Erasmus Experience in London, United Kingdom by Marieke

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

It is an amazingly lively city with a great atmosphere, and it is close to the Netherlands, where I'm from.

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

4 months, I receive 367 euros per month from Erasmus to help me with living costs, but apart from that I also take a maximum loan from DUO, which is about 870 euros per month and my parents help me out with about 300 to 400 per month.

What is the student lifestyle like in London?

I do not have any Erasmus friends at my university (UCL) unfortunately, but there are lots of things to do for students, like activities in the evening and parties. These are everywhere. No need to feel bored here!

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

I definitely would! It is amazing, I never want to leave again. Very lively, people are well-behaved, the sun is shining more often than you'd think, lots of free activities, amazing architecture, free museums, all the shops you could wish for, etc.

What is the food like?

It depends, there is a lot of fast food in this city of course, and lots of people also rely on ready-meals from the supermarket, as they do not have a lot of time. These ready meals are great though. But if you want to eat out, it's almost always best to go to a pub and get a burger and fries, or a real British pie. These last ones are especially great. And at least try English breakfast once! The British are not known for their cooking skills, but these things they do great.

How much did it cost you to find your accommodation in London?

It was pretty hard to find an accommodation here, because if you try the official university websites like housing.co.uk, it's really expensive, too expensive for me, but if you try sites like Gumtree and Spareroom, there are a lot of scams.

So it was hard, but keep trying and remember that prices that seem to good to be true, they usually are not real. Right now, I'm living for 650 pounds per month, and that is definitely what you should count on, or more, if you want to live in a nice or safe neighbourhood. If that's less important to you, you should still count on 600 pounds per month, or more.

How much does it cost to live in London?

So far my monthly costs are between 1600 and 1800 euros per month. This includes rent, travel costs (monthly Oyster card and also one trip per month to the Netherlands), food and fun.

What's the easiest or most economical way to travel to London from your city?

By plane, it's more expensive than taking the bus but sometimes not even that much, and you save a lot of time. Flying takes about 1. 15 hours and the bus takes 10.

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

Soho, West End, Notting Hill Arts Club.

What good cultural sites are there to visit?

Too many! But from the top of my head: Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, London Bridge, Chinatown, Notting Hill, Kensington, Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus, and much more.

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

Remember that this city is really expensive, probably everything costs twice what it costs at home. And beware of scams when looking for a room. But don't let this ruin your experience, because it is totally worth it.

Furthermore, I have some more important advise about finding an accommodation. First of all, make sure you go to viewings in person, don't do it over the internet. If you don't have money to stay in a hotel while doing this, try one of the YHA hostels, these are very friendly and good, and not that expensive.

Secondly, if you're looking for a place it can be hard to know where to look, because there are so many neighbourhoods here, but basically it's like this: above the river is better than below, and west is better than east (below as well as above). However, there are exceptions of course.