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Chemistry Research, Durham University
Durham University
Durham
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So what is Durham really like?

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I can't really add much to this but back to the point about driving;

I drive, and have a car in Durham now I'm a 2nd year. 1st year I didn't need it as I was catered so didn't need to buy food and nowhere I wanted to go was more than 25 mins walk away. This year however I've found the car to be very useful as
1) We live on the opposite side of town to the huge tesco extra. Yes, I know tesco delivery exists but there's nothing like going round the supermarket yourself, and it's nice not having to walk 3 miles each way or rely on taxis/buses.
2) Some of my best friends (indeed, the group I'm living with next year) live up that way too, a good 45 min walk each way which I'd rather not do, and I don't like relying on taxis etc.
3) Society Stuff. I'm in DUSAGG (Scouts and Guides) and one of the 2 full-time drivers last year graduated and the other's graduating this year so the car is VERY useful for that, and I'm sure other societies need drivers too. We need cars mostly for transport to camps etc (where we take stuff in the car and most people get the train or something).

Ok, in your first year you probably won't even be allowed a car in college, but after that it will be useful, for tesco runs if nothing else! And there are loads of lovely country roads around where you can go exploring...I'll hopefully find a couple of days after exams where I can just take the car and go anywhere, down random roads and stuff.
Chemistry Research, Durham University
Durham University
Durham
Visit website
Reply 41
Original post by angelmxxx
I'm not comparing it to London, just saying that non-students would have a completely different time in Durham, as 2 clubs are student-only and so are 15 of the bars!

How many clubs do you regularly go to in London though? I can't imagine many students pay £10/night to go to ministry of sound/etc regularly. (Or if you do maybe you're the posh ones :P )


I see, fair enough. Nah I can't afford to go to MOS/ Fabric regulary, only been a couple of times, there are many smaller clubs around though, id say I probs go to about 7 clubs regulary :P and theres way too many pubs/ bars to count :P
Reply 42
Original post by bob247
Is it not very diverse then? :/ I mean a 15k student body isn't small...


Like most universities, it does have quite a diverse postgrad make up (in terms of nationality and ethnicity). Something like 70 nationalities in the business school alone. But not terribly diverse at undergrad in terms of ethnicity, disability or socio-economically.

There is a University of Teikyo campus in Durham so because of this, and our universities tend to be quite popular with Chinese postgrads, you can't help bumping into Chinese students.

But in all my time at Durham I've only ever seen five black students (and probably as many South Asian students). Plenty of Arabic and Persian students and academics, but I am partly based at the School of Governent/Institute of Middle Eastern Studies so it's not surpising I have frequent contact with them.

Original post by bob247
I know there's less in the North East than in other parts of Britain, but in terms of the student population and city do you think I'd feel left out?


Ever been to the South West? Or northern Scotland? :p:

Obviously urban areas will be where you'll find large immigrant populations and ethnic minorities and, being a small city (with a number of traditionally white, working class former pit villages outside).

Elsewhere in the region this is not necessarily the case. Even so, recognising the large Pakistani population in the West End of Newcastle, Sunderland, the large Jewish population in Gateshead, Newcastle's Chinatown, and that South Shields was home to the very first settled Yemeni community in the UK, the Tyne and Wear Metropolitan area still isn't the most diverse. Especially considering it's one of the largest in the country. As mentioned, County Durham itself is very white, I admit. The East being traditionally industrial and the west being rural.

Durham itself is very white, as are the villages outside it.

Whether you would feel "left out" or not is another matter. Depends whether you're desperate to be with other people of Pakistani origin. There's no reason why people, whether White European, Hispanic or Thai won't make you feel welcome.

Original post by angelmxxx
? If you're a Muslim then I wouldn't say you'll find 100s of people to go to a Mosque with, but there definitely will be some if that's what you're into.


To be fair, we have the Institute of Middle Eastern and Islamic studies, which attracts a considerable number of staff and students from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia as well as vibrant Islamic Society. I don't know about hundreds, but there are certainly many practicing Muslims settled in Durham.

An academic who taught here a few years ago told me the Mosque is actually in a pub. That's quite interesting....I imagine most go to Sunderland or Newcastle though.

Edit: - Oh, turns out it's beneath the Dun Cow.
(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by River85
Like most universities, it does have quite a diverse postgrad make up (in terms of nationality and ethnicity). Something like 70 nationalities in the business school alone. But not terribly diverse at undergrad in terms of ethnicity, disability or socio-economically.

There is a University of Teikyo campus in Durham so because of this, and our universities tend to be quite popular with Chinese postgrads, you can't help bumping into Chinese students.

But in all my time at Durham I've only ever seen five black students (and probably as many South Asian students). Plenty of Arabic and Persian students and academics, but I am partly based at the School of Governent/Institute of Middle Eastern Studies so it's not surpising I have frequent contact with them.



Ever been to the South West? Or northern Scotland? :p:

Obviously urban areas will be where you'll find large immigrant populations and ethnic minorities and, being a small city (with a number of traditionally white, working class former pit villages outside).

Elsewhere in the region this is not necessarily the case. Even so, recognising the large Pakistani population in the West End of Newcastle, Sunderland, the large Jewish population in Gateshead, Newcastle's Chinatown, and that South Shields was home to the very first settled Yemeni community in the UK, the Tyne and Wear Metropolitan area still isn't the most diverse. Especially considering it's one of the largest in the country. As mentioned, County Durham itself is very white, I admit. The East being traditionally industrial and the west being rural.

Durham itself is very white, as are the villages outside it.

Whether you would feel "left out" or not is another matter. Depends whether you're desperate to be with other people of Pakistani origin. There's no reason why people, whether White European, Hispanic or Thai won't make you feel welcome.



To be fair, we have the Institute of Middle Eastern and Islamic studies, which attracts a considerable number of staff and students from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia as well as vibrant Islamic Society. I don't know about hundreds, but there are certainly many practicing Muslims settled in Durham.

An academic who taught here a few years ago told me the Mosque is actually in a pub. That's quite interesting....I imagine most go to Sunderland or Newcastle though.

Edit: - Oh, turns out it's beneath the Dun Cow.


It's quite hard to tell some people's ethnicities just from looking at them though ( I'm 'half black' but I've had a few people look (outside Durham) at me and think I'm Indian, maybe because I have straight hair. :confused: Obviously it's pretty easy to see when someone's from an ethnic minority but I think it's becoming a lot harder to tell who's mixed race/etc and who's South European/etc. I've definitely seen more than 5 black people though, I think I've spoken to at least 5. Not that I count! Or maybe I'm just colourblind :wink:

I'm a bit confused what the OP wants - all the non-white students I know, except Chinese/HK students, are British so if it's Asian culture that he/she wants then obviously those students probably wouldn't share their culture. However if they just don't want to be the only non-white person (not sure why that would matter) then it doesn't matter what nationality people are. )
Reading the word asian culture in the above post reminded me of the best curry Ive ever had today at the Golden Pearl on North Road. Have any of you been?
Reply 45
Original post by angelmxxx
It's quite hard to tell some people's ethnicities just from looking at them though ( I'm 'half black' but I've had a few people look (outside Durham) at me and think I'm Indian, maybe because I have straight hair. :confused: Obviously it's pretty easy to see when someone's from an ethnic minority but I think it's becoming a lot harder to tell who's mixed race/etc and who's South European/etc. I've definitely seen more than 5 black people though, I think I've spoken to at least 5. Not that I count! Or maybe I'm just colourblind :wink:


Fair point.

I'm a bit confused what the OP wants - all the non-white students I know, except Chinese/HK students, are British so if it's Asian culture that he/she wants then obviously those students probably wouldn't share their culture. However if they just don't want to be the only non-white person (not sure why that would matter) then it doesn't matter what nationality people are. )


Students from Hong Kong are British, aren't they? They would've been born when it was a British territory? I don't know...it's probably quite complicated. As they were born subjects of the Crown, we recognise them as British, but China certainly won't.

But I know that, for the Hong Kong students I know, they are classed as British (sneaky peeks at the electoral register).

I realise this is just a case of nationality/citizenship and someone from Hong Kong, who has British citizenship, won't necessarily be a patron of British culture.

Anyway, there are a reasonable number of "non-white" students from French-speaking West Africa. Are particularly noticeable during the summer when the home students bugger off home. I first noticed it once I moved into Durham properly in 2009, using the computers in ER, then again last summer. They were all postgrads though.
Reply 46
As River85 said, whether you'll feel left out would depend on whether you find it important to be around people of your own origin. I only have a couple of acquaintances in Durham who are from the same country as I am - all my good friends are from different places, and to me that's not a problem at all because if my goal was to hang out with Norwegians I wouldn't have come to England. However, there are people both of Asian and Middle Eastern descent about - I know five Indians in my college alone, and several more outside (and no, these aren't British-born or living in the UK). I've only met one Pakistani girl, but I'm sure there are more about. In general, people are very friendly, so as long as you don't feel you have to hang out with people from your country all the time I don't think you would feel left out.
Reply 47
How do students spend there weekend in Durham? What do most students do after there lectures like on weekday evenings?
Original post by beth.4
How do students spend there weekend in Durham? What do most students do after there lectures like on weekday evenings?


Weekday evenings I tend to either stay in and catch up on work, go to society socials (which are variable) or occasionally go out drinking. I'm a Brownie leader so I go there every Monday and I go to my college tutor hour (optional!) most weeks. I'm a bit of an odd case though :P. A lot of students go on bar crawls, go to Klute occasionally or even stay in and go to the college bar or hang out in someone's room/on a landing/in the JCR. Obviously most colleges have formals which take up the odd evening too, as well as other things going on.
Original post by beth.4
How do students spend there weekend in Durham? What do most students do after there lectures like on weekday evenings?


As Purple said, all sorts! My evening schedule often looks like;
Monday: Tilt
Tuesday: Bad Film Club or formal
Wednesday: Mentor hour, JCR Committee or Greenspace Student Environment Group meeting
Thursday: GamesSoc RPG night
Friday: something (e.g. night out) with college people
Saturday: Society social or go round to a friend's house
Sunday: JCR meeting or furiously finishing weekly problems!
My first year evening schedule was:
Monday: College bar then Klute
Tuesday: College bar then Studio
Wednesday: College bar then Loveshack
Thursday: College bar then Klute
Friday: College bar then Klute
Saturday: College bar then Studio/Academy
Sunday: College bar then Klute

Needless to say first year was awesome.
Reply 51
Original post by beth.4
How do students spend there weekend in Durham? What do most students do after there lectures like on weekday evenings?


Societies, sports, committee meetings, doing lab reports or notes, shopping (weekend), chilling in a friend's room, going out to bars/clubs, hanging out in the JCR, formals, sleeping, ... or a combination of these things :smile:
Original post by angelmxxx
What do you mean by diverse? A lot of my white, middle class friends have grown up in countries all over the world (because their parents have been sent to work there, not because they're millionaires who sailed there on yachts). Everyone I've met at Durham has something cool and unique about them, whether it's that they're really involved with Greenpeace or lived in another country, or play an unusual sport, or play an instrument to a really high standard, or worked for an engineering company for their gap year (through YinI not a nick clegg style internship!). So you really can't tell people by their appearance.

Durham's definitely not a village. yes it's small for a city, but then if you look at a lot of cities , most of the city is houses. Why would you ever visit all the houses? I was in Birmingham last week, England's 2nd biggest city, and obviously it's a lot bigger than Durham but you could walk around that if you wanted to. I'd much rather be in Durham, where so, so many of the buildings are colleges/uni buildings/etc than a big city which is mainly random people's houses! Plus, walking is free - you really do save £100s a year by not having to get the bus to lectures! York as a city isn't that big either, and you probably wouldn't want to walk around all of Nottingham (lol) :P. Also, 99% of students don't have cars so won't be driving anywhere! Durham has a theatre - and at least one very high quality student play on each night of term, if not more; a cinema, and everything you'd need on a day to day basis. If you want to go to a big theatre or cinema, get a 12 minute train to Newcastle. If you want to go walking in jaw-droppingly beautiful countryside, you can walk out of Durham or get a bus and do one of 100s of published routes. If you want to go to the beach, that's only a short bus/car ride away. If you want to visit your friends in another college, it's a short walk rather than a 20 minute wait for a bus and then a paid bus journey.

I absolutely love London too, and I'm dead set on working then when I graduate, I'm not even looking at jobs located anywhere else. But I really wanted to explore a different part of the country before then, and Durham was so different for me that I really wanted to study there. :smile:


Nice points. It's probably the best all round package available in the UK.
What GCSEs did you get?

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