Studying in England?

Hey needy,
I can't say that I studied there, but certainly acquired an education while travelling around. But from what I saw, the market prices varied between London and the rest of England (i.e. London is the most expensive city I have ever seen.)
Things like travel depend on where you are and want to go. I could ramble on about the various modes and deals, but I suggest you look up counciltravel.com for the definitive and reliable information and some of the best deals. Their not doing any flight info right now, but they can tell you all about the busses and trains. They also set you up with every student discount you can find. You can get you ISIC card through them as well, that will save you a few bucks in alot of places.
Another avenue you might want to explore is the easyeverything company. I got a roundtrip plane ticket from London to Belfast for $20US on easyjet. They mean no frills though.
What are your plans... I am going to France next year and want to look into their med programs. Have you found any info about international programs???
If you have any other questions about traveling I would be glad to share my experiences.
-Doc

<img border="0" alt="[Wowie]" title="" src="graemlins/wowie.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[Pissy]" title="" src="graemlins/pissy.gif" /> I just had to try this, sorry

 

Well, hi there, I happen to be a student in the UK. To answer your questions:

The weather is mainly rain - as you'd expect. The westcountry (southwest - Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset etc) is warmest and wettest - and is also the main holiday destination. Snow is rare, but so is really hot weather! Scotland is the coldest, along with North England. The Southeast (which includes London, Cambridge and Oxford - just) is the hottest and dryest area of the UK, but there isn't actually that much difference.

London is by far and away the most expensive part to live in (most expensive city in Europe apparently) - rent there is double that elsewhere for a room/flat of half the size. Basically the further North or West you go, the cheaper it is.

As for travel in the UK - connections between Ireland and GB are best made by plane - companies like easyjet, go, bmibaby are the most likely to give you cheap tickets. Within GB, neither train or bus is great, but I much prefer trains - when they run. The railways are going thourgh a bit of a crisis at the moment, so trains running several hours late a pretty normal. Coach is awful (really cramped if you're 5'11"), but if you're going somewhere obscure they might be an idea. Get yourself an ISIC card (?6 -whatever that is in dollars) and then get a Young Person's Railcard (?18 - valid for a year). This gets you a 1/3 off most train tickets, and always book at least 2 weeks in advance otherwise your pocket will really feel it (for example, if I want to travel Plymouth to B'ham return (about 200 miles) and book 2 weeks in advance I pay ?10ish, but if I book the day before I pay ?100ish - big difference!).

Living all over varies so much - students sharing a student house normally pay about ?45-50 a week (except in London - about ?90/wk there). If you're renting on your own in professional acc the price rises quite dramatically.

As for studying in the UK, I've only got experience of Med Shool here (since this is my first degree), but I'm told (I don't know how accurate that is though!) that american degrees are a lot more structured than UK degrees with more timetabled teaching etc, so you might find it a little unstructured to begin with. As far as medicine is concerned, it's pretty much the most structured degree there is in the UK, but it varies between Universities.

England generally is quite an expensive place to live, especially if you want to run a car (easily the best way to get around) - petrol, insurance and tax all just keep on going up (I pay (approx!) ?180 tax/yr, ?500/yr insurance and a minimum of ?10/wk on petrol at about 78p a litre). Alcohol and Cigarettes also have a big markup on them, so buy them duty free (which you can do easily enough by crossing the France/UK border, esp if you're close to London).

Got to go do a presentation about Audit, so I'll stop there!

 

Hehe Need, I had the same "problem," much to the amusement of the natives and my American friends. For instance, I had to look up "wellies" on the internet to find out what wellington boots were like the kind that the raincoat paddington bear wears. I got teased a lot for that one. But you're gonna have so much fun, and you'll learn the slang in no time. The great thing is...you pick up something new every day! They have all different sorts of words for stuff...mongetou (spelling?) for snowpeas or something. But that's half the fun .

Although the UK isn't part of the Euro, if you want to travel to other countries, the Euro is gaining on the dollar...they're almost equivalent, which is a "damnit!" for us. Bring a lot of money . England isn't the cheapest place for living (schooling tuition is a lot cheaper than ours, but living and entertainment costs can be exorbitant). Like a starbucks frap in London costs about 4 pounds. Now, when I went a year ago...that was like 6 dollars which is double the price in the US! Luton will be a bit cheaper, but still not very favorable. Luton's about an hour from London by train, I think.

Good luck and have fun!

 

There is actually a book (published by Lonely Planet I think - I would provide a link but their site seems to have crashed) which translates UK english into American english. It also explains about different accents/dialects that you find throughout the UK!!