Erasmus Experience in Liverpool, United Kingdom by Nina

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Why did you choose to go to Liverpool, United Kingdom?

To be truly honest, my first choice was to go to Ireland but the city that was suggested was really expensive. I chose Liverpool as my second choice because it was cheaper than most British or Irish cities, for its cultural heritage (The Beatles, close relations with Ireland), and just like my hometown it's a seaside city.

How long is the scholarship? How much money do you receive to help you with living costs?

You can chose one semester or two, so basically 4 months or 10. If coming from France you can either have a scholarship from the State (CROUS) or benefit from the Erasmus scholarship which everybody can ask for without any regards to your parents' income.

What is the student lifestyle like in Liverpool?

Liverpool has a gigantic student community, people coming from all over the world and from all over the UK. The University of Liverpool has the most partnerships with overseas Universities. There are a lot of social events, lot of parties, bars and clubs to go to.

Would you recommend the city and the University of Liverpool to other students?

Definitely, the city if worth seeing, nice architecture, good bus distribution and as mentioned earlier a lot of students, so a ton of new people to meet! The University takes great care of its international students, there is a Welcome Week with a lot of events, conferences, gifts, advisors etc.

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What is the food like?

I am not a fan of British food. Traditional English breakfast is a "must have" as well as the fish and chips but in terms of vegetables and fruits you can feel that most of it needs to be imported from outside the UK so the quality is not great. Plus a lot of supermarkets are really expensive so you'll end up doing your groceries at Lidl or Aldi.

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Did it cost you to find your accommodation in Liverpool?

It did not cost me to find an accommodation but an important thing to know is that there are more accommodations in Liverpool than students. So it is worth waiting to be in the city, stay in an hostel and visit the accommodation. Do not book a room from your home country, landlords do not care very much and you could end up like me living in a house with mice. Hopefully I was able to move out and find a nice accommodation, very clean, new and close to the University. Remember there are a lot of accommodations in Liverpool so just take the time to visit them.

How much does it cost to live in Liverpool?

Life is really expensive (food, bus, drinks... ), especially coming from a European country because the English pound (£) is stronger than the euro. It can change but as I am writing this £1 is worth 1, 50 euro, and if you are not careful when you buy something you can end up spending a lot of money. It is important to always calculate how much an item in pound costs in euro.

Is the language easy to get to grips with? Are there language courses available at the University?

There are language courses available for international students. If you meet someone from Liverpool you might not understand a word at first, the accent here is really strong and is known to be unintelligible. But do not fear, you will get use to it and you will improve very fast. And an upside is that because a lot of British students leave their home town for their studies you will meet a lot of people with an intelligible English.

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What's the easiest or most economical way to travel inside the Liverpool's city?

By foot of course. You can also rent or buy a bike (renting is really cheap with the city-bikes and buying one is also cheap because a lot of international students buy one for a year and sell it at a very low price). I would not recommend a bike because around November it starts to rain frequently. The bus is quite expensive, a bus pass for 4 weeks (including late evenings and week-ends) costs £58. If you want to come home after a wild night in town you can also call a taxi, and only call Delta taxi because it is the cheapest company in Liverpool.

Where would you recommend to go on a night out in Liverpool?

I think the street where most of the bars and clubs of Liverpool is Wood Street. There is a tequila bar, rock'n'roll clubs, night club. Basically anywhere in the city center you can easily find clubs, bars and pubs.

And for eating? Can you recommend some good restaurants in Liverpool?

Ziferblat! It is a café where you only pay the time you spend in it. It is 0. 6£ a minute. There are games, newspapers, Wi-Fi, food, you only pay when you exit and the ambiance is delightful!

What good cultural sites are there to visit?

Albert Docks is a really neat spot in Liverpool, lot of touristic shops, museums and Ziferblat a nice café. City center is really great, even in daytime. Grand Central is a shop than deserves to be seen. You can also go up the Radio City tower for £4 if you are a student and have a panoramic view of the city. There is the Anglican church, one of the tallest in Europe, and the big white Catholic church right next to the campus of University of Liverpool that is worth to see.

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Is there any other advice that you could give to students going to Liverpool in the future?

Be prepared for the weather if like me you come from a warm and sunny city, it is not terrible but it can get really cold and it rains at least once a day when you enter the cold months. Don't be afraid to bring warm clothes (wool is great). People are really nice, if you are lost with a map in the city chances are someone is going to help you very quickly. The accent is awful but they are patient with international students, probably because we are so many! Life is expensive so you need to have some money saved before coming here in order to enjoy your student life, eat well and not be ni debt.