The University of Essex campus is so well maintained, with green spaces, BBQ areas, lakes, fountains, and tidy walkways between buildings/areas, it feels like a home somebody really cares about. Likewise, most of the study spaces are very well maintained, because students and staff alike appreciate being able to access these spaces. However, some of the rooms at the University are less than ideal for learning, as they sit below ground and do not have windows. This can be a problem if you like to learn in spaces with natural light. As well as this, Essex has a distinct lack of plug sockets in many of it's classrooms, so you need to be prepared and think ahead about charging your laptop if you want to use it during class. As for the students union, Essex SU is constantly putting on events and asking students to get involved to improve the University. At the moment, my favourite SU event is the Thursday market on Square 3, where local businesses take over and spend the day at the University, so students can try something new and get a bargain. What's more, although it can be daunting trying to navigate the campus at first, the University has a variety of accommodations both on and off campus, to suit every student. Otherwise, local landlords have an abundance of house shares available to students that are all within walking distance of campus. Finally, I have to take a moment to talk about how phenomenal the lecturers in the LaLu department are. Almost every lecturer I've had at Essex has been a credit to their field, performing research, or otherwise teaching in a manner which maintains learning languages is a multidisciplinary venture with a lot of different topics you can use as vehicles to acquire more advanced language. Honestly, I never thought I'd be a campus uni kind of person, but Essex felt like home the moment I walked on campus, so I'd emplore anybody considering this university to come and visit, because it really is a phenomenal place.

I average about 16 hours a week in classes, with lecturers who try to make course content interesting and stimulating. In the languages department, classes tend to be small, so we spend a lot of time chatting and debating subjects in order to hone our speaking skills and improve our confidence in interpersonal communication. All of my classes are taught face-to-face, which is great for language acquisition, but also ensuring you can ask questions when you need to. Each lecturer has office hours during which you can drop in to talk to them, but in my experience, they will usually prefer to make time to talk to you at your convenience, so that you are most comfortable when coming to them with problems or concerns.

I think it’s amazing for the student life because there’s so many activities constantly on campus. I also feel privileged with the amount of facilities on campus from their technology to having lawyers if you needed one to people to advise how to start up a business. I think the one thing they could improve with is how they get the information across to the students, with so much to offer I feel a lot of students aren’t aware of how many things they have access to. I know a lot of students that when they ask for help my answer is “we have someone on campus that could help!”

I think overall it’s really good, I think the teachers are so understanding no matter what you feel like you’re going through, they talk to you like professionals and your friends, I feel that’s something a lot of places lack. I think overall the hours are appropriate for my course. We have more hours than the average student but for language learning it’s needed as it’s about practice not researching. All my classes are in person now and I prefer it a lot more.

I think it’s a lovely place it’s really quiet but also still close enough to everything that you can get everywhere on campus within 5-10 minutes. I think the facilities are good I just think it’s a little expensive. However I do understand that the prices are higher because you’re on campus.