LSE Halls Life

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Organising your move-in day

Student blogger Alan

Posted 3 hours ago

Wed 05 Aug, 2026 12:08 AM

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How to guarantee a stress-free first day in halls

Here you are, tickets booked, mostly packed, ready to start an important new step in your life at LSE. And you’re also moving into a hall, where you will get to make so many new friends. How exciting!!

Now, you actually have to go through the move-in process. Fear not! When you’re living in halls, the Residence Life teams work hard to make sure the process is as smooth as possible. Here are a few tips to approach your move-in day calmly. No stress, and minimal exhaustion, I promise.

Check your move-in day 🧳

Different LSE (or intercollegiate) Halls have different move-in dates, so be sure to check when yours is before you book your tickets, so that you can organise an early move-in if necessary. The actual move-in day is going to be hectic, with loads of people bringing their stuff in, but it’s also a great day to meet your flatmates and the people on your floor, as well as the nice Halls Life team who are going to organise events in your hall throughout the year. So even if you’ve already moved in, it’s a good idea to be around on the actual move-in day.

Come early, and get your documents ready

a group of people standing next to a suitcase

After completing your induction online, you will be asked to select a time slot to check in at the desk. My personal strategy was to pick the earliest time available, so that I had the whole day to unpack and get settled. Don’t forget to book your time slot, as this ensures the administrative bits of the process are smooth and quick for everyone.

When you’re done with the online induction process, check the ‘My Accomodation’ portal a few days before getting to London, as you will be provided with a Key Collection Pass. The team at the reception desk may ask you for it when you check in. Be sure to have it on hand when you get to reception, to make the key collection process smoother. You will be given a checklist of the documents you need to bring to reception after you do your induction.

Actually collecting your keys is super easy, especially if you get there earlier in the day - I didn’t queue at all to collect my own key. And you even get some Halls merch!

Once you’ve got the key, it’s time for the most exciting bit of the day: seeing your room for the first time. Don’t hesitate to ask someone at the desk if you need help getting there - the Halls Life team will be wearing polo shirts so that you can recognise them easily if you need it.

Now’s the time to actually move in!

Once you get to your room, you can take a picture of the way it looks before you install your stuff - it will be very nostalgic to take the same picture on move-out day, trust me. You can also take pictures of any damage in your room, as it could prove useful when you move out.

Then, you can get to unpacking! Do the essential stuff first, you can think about decorating the walls after you have put your clothes in the closet and made your bed. The task can be a bit overwhelming when you’re faced with an empty room, but once you’re done, it will immediately feel amazing. You can also borrow a trolley from reception if you need to move heavier stuff.

If you still have energy after unpacking the essential stuff, you can then start decorating, to make your room feel like home!

Now, you’re probably planning on buying things here. When I moved in, I didn’t have any pots and pans or other kitchen stuff. Once you’re a little bit more settled, figure out where you can buy the things you will need. If you’re looking for cheaper options, look into a big box store like Asda or Tesco, they will often have a variety of kitchen essentials and bedding. You can also always go to Ikea or Argos.

My personal advice would be to avoid ordering the things you need, and to instead go to a store so that you can have access to them as quickly as possible without having to wait for a delivery. But if you can’t be bothered (which I understand - moving in is exhausting already), ordering is a good way to get familiar with the way your hall handles parcels. Be advised that in most cases, halls cannot keep parcels for you before their move-in date, so you might have to wait until you are here to order things.

Explore the residence and mingle

Now, the fun part! Unpacking your life to put it in a tiny hall room will probably have been kind of exhausting, so you can unwind by figuring out where everything is in the residence. It will be all decorated for move-in day, and there will be loads of things happening, like stalls to get some snacks, some essential info, and meet Halls Life staff and other people in the hall.

You can start to find out about the events calendar for September, which is the month of the year with the most things happening. So if (like me…) you are too tired from moving in to truly meet people on move-in day, you will have plenty of other opportunities over the following weeks!

a group of people standing in front of a building

Mingling on move-in day can also look like hanging out in your flat common area, unpacking your stuff, and starting up a conversation with your new flatmates when they come in. Now’s a perfect time to get to know them. You will have plenty of time over the coming days to figure out how to organise your shared space, but on move in-day, you will probably all have a few ideas of things you want to do in the flat during the year (like flat parties or potluck meals...). Feel free to get excited about them!