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.

I'm not sure if I can post the link to Goin' Connect for UCL students but here it is

register.goinconnect.com/role-selection/30442?student-id=24007133&faculty=Arts%20&%20Humanities

@catmomof3 Thank you, that is showing up. It only has 20 ratings so I wonder if it's the main one used?

PS my DC doesn't drink alcohol either (but quite keen on fizzy drinks), so your DD is not going to be the only one.

My DC is an LSE graduate. But graduated during COVID.

Those who have current DC in London unis, what's the inter-uni London scene like? Is there one in terms of collaboration?

There’s some kind of UCL whatsapp group for each hall.

I guess you get the info for the whatsapp group after arrival? How else do you know the numbers? I am not social media savvy.

No luck with goin' connect - says you need an invite/code from the department or something apparently. Same with unifi. Guess it's to keep strangers out of the chats, but no invites/codes have been received from department or accommodation. It's a mystery to us!

My DS got the UCL invite to join Goin back on April 23rd. Can your DC check back over their emails @babyzoomer

Bought my daughter a "y2k" flip phone today for her to use out and about due to the ever increasing phone snatching going on. She literally gets fed up of me telling her to not walk around with her phone in her hand so we made a compromise and I got her a retro phone she wanted so she can use that instead.

I have been warning my DS about the phone snatchings too. Told him to make sure that if he uses it out in public, he does it facing a wall or building so they can’t cycle/skoot past him.

It actually happened to my brother last year, whilst visiting London for a conference with work.

Thanks for this advice, My DD is going to UAL - taking her on Saturday! Her halls are in Peckham.

It's shocking, I was reading it's really bad around the Kings Cross area which is where her accommodation is. I'm nervous about using my phone there to follow the route to Sainsbury's on move in day as we will have to walk there because my Dad is just doing a drop off before leaving.

Now that I think about it there are also the proper "hand over your phone" style muggings in London as well. Not just snatch theft.

@WhoIsApple I think that applies to anywhere though, but theft on bike is spiralling out of control in London. If my DD is walking with her crappy phone it's less likely to be snatched as they seem to only want iPhones from what I've seen.

Just to put things into perspective in case this discussion is scaring anyone, we live in London and can honestly say we've never been the victim of a mugging or theft. A family member lives at Kjngs x and has never had bad stuff happen either. Just take sensible precautions like you would in any other city. I wear a cross body bag for example.

I don't live in London, but my in-laws do, so we regularly visit Mile End and central London. We have never experienced a mugging or theft. It absolutely does happen, but it's important not to be too fixated on the negative stories. Obviously taking sensible precaution is important, but that is true in any city.

I wander around with my phone out all the time and still got it. But yes wise to be sensible anyway.

i do worry about lots of late nights and getting back to her flat so we are going to talk about strategies. I try and remember that London is always busy so even late there are people out and about but I do worry. Hopefully the long contact hours will mean going out is reduced…

I work in London near Euston and I've never seen it but I know it happens. If I have to use my phone I stand by

Pressed send! I stand back from the kerb or in a shop

Why not get a phone lanyard?

my best advice (and rules I’ve drilled into DD)

No walking around with headphones in at any time. You need to be aware of your surroundings at all times. It’s not muggers you need to be alert to, it is cars, bikes etc.

Not all Bike riders in London obey traffic signals. Don’t assume they’ll stop at red lights. Or pedestrian crossings. It is dangerous and infuriating in equal measure.

Make sure your Bluetooth settings are set so that no one can cyber flash you. I’ve had that done to me and it is quite disgusting.

Make sure they are aware of the following contact numbers:
BTP (British transport police) 61016 text service. They’ll meet anyone at the next stop/deal with harassment. Emergency dial 999 tho.

Make use of ‘walk home with me’ services like Strut safe’ who’ll stay on the line with you until you are in the front door

As a non techie, this seemed a good article about ways to improve phone security.

https://archive.ph/vBqox

So much is on a phone that could be valuable to a thief with IT skills. A mix of caution around using a phone when out and about, and making sure that if a phone is stolen you minimise the harm that is done.

As a Londoner I know a couple of people who have had their phones snatched, one off a restaurant table and another, recently, in the street. I am much more careful now, and try not to use my phone when walking along the street. Equally stay away from groups, eg those watching those dodgy dice games on Westminster bridge. Pickpockets are a problem. That said, if you are careful you should not have problems.

The first is something that I have always tried to impress upon ours, but with the variation that earphones / buds are okay, but only have one of them in. With regard to the last point - I don't know whether any of ours ever use such services, but DD does sometimes ring one of us. However, it raises another issue, if they keep their phone out whilst doing this, of course.

Using an earphone means not having to have one's phone visible when following Google maps etc instructions.

(The cyclist traffic signals / pedestrian crossing thing is definitely not restricted to London! I nearly collapsed from shock in the middle of a crossing the other day when a cyclist neither mounted the pavement to avoid the situation altogether nor overtook the car that had stopped for me...).

I heard that if you have those expensive apple headphones to be careful wearing them out in public, seen many of them get snatched off people's heads on tiktok in London.

My DD loves her retro phone lol. At least it gives me peace of mind and if anything did happen to her iPhone she can contact me on that old thing.

Link is here: https://linktr.ee/UCLFreshers

Think DC has to show proof of accommodation acceptance to join.

@FebuarySmith Super, thank you!

Just a few more days (for those of us heading for UCL at least).

How's the DC's prep going? Lots of unspoken nerves here about the unknown of it all, but they're on a WhatsApp group with some people who've already moved in and have posted photos of rooms, which has helped.

Plan is still to take the bare minimum in the car and then try to pick up everything else locally to halls (we're staying down the night before).

I'm torn between wishing it was done already and trying to make the most of these last few days.