SweetEve

It seems like forever since I first came here for help on attending university in the UK.

I am on the last few steps to being able to attend university in Swansea, Wales! However, I have a few questions I am hoping some of you wonderful people can help me sort out.
The first is cheap airfare out of Saskatchewan (will fly out of Calgary if it cost less to go there and fly out). I have been looking the last month and all I can find is flights for about 1,200CND to fly to London that seems expensive to me, as not long ago I was seeing flights for about 800CND. From there I will need to take a bus or a train to Swansea, which would be about 200CND. I figure the trip will be about 1,500CND at the cost of fares, which seems high to me, starving student for the last 2 years, so anyway to save/cut back would be great. Can anyone suggest some cheap places to look for flights?

I also want to take some of my belongings that probably would end up weighing more than flights will allow. Not much really, my desktop (which I hope to have the power source changed while there) plus the normal clothing and shoes. The big one is my desktop, any suggestions on how to send that?
The last thing is finding a place to live in the Swansea area. I am going to be there for at least 3 years. Every site I have looked at the list student housing has had one thing in common. The property is only available for the time that people are in university during the year. I do not wish to move into one place, stay there for 42-44 weeks and then have to find another place to live for a couple weeks, just to end up looking again for student housing. I would much rather move into a place that I can live in for the whole time I am in university. If possible a place where I could have the option to rent longer if I receive the marks I would need to continue onto a masters.
Is it odd that a student would rather live in the same place for the three years rather than having to move out just to find another place a couple weeks down the road?

I am hoping to know within the next 2 months if I will be heading to Wales. I have a good feeling that I will. The only things left to have confirmed are my student loans and then my Student Visa. After everything else I have done I hope that they come through without any problems. I cannot purchase a flight until my visa application is accepted; however, I want to be able to keep track of my options, the same goes for housing.

Thanks for any help or suggestions.
Eve

Alan2005

The nature of student rentals is that groups of friends rent them for a year at a time. Said year does not always include the summer, but landlords can be flexible on this.

You should ring up the uni's accommodation office. They will have suggestions for you about what you can do and maybe some landlord contacts (they don't usually just deal with halls of residence).

lmartin999

I agree. Usually as an international student you would get some sort of priority on housing. I would suggest starting in a hall or university owned residence for a whole range of reasons.

SweetEve

I hope so, I would think a landlord would rather rent long term then just for the uni year. I figure I will post some wanted adverts as soon as I receive my Student Loan approval as I am hoping that my Student Visa will be approved as well.

Done that, the person in charge of accommodations even suggested that I might be able to live in the arrangement that they did this past year. It did not appeal to me. They placed all of the Canadians together, I wish to experience the community, the heritage, to emerge myself into the environment. Adapt and become a part of it. If that makes sense. I feel that if I am living around a bunch of other Canadians it might not be as easy. Plus I wish to learn Welsh and figure it will be easier if I am around other Welsh speakers. I am also probably a lot older then most students.

@lmartin999 Even if I am a lot older then most students?

Alan2005

Swansea is primarily english speaking. Fluent welsh speakers are probably quite rare, though most will speak a bit due to the resurgence of welsh nationalism in recent years.

SweetEve

I would rather a bit then none at all. I figure if I can speak it as much as possible I will pick it up easier.

Any suggestions as to shipping stuff over?

ant11

if you get a student rail card you will find train fares far cheaper.
you can often get train tickets ( non student fares) from london to swansea for £25 one way if willing not to travel at peak times.
it is a wonderful place to live and sure you will enjoy it. swansea is not very welsh speaking though. the further you go to west wales the more it is spoken.
we used a company called 'u bag' which handled our excess baggage. they collected it from our home in wales and we collected it at edmonton airport. saved us a lot of money compared to taking excess luggage on our flight. dont forget to pack your raincoat good luck with your venture.

Alberta_Rose

Swansea is not the most "Welsh-speaking" part of Wales, but you will probably find people from North Wales or Mid-Wales who do have Welsh as their first (and preferred) language.

I trained in Cardiff. I went into residences for my first year, and after that moved out with four friends, three of whom were Welsh-speaking, and I found that Welsh-speakers tend to want to stick together, sometimes to the exclusion, (though maybe not intentional) of us "English". Maybe you'll be more accepted than a regular English person though, especially if you want to learn the language (have you tried it at all, it's devillishly hard!)

Good luck!

terese677

bore da Eve (morning) as already mentioned you may find a few fluent welsh speakers in Swansea but generally not many and those that are are usually from the north and west. Swansea has some lovely areas around particularly around the Gower area and the people are very friendly. For the first year people tend to live in , make friends and then move out to rent with the friends they have made, it might be better for you to do that and then you can find out the area in which you would like to rent after you find your way around.
Good luck with it all
Terese

HPJOS

Eve,

If you can, leave the desktop at home or sell it and get a computer in the UK if you can afford it. Will save you a lot of hassle trying to convert the thing not to mention the shipping.

Get yourself a Young Persons rail card, this gives you 1/3 off regular rail fare. Also look at National Express Bus company for potentially getting from London to Swansea, if you are struggling to get a cheap rail fare these are a good alternative when on a budget.

Oh and make sure you have an umbrella, wellington boots and rain coat

Have a great time at Uni!

Helen

The Lees

Hello Eve,

I worked in Swansea Uni for 9 years and I'm sure you will love it!

The uni accommodation office will have loads of info on rental properties and even used to own their private rentals for families but may have sold them off by now. On the plus side the student accommodation off campus in Hendrefoilan is nice and not the usual student barracks! Some of the nearby private student accommodation in "studentville" which I've seen can be pretty dire!

Welsh speakers are more prevalent now than before - my husband's family are Welsh speaking and are from the Swansea area - but a short trip to Carmarthen or Llanelli and you will find it widely spoken in public.

Good luck

lcar

One of my best friends came from Ontario to study at my old university in Lampeter (about 45 minutes from Swansea), and never wanted to leave. Swansea is a good place, with stunning beaches especially just up the road on the Gower.
The advice to live in halls for your first year is good - it gives you a chance to get to know people and find your way around, and to make good friends who you would feel comfortable sharing a house with for the following years.
I used to stay during the holidays too, and had a similar issue of moving out of my hall during holidays. I found that some of the self-catering halls are open to students all year - I used to often borrow friends' rooms while they were away during holidays. It might be an option for you.
You will probably be offered Welsh as a first year option, which can be fun. It is a difficult language to learn though - I've lived in Wales (Cardiff most of the time) for more than 20 years and still only know a bit (arafwch nawr - slow down - is one you will see a lot on the roads!).
But another non-Welsh friend now broadcasts in Welsh - so it can be done.
Good luck.

lcar

Oh, and watch out for the rain which will start falling as you cross the Severn Bridge!

SweetEve

Wow, that post was from May 29th 2010, 6:07 pm, so much for 2 months.

Thanks everyone for all the responses, and I am so sorry I have not popped in here to check, but I feel like i have been on the good with all of this since this post.

But the great news is, I got my Visa and student loans. Now I just need to get a flight out of here, the friggen weather is changing already - was freezing last day or 2 compared to the day before that.
I can't wait to be back in an area that has all of the seasons. Here they have winter and construction.

Gonna respond to everyone and then fill in any blanks..
thanks..

SweetEve

- I have spent months using the Google 'yellow-man' to do walkabouts and I can't wait -bursting
- 'u-bag' hmm will try to look them up - so far no luck with finding any shipping place to the UK here.
- I have called a couple that have said 'international'... when did the US start getting called international from Canada?

Thinking take on flight as checked baggage?

Thank you so much, I cant wait to get there!!