What's the area like?

I haven't bothered looking at any of the London unis because I don't want to live in London or any big city, but I've been told Royal Holloway isn't actually in London. Is that true, and if so, what is the area actually like? Big, small, bustling, quiet? Are things still as expensive as they are in London?

egham is a tiny! nothing like london at all. there are a few shops, restaurants and pubs in the high street and a train station nearby. apart fromn that it's mainly residential.

I haven't bothered looking at any of the London unis because I don't want to live in London or any big city, but I've been told Royal Holloway isn't actually in London. Is that true, and if so, what is the area actually like? Big, small, bustling, quiet? Are things still as expensive as they are in London?

yes its true, and its a splendid location to spend 4 years, although when i did visit it, i found there was a shortage of open space relative to the number of students there, but thats probably just me being claustrophobic, as i am

I loved the look of the buildings, but you got to check out the quality of the course...its pretty crap for some subjects...look for a compromise between academic quality, and the location.

The academic quality of RHUL is excellent! It's in the top ten of research universities for a start...

I see what you mean about the shortage of open space, though that's only really the case in the centre of campus, around the academic buildings...

I love it! As I've been living in London most of my live, it makes a nice chnge to be somewhere so different! Are you thinking of putting it down as your first choice? What course are you interested in?

I do French and Spanish but both from A2 onwards. If you wanted any information just ask

So many questions! You're just like me before I went there! Ok, in both French and Spanish, everyone has to do the core language classes, whether you study it as a single honours, major, minor or joint. In French, you have seperate written and oral classes-1 hr per week each and in Spanish it's a 2 hour class once a week, which is written and spoken. As I do joint honours, I can take only 2 optional units. I do French literature and something called 'visual image', which is kind of like art. For my spanish units I do 'text and image', which is a mixture of literature and art, and I do 'key concepts in european culture and theory.' All of the option classes are 1 hr per week. On top of that you are expected to do regular grammar exercises and attend forthnightly grammar lectures. All in all you have both small seminar classes and large lectures. I find that my degree course requires a lot of work, compared to my other friends who do other degrees, but at the same time, it is enjoyable. For all of the classes I've mentioned you have both exams and coursework, however my two spanish optional units are only coursework based (2 essays of 50% each). Department wise, the French department is excellent-it's rated 5* for research, in league with Oxford and Cambridge. It's excellet for teaching too. The Spanish department is not as good as the French, but it is still pretty good if you compare it with other universities Spanish departments. For the year abroad, you can either do a work placement, study in a university there, or do a language assistantship-which is basically being a language assistant in a school. You could go to Canada, Latin America or Europe, so there's plenty of choice! Generally speaking, if you're good at French, you'll find Spanish ok. It's easier than French, and your background in French will help you learn it quicker. Sorry it's such a long-winded message, I hope I haven't confused you and good luck!