Find your accommodation

Finding accommodation in a foreign country can be complicated. In fact, without being able to go there and see the accommodation with your own eyes, it can make you hesitate.

In my case, I was looking for a room, preferably in a flat sharing to be able to speak as much English as possible in order to improve my level. In addition, I preferred to take up accommodation in Glasgow itself because I wanted to live in a city with life, activities to do nearby... For information, my university is located in Paisley which is a small town on the edge of Glasgow, 10 minutes by train (this part is more detailed in the following article 'The University of the West of Scotland').

For my part, before deciding to book my accommodation in Glasgow, I hesitated for a long time with my parents because the English system requires you to pay the rent for the accommodation on one or more occasions directly on the website before you can even go there.

For foreign students who do not live in the United Kingdom, this may seem ambiguous. In fact, English students are used to taking out loans for their higher education, which is why they can pay their rent all at once. But this system is ill-conceived for other foreign students who do not necessarily trust the organization and who do not necessarily have the money directly available.

Depending on the student residences, they may or may not accept that you pay in several monthly installments (depending on the residence you choose).

Subsequently, I made my choice and decided to book in the residence 'Buchanan View', which means paying a deposit of £250. This establishment is located on the heights of Glasgow, about 15-20 minutes walk from the city centre.

The dates for moving into the university residences are not normally before the first week of September (depending on the university's start of the academic year, which depends on the residence).

Then I went to my residence at the beginning of September to see the place and start settling in. That's when I realized that I had to buy everything that was useful for the kitchen (pots, pans, plates, cutlery, tupperware...) but also everything for the room (duvet, pillows, sheets...), which seems logical in terms of hygiene. I had not been informed of this information.

My parents, having accompanied me for this early stay in Scotland, were walking the streets of Glasgow and came across, by chance, a new student residence that had just opened its doors. After visiting it out of curiosity, they fell directly under the spell of this establishment. Then I decided to ask for a change between the Buchanan View residence and this new St Mungo's residence. The exchange was accepted by the directors of the institutions and I did not have to pay back a deposit.

Today, I am very happy to live in St Mungo's because it is good to live there and there are more advantages. Of course the rent is higher (Ensuite Bronze, £139/week) but I have at my disposal a new sports hall, a new cinema, a new study room, a laundry room, a large common kitchen to invite friends, larger common areas and a listening staff that does everything to make students feel good.

Common areas

Common areas

The cinema room

The large common kitchen to invite friends

The study room

This is the link of the student accommodation St Mungo's: https://www.studentroost.co.uk/accommodation/st-mungos

After buying all the necessary equipment for the kitchen and the room, I was able to meet my roommates. I am in a flat sharing that includes only girls: two other French, one German, one English, two Chinese and one Pakistani. We each have our own room with a double bed (135 centimetres wide), our own bathroom with our own toilets. We share the living room/kitchen with sofas, a central island with all the double equipment to be able to cook together at the same time (two refrigerators, two induction cooking hobs with hoods, two sinks, a toaster, a kettle). Each has two closets and a drawer to store their belongings and other storage space is shared under the sinks.

There is also a vacuum cleaner and a mop available in the kitchen to clean his room. Every two weeks, a cleaning agent cleans up our common space.

Of course, if you have less budget to spend on rent there are many other university residences I know that are correct: Blackfriars, Dobbie's Point...

Depending on the university where you are studying, student accommodation will be provided in partnership with your university.

If you do not want to be in a student residence but rather live in a private apartment, this is possible. All you have to do is go there a few weeks before the start of your school year in order to be able to visit private homes.

I have a friend who chose this option and lives in an appartment on Paisley, 10 minutes walk from the university. This allows her to pay less expensive rent than in a university residence and also to save money because she is sharing a flat with a friend then the rent is halved. Good plan!