Your friend has been offered a place on a course at the university where you studied. He/She would like your advice about finding a place to live. Write an email to your friend. In your email • describe where you lived when you were a student at the university • recommend the best way for him/her to look for accommodation warn him/her of mistakes students make when choosing accommodation.

Dear Mike, Congratulations! It's so delightful to see you fulfiling to see your dream of becoming an engineer at Cal State University. During my day at the campus, I stayed in the Clakson Hall on the 5th Avenue. Clakson is the oldest hall of residence affiliated to the university since its establishment in the 1950s. I hear it will be closing for maintainence next year, so they are not accepting any new residents now. However, I will share with you the approach I resorted to while looking for an accomodation 7 years back and that should set you up quickly. First and foremost, you should look for hostel counsellors to help you identify all the available places not only on the campus, but also around it. In my experience, this would be faster as compared to hiring a realtor because the university maintains a list of students' previous accomodations. You can find a counsellor in the Hostel Affairs office in the main building. In addition to this, I suggest that you take a couple of factors into consideration before making a decision. First, make sure that you do not end up living in an area where there's heavy traffic as this will affect your studies. Second, ask around about the meals plan. Some accomodations do not offer any flexibility with those; they demand a full year subscription prior to confirming your stay. I hope that this information will prove useful to you. I wish you the best for the future. Your friend, Akshay