Thrills and spills of studying in London

[stoneysongs]

A thread for supporters of DC heading to London unis - was originally going to be UCL which seems very popular this year, but expanded at @Needmoresleep's excellent suggestion.

For chats about moving in, what to take, living in London, whether an Oyster card is worth bothering with, how to do a big shop, where to park at drop off, the dreaded search for 2nd year accommodation etc etc etc

Tagging people I've spotted from the ex Oxbridge thread but all welcome including those with DC currently in London who can share their wisdom and anyone thinking of it for 2025 or beyond

@catmomof3
@lifeturnsonadime
@PotentialUCLmum
@CoffeeMugShot
@space99
@FebruarySmith
@mynameisnotmichaelcaine
@Summertimer

By way of intro I have a DD going to UCL to study BASc Arts and Sciences.

You can walk in 30 mins from Paddjngton. It’s also near enough to just about anything you could want. Obviously a prime location isn’t cheap though. If dc are ok on a bike, a lot of the journey is via Hyde Park.

Sounds good; that’s another option then. DC cycle to school at the moment so could cycle through Hyde park. I will prefer the ones in S. Kensington, will save them so much time, everything is so close including library, gym, all their buildings. I would be a bit concerned about DC cycling late a night through Hyde Park; especially in Winter when is so dark.

I think we will do a tour and see them from the outside.

On here to update, DS is recovering well from hurting his hand on the defective shower door 3 weekends ago. However, he is still waiting for a shower door and has had a further problem - a bathroom drainage issue. Quite relieved that it’s reading week soon and he will be away from the room while they get things sorted. If they are not sorted, I’m resigning to thrashed by this out 😔

Update here - dd is exploring the Southbank, Borough market, Greenwich and a lot of nightclubs and pubs. Seems to be getting on well with buses etc. Made friends from across the UK and Europe. Budget seems to be fine. Positive so far.

We've seen Ds fairly frequently as there seems to be forgotten things or ordered stuff that is sent to our house. I think he's managing ok on his budget but I wish TFL would get the Oyster card situation sorted - it's been two months now.

He's joined a couple of sports societies and seems to be managing the workload so far. He's also been meeting up with his school friends who have stayed in London.

Not much action though on the job front unfortunately. Loads of Xmas seasonal jobs out there.

I've waved mine back off again as reading week has come to an end where they are. I'm now stuck between being fiercely proud of the independent person they are and feeling a bit bereft. Only 3 more weeks until I get to have another squeeze of them...

Good to hear all the DC doing so well. I haven't seen DS since drop off. My mum is in London this weekend so is going to catch up with him.

He is coming back for a few days for reading week. So looking forward to seeing him!

I am off to London to see my DS tomorrow. Looking forward to it. Hopefully he’s getting on okay but he is a man of very view words, so who knows.
Not sure what his plans are for reading week. So glad that we don’t have the 2nd year house stress drama at this stage.

I haven’t seen mine since dropping off either, coming home for reading week so I’m very much looking forward to seeing her. Seems to be settling in. Doing sports, made some friends, is enjoying the course and seems to be going out alot. Long may it continue.

TfL have finally managed to open up 18+ student photocard applications, so if the 30% discount on monthly season tickets would make a difference to your DC's travel costs, please do encourage them to apply for one!

Great, thanks for the heads up @RockaLock.

Hello @Needmoresleep Seems like a longtime ago our DS were both off to LSE. All the drama before they started the first year and now it's just a moment in the past.
I still remember all the help you gave me. Thank you.

DD has settled well. Think she has been generally very lucky with flatmates. All but one are very engaged with social activities together. Probably helps that they are all art students even though they are studying different art pathways.
Finding tube ok but she hasn’t used the buses much. Great that the Oyster card situation is finally sorted. Will get her on to that at the weekend.
Really enjoying the nightlife as it is nothing like what she has had access to growing up. Was out last night at a Halloween event until 04:00, everything at home would have closed hours before that! She has said she feels she is able to express her personality more and can be herself in London compared to the small community she grew up in, which I can completely understand.
Reading week for her isn’t until next week and as we are overseas she is going to visit both sets of grandparents who are in the north of England.
I am visiting London for work at the end of November so have booked accommodation near her and have extended my stay. Have booked some Christmas events and some trips to exhibitions that she really wants to see with me. Am excited to see her, I don’t think I realised how much I would miss her. She is my only DD, three DSs, two still at home but her leaving has left a big gap in the household.

Ah @everymeeveryyou my DS was a Halloween event too last night, was it the UCL one your DD was at? He sent me some lovely pictures of him and his friends before they went.

My DS is coming home for reading week, after going to see his girlfriend in Bristol first, I am looking forward to it as I haven't seen him since drop off in September.

Unfortunately he is having issues in his halls which are really poor other than location. His kitchen hasn't had working cooking equipment 3 times so far since September. They've asked to get it sorted and they've sent someone in but fundamentally the oven needs replacing. To add to this he's received an email from the halls saying cooking in other kitchens is not allowed. It's getting a bit beyond a joke for the amount of money he's paying to have to 'eat out' for hot food. So we're going to help him with an email to try to resolve it. I think we're at the point that we ought to be asking for a rent reduction if it isn't fixed as the accommodation costs are extortionate.

He's starting to get really frustrated and is feeling like he and the others he shares a kitchen with are being ignored : (

@lifeturnsonadime

I wonder whether the President of the Students' Union at UCL could assist on this one. Her contact e-mail is here:

studentsunionucl.org/officer/president

thanks very much. I'll do that.

I have tried to stick out of it and let them sort it themselves. But they're all first time home leavers and shouldn't have to put up with unsuitable self catering accommodation.

@lifeturnsonadime
It's hard for them to know that it's ok to cause a bit of a fuss sometimes I think. DD is very reluctant to raise issues even when it's perfectly appropriate to do so. She had a terrible time applying for accommodation, she couldn't log in because IT couldn't see that she had firmed, even though admissions could. She kept getting passed between those two and the accommodation team, different people asking for the same information over and over again, it went on for about 3 weeks. With just a few days to go before the application deadline I finally persuaded her to let me email (she still wouldn't) and it took one email copied in to everyone and a very polite "this is all your problem, this is what has happened, this is what you need to do and this is why it's urgent" and suddenly they were falling over themselves apologising and it was sorted that day. But it's very uncomfortable for an 18 year old to do that with a university I think.

Thanks Stoney, I'm going to try to sort it next week.

Tube strikes next week for those that need to use it, Bus and other routes will have heavy traffic.

TFL - Most London Underground lines are not expected to run between Tuesday 5th and Friday 8th November and on Tuesday 12th November.

Strikes just called off 👍

Phew!

Well, mostly called off.

ASLEF are still striking, so little/no tube on 7th and 12th.

But hopefully they'll call theirs off as well...

Ah ok thanks

DD was finally able to apply for her student Oyster card! Anyone heard any more about possibly being able to claim back some of the money spent on full price fares over the past few months? We are paying for transportation so looking into it is not her top priority!

Ds has also applied @indigopotion - I'm sure TfL will make it complicated to refund. He's been using a normal Oyster..