Lachlan's Hostel Reviews #1: The Nunnery

What is goin ON my little cuties, welcome to another EPIC blog update.

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Anyways who's even here for updates when you could be here for HOSTEL REVIEWS!!! Let's start with the hostel I started in:

The Nunnery

At first my thoughts were kind of negative towards the Nunnery. I had never stayed in a hostel before, let alone solo travelled, so compared to the luxury that is living in my own little space decked out just the way I like it, it was a bit of a shock to the system. I didn't know how the kitchen worked, I didn't know the city at all, I didn't know anyone, and it was freaky and scary and uncomfortable. But, the longer I stayed there, like any place, the positives showed up more and more and the negatives started to fade into the background.

The Building
The building was old, plain and simple. It's advertised on their website, it looks old in the photos and it feels even older. It feels a lot like an old sanitarium in a bad way (which I kinda think it is??? Apparently it was an xray lab way back in the day idk how much actual doctoring went on though) what with the tiling and old wallpaper and windows with bars on them. The building is, however, quite clean! Especially the common areas and bathrooms, the housekeeping staff do a phenomenal job keeping everything clean and tidy. Unfortunately a lot of the hallways are also outside, so in the downpour of rain that happened when I arrived, water got tracked EVERYWHERE, and it kept the place damp and cold and nasty. Of course in the heat it was wonderful, but I won't forget being cold and wet and miserable at the start. Overall I'd rate the building a 6/10, it gets the job done and is generally pretty liveable, but the dampness and oldness really bring it down some points.

The Facilities
Facilities were pretty good, everything you'd realistically want: a common area, a cheap washer/dryer, a kitchen, enough toilets/showers so you were never REALLY waiting for one. All of these, once again, got the job done, but all were realistically in need of some work. The common area was a perfect size, just it being right at the front of the building means it was pretty cold and wet most of the time. The kitchen was genuinely pretty nice once you got used to its quirks (like any kitchen), just for the amount of people trying to cook at once it could probably be optimized . The bathrooms are where I have my real gripes. I know I just praised them for being clean, which they were, but the layouts were not good at all. All the bathrooms had virtually no space to place any of your toiletries, so you just had to balance them on whatever you could, be it the tiny sinks, the paper towel dispensers, or if you were lucky the windowsill. The showers were also all pretty bad, with once again almost no space to put your toiletries unless you were creative, and one of them just straight up didn't have a curtain or door or anything so you'd get a lovely draft through the window to chill you while you shower. It was, like I said good enough, so the facilities will get a 7/10. The bathrooms definitely drag it down but everything else was quite nice, thank you The Nunnery :)

The Rooms
Like everything else so far, the room I stayed in was just pretty okay. They were carpeted which I thought was GROSS, like it'd be fine if this was my private home where I know the carpets are clean, but this is a hostel where I did not once see someone come in and vaccuum them, so I was not a fan of being careful not to touch the unknown hazards within the carpet with my bare piggies. That's really my only gripe with the room though! It was nice and spacious, the beds were big enough to accommodate me and were relatively comfortable, and they even provided lockers to lock up your valuables! (not that I ever used them but whatever ahaha) But yes, rooms overall I'd give a 6 out of 10, they were pretty quiet and dark and comfy enough, but man that carpet is NASTY, I can't get over how gross walking on it was.

The People
For the most part, everyone staying at the hostel was really nice! When arriving, aside from a couple people who were also new and didn't know too many people, everyone was generally polite but not very accommodating, having already established little groups they were familiar with and unwanting to add any weirdo Canadians to the mix. I feel like, barring my first interaction with Pato, I was the one initiating/inviting myself into different conversations, which is fine for a while, but it gets really exhausting trying to make people open up to you enough to even consider making you their friend. Meeting the right people is everything though it seems, because I met quite a few people who were also really nice and didn't mind me barging in to their friendgroup, thank you guys :) I'd probably give the clientel a 7/10, this is 1000000% just my feelings about it, I know I'm not the most socially aware person so someone else might have had a way different experience than I did. I think it'd be best to stay here for a while to really get to know everyone as there seems to be a lot of long-termers.

OVERALL:
Overall, I'd give the Nunnery a 6.5 out of 10, it's a pretty okay hostel and for the ones I've stayed at in Melbourne so far, I'd definitely recommend it. The price is right for this place, if you're ever in the Melbourne area and want to spend just a couple nights or even a long while.


UH OH PERSONAL SUBJECT TIME WATCH OUT AHAHA

Before I close out for tonight, I once again want to bring up the feelings of alienation I've been feeling. I'm no stranger to feeling like I don't fit in (honestly this whole problem could 100% just be in my head which would make so much sense holy crap), but this is definintely the most out of place I've felt in a LONG time. A lot of the people in the hostels I've been staying at seem like they're on way different wavelengths from me, in terms of conversation and life paths or whatever. It turns out that there are NOT a lot of nerds who actually want to leave their houses and travel to cool new places, and instead most of the people staying at hostels are all about their travel life and are mostly interested in travel, drinking and partying, which is totally FAIR, I do enjoy the occasional drinking and partying, I just feel so fucking out of place man like these people have NO other hobbies I can connect to them with aside from the previous surface level shit. Like, I genuinely feel defective sometimes, like I just don't have the right brain chemistry to thrive in this kind of environment, and it makes me feel upset and jealous. I feel like such a little freak sometimes in the WORST way, the one that no one wants to interact with instead of the fun one people actually want to be around. Once again, I want to re-iterate, that this could 1000000% just be me catastrophizing the worst possible shit in my head, but who knows

ALRIGHT ENOUGH OF THAT DUMB EMOTIONAL SHIT, I am DONE typing words on this keyboard, I'm gonna go frickin SLEEP. Please have a lovely morning/day/night, and I will write a new update probably even SLOWER next time ahahAHAHAHA.

Okay ily bye bye everyone

~Lachlan