Bohemia Bunny

The real, uncensored Hall Guide Part 2

March 28th, 2005 by lynnylchan under Blogroll

If you are searching for information on: Eusoff, Temasek, Kent Ridge, Sheares, Raffles, King Edward VII - you’re in the right place!

The next up for inspection: TMS Hall!

A little bit of history:
Hah! Apparently TMS only came into being when Noose moved to the Kent Ridge campus. So unlike Yousucks, it doesn’t have a history dating back generations. But I guess its name carries enough clout that it doesn’t need a history.

TMS is twins with Yousucks Hall, because they have the same layout and same room size.

ROOMS: Room size is the same as Yousucks, largest on campus, etc etc. Where it differs from its twin is in the facade. While Yousucks has a lovely red-brick facade (and red tiles and red roofs), TMS has boring white walls and grey doors. I personally think it looks like a prison, because the colours are so utilitarian. You can pretend it’s cool and minimalist - whatever floats your boat. Shoe racks are provided outside the door of each room - they’re metal and bolted to the wall. Yousucks doesn’t have shoe racks, the residents buy their own. For some odd reason, TMS residents aren’t allowed to stick things (posters, doortags, signs) on the wall outside their room. So while Yousucks’ walls are covered in doortags that proclaim one’s membership in a committee, TMS residents have to be content with sticking it on their door. I feel it’s a bad idea to limit the space because cheerful, colourful doortags would really liven up the atmosphere. But alas, due to the fact that their walls are painted, such decorations are deemed harmful to the paintwork.

FACILITIES: TMS residents must either walk out on the campus roads, or take the ‘drain-way’ to the bus terminal. It’s a bit precarious, walking beside the monsoon drain, because it’s very narrow at some parts. But that doesn’t stop them from using it all the time to get to the 24-hour food stalls. It just means that they walk past Yousucks, chattering at 1 am in the morning. If I had a Super Soaker and the guts to use it, I could start an Inter-Hall war.

TMS has rooftop spaces, whereas Yousucks has none. The reason for this is that the Resident Fellows (RFs) of Yousucks (who are lecturers and professors) live in little houses attached to the hostel building. These little houses are really charming, they have brown picket fences and a yard. They really look like cottages, only that they’re incongrously attached to a student residence. And as befitting cottages, they have normal sloping, tiled roofs. TMS RFs, however, live in what I can only describe as apartments, also attached to the main building. No picket fence, and no sloping roof. In fact, as the RF apartments are on the ground floor, the roof of the RF’s house becomes an open area for the people upstairs. Hence TMS has rooftop spaces, only it’s the students using the RF’s rooftop. I’m not entirely sure about the viability of this arrangement. For the sake of the RF’s sanity, I hope they have rules regulating the usage of this space. I know I wouldn’t like excited undergraduates jumping on my roof in the middle of the night.

LOCATION: TMS is located near the Arts faculty and Law faculty. It’s nearer to the Law faculty than to the rest of the Arts faculty, as it’s located directly opposite the Guild House which is the landmark to turn in to the Law faculty. It’s probably not a good idea to walk to Engineering from TMS, but I wouldn’t pretend to know what’s good for you. Shuttle bus services are available, as usual.

FOOD: I have no idea how good the caterer is, but their residents don’t look emaciated so it’s probably all right. Food stalls are outside but to get there, TMS people must first traverse the enemy territory of Yousucks. Some of them bravely enter the Yousucks corridors as it’s easier to walk through, but the gauntlet of hostile looks are sure to cow the faint-hearted. And Yousucks isn’t hostile to them because of rivalry, it’s hostile because TMS residents that walk through the corridors usually walk in a large and noisy group. How would you like it if a bunch of uninvited guests stomped through your house while you were trying to study, eh?

PEOPLE: Personally, I haven’t seen anyone worth noticing, but I don’t usually bother to look very hard. TMS is noted for its sporting prowess, so girls who love basketballers, soccer players and swimmers will find this a happy hunting ground. Boys aren’t excluded, although Yousucks, and not TMS, is the defending female champion, if that sort of thing matters to you. The usual Arts people are around, but I suspect TMS may actually have more Engin students because the place is just way too quiet at night. I wouldn’t be surprised to find Law people there as well, because of the proximity to the faculty.

POTENTIAL: Well, seeing how there’s a Yousucks boy dating a TMS girl, I’d say inter-hall relationships are also quite common. In fact, for them it’s quite a plum deal. They’re near enough to visit any time they like, but still maintain their independence by living in different halls. And the girl always comes over to discuss homework with others from her faculty. (No, really doing homework this time.) So if you find the people in your hall not to your liking, find out who among your coursemates lives nearby. What’s more, they may have better-looking people than your own hall.

NASTY HISTORIES: I haven’t heard any stories, which is quite sad. Perhaps the residents just like to keep things hush-hush. Certainly everything looks very prim and proper. No male shoes outside female rooms and suchlike. Perhaps the clean white walls encourage purity of the mind and heart. Certainly they don’t seem to have a reputation for, er, extracurricular activities.

Since I have no dirt to dish on them, I’ll just expound at length about their ‘culture’. I don’t know what their hall creed is, I don’t know what their cheer is, all I know is that somehow they wrested the ‘Best Float’ prize from the Yousucks Rag team. And that they beat Yousucks in the Inter-Hall games, again. So if you’re into sports, or perhaps building floats out of recycled materials, you might like to consider them. Just remember that I warned you about the decorating scheme.

To be continued.

p/s: I want to take the opportunity to apologise to those who have detected a paucity of gossip in the later parts. Yousucks was very comprehensive because I live there. But as I lack a true gossip network in other halls, it is hard to find truly juicy stuff. Also most of the content from the Yousucks post is applicable to other halls and I dislike repeating myself.