Freshers’ Guide: 5 Tips You Need to Know
So you’ve been accepted and you’re trying to figure out what’s next before moving to London?
Here are five things that you may want to consider doing prior to the first day at the college, especially if you are an international student.
How to stay online
Unless you want to get lost in the middle of nowhere in London, you need to ensure to have a sufficient amount of data on your phone and have a portable battery in your bag before leaving the house. To get an UK number, head to O2 to get yourself a sim card and a portable battery. This will save your life many times because London is a big city and who knows what might happen the minute you get lost somewhere under the Thames.
To get the best deal, go check giffgaff.com as you will find the most reasonable plan for texts and data.
Where to live
If you have not lived in London before, finding the right place to live can be a massive headache. Before heading to housing agencies, do check out rightmove.com. This website will give you an overall idea about what types of property you want to live in and how the prices range in different areas in London. Plus, the search engine will help you look for a flat based on radius, prices and number of rooms.
Once you find the right one, you can call the the agent to arrange the viewing directly or send them an email to show your interest.
If you would rather go direct, there are plenty of agencies in London such as Greater London Properties, Foxtons, Dexter, Savills and Portico to help you. These are trusted agencies that will make your life way easier when it comes to accommodation.
Another option is student accommodation. Since this is the first year of college, it is safer and more convenient for those, who are new to London, to live in highly secured buildings. Some of the student accommodations such as Urbanest, Scape, iQ, Unite, Smart and the Nido Collection offer free gyms and many other benefits for students.
How to make payment
Of course, you can pay by cash or your own credit card from your home country. It’s also useful to have a contactless card because it is faster, and more efficient. You can use it as an oyster card for the underground or pay for anything that costs under £30 by just a tap. Barclays is a bank situated at the end of Greek street, which is again, convenient to make transaction or withdraw cash and it offers cash back at many clothing brands like Armani, Reiss and Topshop.
How to commute
The second you arrive in London, the first thing you need to do is to download Uber and Citymapper. Many might question why there is a need to download another map while you already had Google Maps on your phone, the answer is Google Maps or the regular map on your phone is best for those who commute by car. Due to the nature of London, a big city known for many lanes, alleys or even mews, Citymapper is made to direct you to your destination the fastest with an added map of the underground. It predicts the traffic, the fares and its compass is found to be the most precise.
Also, you can sign up for the student Oyster card online to get a discount of 30% every time you use the underground to commute.
Last but not least, go check out Wardour News asap.
As you will all be studying fashion, being in the zone of knowing what’s happening in fashion is a must. Wardour News offers a huge variety of issues from commercial to niche magazines in and outside the EU. However, you should only purchase niche magazines since you will often get a chance to grab a new issue of British Vogue at the reception for free every month.
Good luck and stay tuned for an article about “Where to hang out in London” coming out soon.