I prefer to live in an apartment because it is self contained 
Yes, that is true I like self contained apartments too
Depending on where you stay they can call an apartment a  flat complex, a tower-block, a high rise that is if there are alot of units in it
I presently stay in a 3 bedroom flat but I lived in a self contained apartment before moving here
I stay in Scotland we call it flats 
We call apartment in high rise condos in Canada and the U.S
in North America (although in some cities "flat" is used for a unit which is part of a house containing two or three units, typically one to a floor). In the UK, the term apartment is more usual in professional real estate and architectural circles where otherwise the term "flat" is used commonly, but not exclusively, for an apartment on a single level (hence a 'flat' apartment).
In some countries the word "unit" is a more general term referring to both
layouts.
An apartment (in American English) or a flat (in British English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies only part of a building. Such a building may be called an "apartment building", "apartment house" (in American English), "block of flats", "tower block", "high-rise" or, occasionally "mansion block" (in British English), especially if it consists of many apartments for