Tartu College

God I hate this place. I’m only here because of a mix-​up with my university residence, as I’m an international student from the US. I couldn’t have picked a worse place to stay for my freshman year. One star because of location. Also because I couldn’t choose any less.
The first thing you notice about the building is that there’s this overwhelming smell of musk and rotten food — you never get used to it because of going to and from classes, so it’s always there to welcome you when you come «home.» It’s embarrassing to have anyone over, friends or family, because they always end up feeling terrible about the conditions I’m living in. I pity myself as well.
The appearance may not matter from the outside (it’s nothing but a huge block of beige on an otherwise lit-​up, busting street), so I don’t really care either way, but the inside of each of the rooms (excluding the climate-​controlled ones) remind me of a woodsy prison cell. Cozy. I may as well mention that if the locks don’t work, no one will come when you call. None of my suitemates’ (or my) pantry locks work. Reassuring.
When moving in, I mentioned that my suite door didn’t open properly, and stood there to see the employee shut the partition. Literally closed the little window right in front of my face. Wish I was joking. She helped eventually, albeit exasperated with my asking for help. The rental staff aren’t much better; everyone’s pretty sarcastic and frustrated with you as soon as you sign to move in, in all honesty.
However, I can say that the Master’s Restaurant employees are the sweetest people you’ll ever meet. They continue to motivate me to power through this utter disaster.
More notable things included the dirty, muddy water spurting out of the showerhead, leaving little soil deposits in its wake. My suitemate commented on the same thing coming up from the drain when she was showering as well. The sink makes gurgling and churning noises every hour or so. The mirror’s in a state of constant grimy disrepair and we’re not allowed to wash the curtains. The window opens 20º max and there’s an intercom that yells at you if you buy your own router. The lights flicker, the stove always has this burning-​plastic smell, and the bugs you find will be with you forever. It’s also $ 710 a month.
Good luck, man.

As I live here longer, I gradually find some significant drawbacks of this place:
1) the room temperature can be as high as 40 Celsius degree during summer time, despite the outside temperature is only about 25 – 28. The problem is caused by the thick double layer window and stagnancy of airflow. Especially for rooms facing south, the room is sweltering as hell after being toasted for a whole day. And the window can only be partially opened, which exacerbated the problem.
2) the rent goes up $ 30 per year. When I first came here in 2013, it was only $ 650, it accreted to $ 710 this year. I don’t know when this is gonna stop but I can’t imagine what would be left here if the only price advantages had gone.
But all in all, this is still a good place to live given the convenient location nearby the campus.

Just saw the price raise up again for a very tiny single room for $ 680… for sure not worth the price! I rented there 3 years ago and it was only $ 540 for a single room, great, 26% increase with no improvement. The office staffs can be very mean and the porter guys are creepy: S Also, be aware that the public garbage bin in the kitchen is not responsible by the cleaning staff… so if you or your suitmate don’t clean it out regularly, it will attract different kids of insect or mice… Worse thing can happen to you is that your suite mate is a trouble maker. Police was involved for one of my frd who lived here. Good luck with that!

There is nothing good about this place other than location. Even the price, which on the surface appears decent, is high when you realize all the problems that await within.
Our suite was badly infested with cockroaches. We typically saw five or six cockroaches hanging around the kitchen daily, usually in the garbage, sometimes just in random places on the floor or on the wall, occasionally inside the cupboards. Killing them does nothing, the infestation inside the walls must be bad because no matter how many we kill, they’re back again the next day.
Only two of the elevators work, and those two are pretty sketchy. They don’t seem to move in a logical pattern, and the weight limit alarm rings with just 4 – 5 people inside. It takes 15 minutes to walk to school, 5 minutes waiting for the elevator.
The space is fairly cramped inside as well, with only 1 bathroom, one room with only a shower, and one room with only a toilet. The kitchen is not nearly large enough for six people who cook. Some of the rooms are in a perpetual state of disrepair with random holes in the walls and broken racks in the bathrooms.