After fourteen months of living in the University of Tartu dormitories, I am now confident to write about my own experience living in one of them, Raatuse 22.
Raatuse 22 is one of the most essential international dorms. It is only 10 minutes from the University of Tartu’s main building. Raatuse is notorious for being the “party dorm,” but in my experience, it is not always like this.
Raatuse is very new compared to the other international dormitories. It was built only 5 or 6 years ago. Raatuse consists of six floors, three staircases, and only one elevator, which (usually) works!
I am not quite sure about the number of apartments on each floor, probably about 20. Essentially, Raatuse has a lot of capacity, which is presumably why it has garnered more attention than other dorms. It also has multiple rooms for students with disabilities on the first floor. They can also use the parking side’s electronic door to enter the building easily.
In Raatuse, every apartment has three rooms, and each room can have a maximum of two inhabitants. You can have the whole room to yourself by paying double the price. So with a little bit of mathematics, you realize you can have a minimum of 3 to a maximum of 6 people in every apartment.
Comparing Raatuse 22 with Narva 25 or 27, Raatuse has a larger common area and a larger kitchen. In Raatuse, toilets and showers are separated and the Narvas(the other student dorms) have the toilets and showers connected. On the other hand, the Narva dorms only have two rooms in every apartment, and their rooms are a little bit bigger.
Raatuse is in an excellent location. Two grocery stores (Selver and Coop) are just a few minutes away. If you walk an extra five minutes, you can find yourself in Tasku with its large Rimi store and somewhat better prices.
Tartu Bus station is nearby and can easily connect you to the other cities.
Raatuse has 24/7 reception available. if you have any problem, you can ask them anytime.
You can also use laundry for free with the price you pay for your rent and utilities. All you need is to have your own washing powder and detergents. With your key, you can only have access to your own floor. However, you can still open the communal door of parking, laundry, and the main entrance.
Table tennis is available in the common areas for students and they gather together to play and chat. I have seen many students do their team work together. It is a very communication-friendly area.
Another good thing about Raatuse is the PrintinCity system. You can print your documents at any time you want, simply at Raatuse.
Do you like riding a bike? There is a dock down the building where you can find city bikes with your Tartu Card. Do you want to ride a scooter? Bolt Scooters are usually available around Raatuse; other students mainly leave them there. Do you own a bike or a scooter? There is a huge, covered area where you can leave your bicycle or scooter. The way to get there is with your own key, which is free.
There is a massive parking area available for your car, which you need to pay for, but it is still perfect that we have it.
There are different trash bins on the parking side of Raatuse. Estonians care greatly about nature, and they separate their trash. Since we are in their country, we must respect their rules too. All you need to do is to place different trash bins in the house—one for packaging, one for biodegradables, one for paper, and one for other household things.
We also have another area to keep our cans and bottles to recycle later and make money out of them. Yes, by recycling any of your bottles with the recycle sign in the nearest grocery store, you can receive 0.10 cents for each.
One good thing is that other students left many things in the dorm, which makes you spend less money on your stay here. For instance, we had an oven and an extra fridge, which considerably helped us.
On a sad note, you can not keep pets in Raatuse. I personally wish I could smuggle a cat inside but of course, sharing a flat with five more people is making it impossible now. It is essential to mention that you need to pay a fine if you smuggle any pet into the dorms!
You will understand these things as soon as you are here. The rest of this blog is about what I did to make my stay here more comfortable. I hope knowing these keynotes will also help you have a better stay.
- Here is an international dormitory, and we come from different countries and backgrounds. But all we should have in common is to stay clean under any circumstances! Being clean is a good thing. It really shows your character to others, so stay clean!!
- Do not make loud noise after midnight; others deserve to have a nice sleep.
- It only takes 2-3 minutes to wash your dishes, don’t leave them in the sink.
- Please do not destroy or damage anything; let it stay nice and tidy for future students.
- Smoking in the rooms is prohibited. Every room has a good smoke detector. What is not good is that it is very sensitive, even to my humidifier!
- With your roommates, decide on allocating some money each month for buying everyday things such as toilet paper, paper towels, and other necessary items.
- Decide on having weekly cleaning with your roommates and assign tasks.
- Do you want to have a party or a gathering? Make sure that your other roommates know about it. This is not fair that someone wants to study or sleep while others are loud and partying.
- If something is not working in the dorm, report this problem on campus.ee
- If you have a problem with someone, speak with them. Sometimes people don’t know that what they are doing is wrong or makes others uncomfortable
Last but not least, in case you want to see more of Raatuse 22, you can check out our video here: Dormitory Tour | The University of Tartu Campus Tour
Have a great stay in Raatuse 22!
