I am an applicant to the UERM, and I'm reading this thread with great interest. For me, money issues are extremely important, but so is proximity to UERM (ideally, under 20 minutes walking). I don't care about no stinkin' laundry service, or room service. Nor do I care about "security" (I will bring nothing of exceptional value with me), type of neighbors (I currently sleep and study with neighbors blasting raggaeton all friggin night), and certainly don't need no view, no balcony, and no more space than a room, a bathroom, and a kitchen. How cheap can I go? What would be a reasonable local economy price for such a housing setup, within 20 minutes walk of UERM?
Hi Locutusof Berg,
Have you been thinking some more about Manila? Third world cities are not cheap places to live. Manila is an extremely large, loud, crowded, dirty metropolis. Millions of people are competing for an inadequate amount of decent housing.
Have you experienced third world cities before? Security is a GIGANTIC issue in Manila. "Exceptional value" means different thing to different people. You will have things of value. You will have $100's (US) of medical books. Maybe you can afford to lose them to some Shabu-smoking burglar, but can you afford to lose them twice...or ten times? Because that burglar is going to return (or his friends). As soon as he figures out that he has a foreigner living with no security, he'll be making regular visits about five minutes after you go to school every day.
You want to live under 20 minutes walking? Not bad. But under 10 would be better, and under 5 would be best. Walking thru hot, humid Manila in your lovely white uniform, carrying those big books, with the buses and jeepneys throwing clouds of desperately polluting smoke in your face is not something people do by choice.
People pay for security and people pay for convenience. And they pay for peace and quiet. They pay not to live beside the all-night videoke and Karaoke bars. Nice studio apartments in Manila are not cheap.
Sharing rooms in boarding houses is cheaper but it's not good value. Sometimes you may want a little peace and quiet. You may want to retreat home and just close the door. Life is not like that in boarding houses. Boarding houses are unlikely to suit someone who is culturally American. Privacy is lacking.
I'm not going to talk about the flooding, cos that has been mentioned by plenty of others. But I will say that flood-free this year doesn't necessarily mean flood free next year. New construction, roadworks etc, can change all the drainage in a neighborhood.
And laundry service is the way to go, unless you are really lucky and have one of the very few coin-operated laundries across the road from your place where you can chill as you watch ur clothes fluff in the drier. What's your other choice...laundry by hand...hmmm.
If Manila sounds too, well...uncomfortable, then you should re-consider the provincial schools. The schools in Cebu (the beach) or Angeles (much cheaper than Manila, and the school has lots of foreign students including Fil-Am and American) have plenty to offer.
Did you read Phlipsquad's post on 10/22? Filipino schools are a little different. Phlipsquad is a Fil-Am and even he sounds a little down. There's a big learning curve for foreigners learning a new system.
You sound gung-ho and up for the challenge. That's good. But you also need to make some good decisions based on good solid thinking.
And what was that in your very post about being non-competitive for stateside med schools? Why do you think that med school in the PI will make you competitive? Generally, good students do well in PI med schools, and poor students struggle.
It can be done. But it sounds like you may need a little more advice.
There was this one time in 2004, when we were junior interns, my roommate had to ride a small boat from the nearby street corner to our apartment because the streets were flooded. Your safest bet is to look for rooms/dorms on the opposite side of UE or Robbinsdale. Traffic can be worse in the surrounding areas like San Juan, Araneta Ave, R.Magsaysay Blvd, especially after a heavy downpour.
