I first moved into student accommodation in Nottingham a year ago. I must admit it was a bit daunting at first. A few years back nottingham had a pretty bad reputation for violence in the city centre, and it seems most of the student facilities are central to the city. But Nottingham was still my first choice as it is a really respected university for the course I wanted to study. I have been living in halls for the first year which is really secure and with such a huge number of students there is always someone around even when you are making your way back from the bar late at night. After the first year we get booted out to fend for ourselves though so I need to find some private student accommodation to rent instead. I know my way around pretty well now though, and I have a group of friends I plan to share with so now is the time to start hunting for the perfect pad.There is an area called Lenton which seems like the best bet. This area has loads of older properties that have been converted especially to accommodate students. We are looking for a house with 4 bedrooms and a shared kitchen, bathroom and living room. This is pretty standard in this area so shouldn’t be too hard to come by. Most importantly we are close to the university, the city centre, plenty of bars and shops and the rent isn’t too ridiculous. Good thing about sharing is at least all the other bills like gas and electricity will be split four ways. At the weekend we are going to pop into a couple of letting agencies to see what they have to offer, apparently if you start looking early you can get the best properties at the best price and if you actually go into the office rather than just looking online you have stand a chance of bagging a place before it is even advertised so we are going to try that and see what happens.