Erasmus in Wolverhampton

(Wolverhampton)

I went in Erasmus in September 2008 in England in a city whose name is Wolverhampton.

It is an international city since its life is mainly constituted by firms and students, especially foreign ones.

Regarding the city, it is placed in the West Midlands zone and, along with Birmingham, which is 20 minutes far from it by train, is the second most populated area in England.

It seems a tiny town but people who live here are almost 250. 000.

The city centre is not so big but you can find it interesting anyway. Lots of shops, the Wulfrun Mander shopping centre and, obviously, pubs that cannot be missed, some of them such as: The Royal London or The Hogs Head are truly well-famous.

There are even some places in which you can either just drink or even dance (Yates or Walkabout for instance). That was new stuff for me as in Italy it is so tough to find 'half-ways' places like these ones.

The Oceana is the most well-known disco. Here you can go for all the parties you can imagine, especially university ones!

Then there is a special party that university students usually do: the "pub crawl" (I do hope you know what I am speaking about) which is so common among English students. Since the city centre is small you can see from your house windows the teams engaged in the challenge passing from one street to another more and more times singing and having fun. Amazing!

Wolverhampton can offer to you everything depending on your preferences: do you love culture? Here you have The Wolverhampton Art Gallery; do you love sports? Here you have a fantastic swimming pool (a little far from the city centre but well linked with public buses) and you can see the Wolverhampton Wanderers (the city's football team) live on Molineux Stadium that is situated exactly 100 meters from university rooms and ASDA supermarket (all the students go there to make shopping).

I will not write here how is weather since I do really believe you already know how many rainy days there are in a normal month in almost all the English cities. The only thing you have to know if you want to go here, there is often wind and sometimes it is very strong.

By the way, on the time of my Erasmus stay I was so lucky since I faced less rain than what I expected.

If you want some info about accommodation in Wolverhampton you can ask for a room in Britannia Hotel: they are not so expensive (you can spend 30 £ per night meals included).

You can even ask to University as they offer available places to foreign in university campus.

If your stay is going to be longer then you can rent a room in the area behind ASDA (especially Allen Road): you can find it for 250 £ per month and you may even contract a half month renting.

Wolverhampton is a good place for who wants to go there to try a special experience as Erasmus.

Since the massive presence of international students, as I said above, you can find friends neither English or not. If you want an example during my six months stay I had friends from Spain, France, Germany, Holland, India, Cyprus, Poland, Russia, etc...

A peculiar curiosity is that in the city you will find a lot of students who come from Cyprus and Greece as their universities have many conventions with Wolverhampton one.

You have all the things you need to live a real student life in Wolverhampton and if you are a traveler you are plenty of places to discover: the so close Bridgnorth with his amazing and breathtaking landscape (here you can even visit, and taking, the first steam train that was built here), the second biggest UK's city Birmingham with the crowded New Street, perfect for who loves shopping, the National Museum, the wonderful Victoria Square, the Aquarium and all the attractions that B'ham (short name which you can find especially in motorway since the full name is too long to write on signs) has got.

Wolverhampton is close to Manchester, Liverpool too: they are around one hour far by train from it.

On the other hand, to go to London the travel is a little bit longer: 2/2, 5 hours by train and 3 hours by coach.

Speaking about coaches, if you want to visit some places you can use them since sometimes they are cheaper than trains.

Eventually, you do not have to forget that Birmingham International Airport is just 30 minutes far by train from Wolverhampton and the other ones such as Manchester, Liverpool and East Midlands Airport are just 1/1, 5 hours far from it.

Finally, I do truly believe that living Erasmus in the full joy that it brings depends from each person and for this reason all the places may are apt for this enterprise but Wolverhampton can rank itself in the first ones where having a perfect Erasmus experience. It is not a big city but it is perfectly right for a student and it has even the ability to steal your heart as it has already done with me as I came back here for a working period after my graduation and not just for this... and I would do those six months again and again and again!

Wolverhampton, the good place for unforgettable times!