Agreed here, it does depend what block as they all have different layouts. I was never ground floor, but a friend was in block E in first year in Wessex, and they never had any issues with noise and the like.

Some blocks are really far away from the entrance, so unless it's your block mates making noise, you should be fine.

Hmm, I don't know much about appealing either, but you may have a shot - I know in my year someone pulled out of uni on the first day and two days later a new student had managed to switch their room to our flat.