May, 2010
Posted May 13th, 2010 by DIGS Admin. Filed in DIGS Student, Pinnacles
Starting at university is extremely daunting. A new place to live, new people, often a totally new city or even country miles away from home, whatever the situation it’s not an easy time in your life. Of course it’s exciting, a totally new adventure and new chapter but what about those you leave behind?
We’ve spoke to a few parents to see what went through their minds when their offspring flew the coup!
The over riding response was that a parent wanted their child to fit in, to be safe and to flourish in their new environment and not be weighed down by any stress that this new lifestyle could bring. We’re happy to report that each parent we asked had only praise for the support and accommodation that The Pinnacles in Sheffield offers its residents.
Each and every parent will want to research their son or daughter’s choice of city to study in and those who opted for a DIGs property found our detailed website, blogs and information a reassuring source to go to that helped them prepare for this important change in their family’s life. Spending time together looking into the place they decide to study is a great way of settling both of your nerves, seeing where they might live, socialise, study and shop. Why not take a virtual tour around the city using Google Earth? At least then when you do visit for the first time you might recognise a few places and be a bit more familiar with what it has to offer.
After speaking to both a parent based in the UK and one in the USA another really resounding piece of advice they had to offer was to make sure the parent and child have a set time and date to contact each other and we were surprised at how many spoke of using Skype to keep in contact (a great tool over the internet as it’s totally free so a student can’t have an excuse of not having any credit to phone home with an update!) Having this in place meant that the parent’s mind was put at ease knowing that the student was doing well (you can video call over Skype too so you can see if they are looking tidy!) and staying safe but also meant that mum wasn’t calling and interrupting an all important night out at the local quiz!
Something else that everyone we talked to mentioned was giving the child their freedom and allowing them to make their own discoveries and mistakes, and one parent put it perfectly, “let your children fly with their own wings when they are ready for it”. There will never be an easy way of packing your loved one off to university and letting them fend for themselves for the first time but here at DIGs we’d like to reassure parents that we are always on hand to offer them guidance, support and most of all keep them safe within our residences.
Accompanying your child on their first journey to their new home is also very important, we understand that you want to make sure they are settled and you can see where they are going to be spending most of their time. You might even want to meet some of our staff and they’d be more than happy to meet you!
If you need some accommodation whilst visiting here are some suggestions for our Sheffield site;
Ibis Hotel: Shude Hill, Sheffield S1 2AR. 0114 241 9600/ibishotel.com
Hilton Sheffield Hotel: Victoria Quays, 2 Furnival Rd, Sheffield, South Yorkshire. 0114 252 5500/hilton.com
Travelodge Sheffield Central: 1 Broad Street West Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S1 2BQ. 0871 984 6305/travelodge.co.uk
Mercure Sheffield St Pauls Hotel & Spa: 119 Norfolk Street Sheffield, South Yorkshire S1 2JE. 0114 278 2000/mercure.com
There is no piece of advice we can give to stop a parent feeling anxious about their child leaving home but what we can say is we will take very good care of them. Don’t forget, we’re always only a phone call / email away! We wish you and your son / daughter all the very best in your new chapter.
The DIGs team.
Posted May 13th, 2010 by DIGS Admin. Filed in DIGS Student
Our Community.
You’ll not find anything like it anywhere else! With your mates living a mere hop skip and a jump away, loads of places for you to mingle and plenty of ways to share your (embarrassing) pictures of nights out, you won’t want to live anywhere else!
Our Customer Service.
We’re on hand 24/7 to listen, hand out advice and generally keep you company during your stay with us. You can contact us on site, through Facebook and Twitter or by phone if you need something sorting. We’re here to help!
Our Location.
All of our sites have great locations, whether that’s a 5 minute sleepy stroll to your uni or an adventure out to the surrounding beautiful countryside, you are never far away from where you want to be!
Our Facilities.
All our sites have fantastic facilities on offer for you to make the most of your stay. From gyms to bars, launderettes and shops. You’ll never be bored, smelly or hungry!
Our Rooms.
We know how much your room means to you. It’s your place after all! You’ll get an en-suite room, an array of pinboards to decorate as you wish and a lovely comfy bed to sleep on. You also get to use the lovely communal areas with your new (and old!) friends.
Our Security.
To make sure you’re always safe and taken care of we have full CCTV coverage (so make sure you’ve done your hair in the morning) and all rooms are secure. Our team are onsite 24 hours a day; including a full security team.
Our FREE Broadband.
That’s right; you’ll get free fibre optic broadband included in your room as standard! Or if 2mb really isn’t enough you can sign up for a quicker package for a small extra monthly charge.
Our Maintenance.
Unlike private landlords we have a full maintenance team onsite to help iron out any niggles there may be and to keep the site looking its best.
Our Resident Support Coordinators.
We recruit a team of senior residents to offer a support network to new students to make sure your first year away from home is fun and trouble free. They’ve done it all before so know the best places to be and what to avoid, tap them up for the insider knowledge!
Our Promise; Value for money.
With rooms starting from just £68.95 per week you won’t find better value for money. As an extra bonus you won’t get at a private house; we include everything from contents insurance to fibre optic broadband in our weekly rate so there are no hidden extras and no whopping surprise gas bills! Easy peasy!
Posted May 11th, 2010 by DIGS Admin. Filed in DIGS Student, Pavilions
Posted May 11th, 2010 by DIGS Admin. Filed in DIGS Student, Pinnacles
Back by popular demand, the highly successful Refer a Friend has made a welcomed comeback.
Know anyone who is still looking for somewhere to live next year? If you refer them to us and they sign up you will bag yourself a nifty £50… bargain!
Referring is dead easy, your friend simply needs to tell us they have been referred when they apply and we will do the rest!
This offer is only on between 1st May and 18th July, so get your skates on with the referrals… To book please visit The Pinnacles Student Accommodation website.
*** £50 referral fee is paid by cheque at the start of the tenancy, once the referred friend has moved in.
Posted May 11th, 2010 by DIGS Admin. Filed in DIGS Student
Wondering what to do with all your bits and bobs over the summer period? If you’re staying with us during the summer then it’s not something you have to worry about, but many of you will be going home for the holidays so you can catch up with your folks and friends.
If you’re unable to, or don’t want to take your possessions home over the summer then you’ll need some advice and ideas on what to do with them.
This handy website gives you all the info that you will need when it comes to storage. After all, you spent ages lovingly collecting all your bit and bobs. Why give them up now?!
We have teamed up with ‘Advanced Forwarding’ at our Lincoln and Sheffield sites, and you can check out their website direct here.
Staying in DIGS Student Accommodation over the summer holidays? You can get a discounted rent rate. Check with your accommodation office for details!
The DIGS Team.
Posted May 11th, 2010 by DIGS Admin. Filed in Ashenhurst, DIGS Student, Storthes Hall
A short while ago DIGS Student Accommodation teamed up with Up for it Kirklees to run a ‘Come Dine With Me’ competition for our students to cook a delicious, healthy and easy meal for their flat mates, with the possibility of winning £250!
The entries are in and judging can now commence! There has been some delicious looking food cooked over the last month, so check out the recipes and pictures below!
Selina.
Selina cooked a delicious 3 course Spanish inspired meal for her friends including Paella, Spanish Omlette and Croquetas.
Michaella.
Michaella cooked also cooked a delicious 3 course meal including a Tomato and Asparagus tart, a Spicy Pepper Meatball Pasta and a Strawberry and Chocolate Sundae. Yum yum!
Dan.
Dan made a delicious chilli salsa, and video’d his recipe!
Gary.
Gary made a delicious looking main of Chicken and Parma-ham parcels with Dauphinoise potatoes and roasted veggies.
Daniel.
Daniel made a lovely Honey-Mustard-Curry Roasted Chicken. Sounds interesting and that Chicken looks lovely and crispy!
Robbie.
Robbie decided to show his flatmates how delicious a traditional English Roast dinner with all the trimmings is!
Lukas.
Lukas made an interesting dish of Quark-Fruit Dumplings
Natalie.
Natalie cooked a lovely 3 course meal involving Stuffed Mushrooms, Steak and Tiramisu. Mmmmm!
Christian.
Christian cooked Wild Mushroom Pasta with Mascapone. DIGS is definitely stealing this recipe!
So who should win? We’ll be judging these entries next week to see who is deserving of the £250 cash prize. Let us know what you think in the comment section below!
DIGS Student Accommodation.
Posted May 10th, 2010 by DIGS Admin. Filed in Digs Reviews, DIGS Student
In all honesty, Ginger Snaps has to be one of the most underrated horror movies in existence. Ginger Snaps uses the transformation into a werewolf as a metaphor for puberty. When Brigitte’s sister Ginger gets attacked by a mysterious creature and starts to change into a werewolf, but all the adults around them think she is just experiencing puberty.
It has all the makings of an independent movie, the lack of CGI helps with that. But it’s the absence of the flashy computer trickery that makes it so different to other horror movies from the past 10 years. It has more charm than other recent offerings from the horror genre, even in spite of the hundreds of obscenities uttered throughout the course of the film.
The make-up and prosthetics are extremely well done when considering the budget. The werewolf at the beginning is very convincing and the small changes to Ginger’s face and body never look overly done or fake. In fact, Ginger looks a little scary and menacing in some later scenes.
Emily Perkins and Katharine Isabelle are both brilliant in their own ways as the sisters. Isabelle in particular shines as the titular character Ginger who’s personality changes incredibly rapidly and throughout. The two play sisters so convincingly that it’s a wonder why the two haven’t scored more starring roles since the movie’s release.
Although I’m yet to see the two sequels I’m pretty adamant that this would be hard to top. Congratulations to the makers on producing a decent, interesting horror movie.
Rating: ★★★★
This review was brought to you by Ryan one of our Storthes Hall Park residents and film review extraordinaire. You can check out his page here.
DIGS Student Accommodation.
