Oh and because I’m such a nice guy who happened to come across a topic about my residency on a HSC forum (don’t ask) I’ll even answer your questions directly.
“Is it social?”
It’s what you make of it. There were people living there, even people on my own floor, who I barely spoke a word to last year. At the risk of sounding like a typical Shire boy a lot (but by no means not all) of these social hermits were asian international students, who perhaps justifiably, preferred to concentrate almost entirely on their studies, whether it be due to their cultural contrasts or the fact that they are paying a ridiculous amount to study here. It’s a hall of almost 500 people though so naturally there are many sociable people and the whole place has a good community feel to it. Weekend or not, and especially on Thursdays, there’ll be a good deal of us making a ruckus of our nations Capital.
“What kind of people stay there?”
People like you. People from all around Australia and the world as well which is great for exposing yourself to some different cultures. About half of Fenner are international students which can be a blessing and a curse. Pretty much its just Uni students looking to enjoy themselves while getting a certificate from the ANU with their name on it.
“is it very cut off from the on-campus colleges”
You know what, I’m not going to lie, at first it is. During O-week though I didn’t really care because there were enough new people at Fenner. But by the time you settle in and make friends you’ll start socialising more and more with other colleges and realise that the four minute drive/fifteen minute walk isn’t very isolated at all. Also there is the Interhall battle of the bands, interhall ball, IB, interhall sports and arts and the fact we all spend our days (those of us who go) at the same uni preventing us from being too isolated.
So there we are, hope that helped. Oh and if Liam or Peter asks tell them that the Arts Co-Ordinator is doing a bangup job in helping out first years.
