Bohemia Bunny

The real, uncensored Hall Guide Part 5

April 25th, 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: Roughly Hall!

A little bit of history:
Roughly Hall was in existence back in the Dunearn campus days. You
might recall them from the post on the old Yousucks college when the male residents from the all-male Roughly Hall launched an underwear raid on Yousucks College. They were considered one of the best halls on the new campus, because of their long reputation.

Roughly may seem to have no twin, but I believe the architecture is somewhat similar to that of the old Ken Rich Hall, now recycled as Ridge View. Same red-brick facade, and split-level arrangement.

Rooms:
Roughly has small rooms. The double room is possibly the smallest on campus, it’s only slightly larger than the Yousucks single room. Two beds are parallel to each other, so there’s no escaping from your roommate. Popular wisdom states that freshmen coming into Roughly Hall will get double rooms, unlike in other halls where a single-room option is available. So learn to get along. Join enough committees to earn yourself a single room as a second-year student. The single rooms are of average size, but the specialty of Roughly is the single-double room. Essentially a double room, but furnished for one person, this is the one that gives you most ‘possibilities’. Hide squatters in your room, host a party, whatever. They cost more than normal single rooms, however.

The layout of Roughly is unique in that it’s bloody confusing to an outsider. Unlike the other halls, blocks here are given numbers instead of letters. And they have 5 blocks, named Blocks 2 to 6. You can go and find Block 1 by yourself, if you can’t figure it out perhaps you shouldn’t be in university. The double rooms are the main backbone of the blocks, and unlike the other halls where corridors have rooms on both sides, the double rooms open out to a corridor with a view. Those living on the ground floor open their doors to a view of the garden/ open area. It makes for a more airy and bright atmosphere in other halls that have facing rooms. The single rooms are located on a split level between the levels of the double rooms. Corridors here are short and very dark. It makes for bad ventilation in the corridor itself, but room windows open to the outside anyway.

The hall itself is about 20 years old, and probably has not been upgraded in a long time. Cement floors are common, and you might even get to live in a room with tiles on the walls, which I suspect used to be a storeroom of sorts. Washing machines are in the bathrooms and I don’t think there are dryers. And no sheltered drying yard either.

Facilities: Roughly is located opposite the Yusof Ishak house, where there is a food court as well as Munchie Monkey and Genki Sushi. No cheap hawker food available, so residents take a loooong walk down Clementi Road, to Fong Seng. Roughly is located near the Sports and Recreation Centre, although not as near as Ridge View residences. On a totally unrelated note, they have a very posh and high-tech fishtank. Have fun spotting the little critters hiding in the plants. (The fish-tank caretaker has graciously mentioned me on the fishtank blog, found here so now you can have a look at their fishies too!)

There is a large plasma-screen TV in the dining hall, to make up for the fact that there are no other common areas with TVs. Unlike Yousucks, they do not have lounges complete with televisions. They do have a grand piano, which is banged on regularly (as in, people play it often, lar!) It’s slightly out of tune, but due to its location in a cosy nook, is probably a hub of socialising. (Thanks to Kelvin for reminding me.)

Location: Roughly is practically attached to the Engin faculty. The looming building of EW2 shadows the residential blocks, and University Hall where LT7 and 7A are located, is at the other end of the hall. Roughly is nestled in a little valley, so it’s an uphill job to get anywhere. Kuok Foundation house is also near Roughly, but it is a separate building.

Food: Roughly continues its tradition of teatime at 4pm or thereabouts. It is a big deal. People will stop chatting on MSN with the excuse “I’m going for tea.” It’s not just about the food, it’s one of the main social bonding rituals of Roughly. The food in general isn’t bad, and any caterer willing to supply teatime snacks gets an extra point in my book. (Someone just informed me that the food is notoriously bad. Oops.)

People: Lots and lots of Engin boys. It comes with the location. There are also significant numbers of Computing and Science students, since the faculties are just down the road (technically, up and down the road due to the hill). I don’t think there are many Arts people there, it just doesn’t make sense location-wise. Lots of foreign students as well, just like in other halls. Roughly used to be famous for being a ‘Law hall’ as they used to have many Law students. Their ex-Hall Master used to be the Dean of Law, if I’m not wrong. I think it’s on the wane, as Ken Rich is more appealing location-wise.

Potential: No Arts people (sigh) and lots of Engin people (oh dear). It doesn’t sound like they have much going for them, but that would be too mean to say. They do actually have some good lookers, you can visit their website and look at their pictures. Their Computer Committee has been very good about uploading pictures. I know at least one guy who should be voted ‘Eligible Bachelor’, he’s smart and talented on the guitar. Their sportsmen aren’t bad-looking either. Even if you’re not good-looking, don’t worry… neither are many others. I was shown this couple where the guy had been pursuing the girl for 3 years. She had never been seen to smile. Like that also can chase for 3 years! If it can happen for him (the girl was actually quite hot), it can happen for you. Just be prepared for the long haul.

Their sports teams are good, but not great, their cultural groups are good, with the exception of the rock band, which I must grudgingly acknowledge as the winner of the inter-college rock contest. Not famous for their dance, but their choir is very good, due to alumni coming back to help out. Another middle-of-the-road hall, with a few bright spots here and there. I have to commend them on hall spirit however. It is definitely very strong here, and they are really one of the most cohesive halls I’ve seen.

Nasty histories: Same old stuff from the old Dunearn campus, supplemented by an interesting story from a former resident and later Resident Fellow. Read it here and rejoice that you no longer have to resort to such means. Must have been fun for the Yousucks girls though, they would never want for dance partners.

A more recent story was related to me recently: At last year’s IHG, the touch rugby team conspired on one of their members, a popular Sri Lankan fellow. After the game, they (probably) taupoked him, and stripped him naked. On the field of the SRC. In full public view.

Wow.

The fellow (who, being a sportsman, was probably easy on the eyes) ran across the road to the toilets at the Science Faculty, causing stunned drivers to hit the brakes in utmost surprise. He became very, very famous after that, even getting fan mail from residents of other halls (or so I heard).

The tradition also goes that guys silly enough to reveal their birthdates to anyone are given a special gift on their special day… namely, a return to their birthday suit. (I don’t know if it’s the full monty, I think it’s just down to underwear. But you never know.) Girls celebrating their day have it better. They get to choose a guy to be their eye candy.

All this sounds like great fun! (I don’t guarantee that they are in fact true. It could just be rumours perpetuated through the ages.) But if you feel like taking your chances, you could do worse than Roughly Hall.

To be continued.