause making it non-exclusive, any lawyer would that provision as absolutely subject to expressio unius. So there!

I'm just waiting for Angry Banana to make a comment...

Andrew 83

xeduCat wrote:

the second clause mostly is (when I lived in TH I had perfected lifting myself off the frame of my bicycle as I reached the entrance by pulling my left leg over to the right side and landing just in time to technically walk it through, then hopping back up onto it asap

That one really is enforced, I never even try to ride through now I've been so well trained by shouts of 'off that bike'.

cuckoo

Andrew 83 wrote:

That one really is enforced, I never even try to ride through now I've been so well trained by shouts of 'off that bike'.

Me too.

That's something the security at the nassau gate take very seriously, i've seen them chase renegade cyclists down the ramp.

Now, if only they'd do something about the herds of tourists that stand around in stagnant pools of 'ain't it quaint' exclamations....

Edwardius

cuckoo wrote:

That's something the security at the nassau gate take very seriously, i've seen them chase renegade cyclists down the ramp.

Lies! I've bombed through there on a regular basis and never seen anything of the sort, even when doin some pretty risky "pedestrian dodging" (and leaving tut-tuts and complaints in the wake. "Drunk Dodging" is even more fun, especially on grafton street, go as quick as you can without hitting anyone) through there. The only place I get hassle from security is for cyclin' through front arch and across the cricket pitch.

ApeXaviour

Dead Ed wrote:

The only place I get hassle from security is for cyclin' ... across the cricket pitch.

You managed to cycle through the cricket strip itself there the other day sans problèmes.

They are'nt too strict in halls... i've had friends over and there was never really a problem..

I think if your quiet when your coming in they don't hassle you.. that said I live quite near the gate

cil_aine

is there a luas that goes near it? how long would the bus take?

shay_562

Don't know about the bus, but if you get off the Luas at the Milltown stop you're about 5 minutes walk from halls, if even that.

Pet

It's exactly 9 minutes walk from the door of my apartment to the Milltown Luas stop, or the length of the Tool song Lateralus. It takes ~12 minutes from Milltown to St Stephen's Green (depending on how slow or fast the drivers go, some put the foot down and others drive like grannies), then about 5-7 minutes walk to the Arts block. Add a further 6-7 to get to the Hamilton. (Yes, I have got my timing down to +/- 1 minute.)

I walk very fast for a 5'9'' guy too, so you can't really improve on that, unless you run.

Cycling takes approximately 15 minutes as far as I've been told.

The 14a bus will get you from Halls to college in about 20 minutes, but that's with virtually no traffic. Rush hour, you'd nearly be quicker walking.

europerson

shay_562 wrote:

Don't know about the bus, but if you get off the Luas at the Milltown stop you're about 5 minutes walk from halls, if even that.

I really don't know how anyone could manage that.

cuckoo

original_psycho wrote:

They are'nt too strict in halls... i've had friends over and there was never really a problem..

I think if your quiet when your coming in they don't hassle you.. that said I live quite near the gate

I think it can also depend on the other ppl in the apt, if they start complaining about excessive guests (and, to some ppl excessive can be 1 guest - the infinite variety of humanity...) then the Powers that Be may take action.

shay_562

Quote:
Originally Posted by shay_562
Don't know about the bus, but if you get off the Luas at the Milltown stop you're about 5 minutes walk from halls, if even that.
I really don't know how anyone could manage that.

Maybe I walk really, really fast? Maybe I miscounted? (entirely possible - my mental arithmetic isn't exactly brilliant) I don't go out there very often, so I'm going to bow to the superior knowledge of people who actually live there.

I nearly always walked to the Milltown Luas stop in 5 minutes, from House 80. If I had a 11am class I'd leave at 10.30, walk 5 minutes, wait on average 5 minutes for a Luas, 15 min max journey to St Stephens Green, then 5 minutes walk to the Arts Block. If I was really taking my time the walk to the Luas would be nearly 10 minutes. Maybe I'm a fast walker, it only takes me 35 minutes to walk to whole way into college from Halls sometimes.

jd

oh overnight guests in tcd..
I remember having no guests allowed stay over, then no guests after the buttery closed, and finally no guests after 10pm. That was courtesy of the junior dean. /me waves at dr. barrett! (late 80's-ahem!). Me now a good boy...:D
jd

europerson

jd wrote:

me waves at dr. barrett!

All hail!