Dumb Questions from an Overseas Student

Hi Mel,

there's no such thing as a dumb question, just dumb answers :wink:

Cardiff's a great place but it all depends to what you compare it with, so where are you from in the USA, a big place like New York, Los Angeles or Chicago or something a little smaller - somewhere warm like LA or cold as in Salt Lake City or Minneapolis?

Cardiff's got a very good international office, which offers loads of advice and help. They organise a welcome week and help you settle in, that includes a pick up service for Heathrow - I think they've got two dates set for this:

http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/for/prospective/international/

Cardiff's big enough to offer everything you would want from a city but small enough to get everywhere on foot. There are no real rough places, and those that are a bit rougher you'd be unlikely to accidentally end up.

Weather wise it can be a bit dull, it's prone to rain but seldom really heavy rain. Winter's can get cold but nowhere as cold as what some parts of the USA are experiencing at the moment. Friend of mine just flew back from LA, originally with only one stop in New York, had to take a small detour in the USA and ended up having three more stops in between LA and NY.

With regards to university life, make sure you join a society or two, maybe get active in an athletic club as well and visit the Grad Centre - they do some coach trips to other places in the UK throughout the year and have a few social events just for postgrads, including a few welcome events for postgrads too.

The other thing, I'm told people here are really friendly as well.

Another question, what are you going to study here?

Reply 2

desigirl01

hey m_kirk,am planning to go to cardiff in september as well for MA International Journalism and am from India.am in the same boat as you..pretty terrified and clueless.

this can help you maybe.an ex-student from USA...

http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/for/prospective/international/study-abroad/kristins-video-blog.html

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 3

Original post by desigirl01

..pretty terrified and clueless.

this can help you maybe.an ex-student from USA...

Don't be, Cardiff's a great city and the university is really good at making you feel welcome and settled in :smile:

Reply 4

M_Kirk

OP

Hi, c2uk! Thanks for the advice.

I am from California, just outside of LA, so I know that the weather shift alone is going to be a shock to my system. However, It's been about 30 degrees celsius here on average, so I would welcome a little cold and rain right now :smile:

Just from the few replies to this post, I can certainly say that you seem very friendly! I look forward to coming over and mingling with everyone.

As for me, I'm studying creative writing. I hoping to stay for my Ph.D my MA, during which I'll either pursue critical theory of English or linguistics. How about you?

Reply 5

M_Kirk

OP

Original post by desigirl01

hey m_kirk,am planning to go to cardiff in september as well for MA International Journalism and am from India.am in the same boat as you..pretty terrified and clueless.

this can help you maybe.an ex-student from USA...

http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/for/prospective/international/study-abroad/kristins-video-blog.html

Thank you for the link! I will certainly look into it! I wish you the best of luck when you get to Cardiff!

Reply 6

Original post by M_Kirk

Hi, c2uk! Thanks for the advice.

I am from California, just outside of LA, so I know that the weather shift alone is going to be a shock to my system. However, It's been about 30 degrees celsius here on average, so I would welcome a little cold and rain right now :smile:

Just from the few replies to this post, I can certainly say that you seem very friendly! I look forward to coming over and mingling with everyone.

As for me, I'm studying creative writing. I hoping to stay for my Ph.D my MA, during which I'll either pursue critical theory of English or linguistics. How about you?

Cheers, yeah I'm a friendly kind of guy most of the time.

That's great, I'll see whether I can get my friend from LA to get in touch too. She's done an MA here too and now doing a PhD as well. She's even in the same academic school as you - English, Communication and Philosophy, though not in the Creative Writing area if I recall this correctly - I should really know that.

Reply 7

martin jol

go to cellar door cardiff bay :cool:

Reply 8

M_Kirk

OP

What about accommodation for grad students? I've seen a lot of great threads on here for freshers, but what about us older folks? I'm 27 and, while I totally wouldn't mind living with 18-19 year olds, I'm not sure how new students would feel living with an old bird like me. Where to postgrads tend to live? Are older students generally grouped together? Or is it totally random?

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Reply 9

LE Coder

There are some accommodations for postgrads. Some are postgrad only and some are both postgrad and undergrad. Of course after the first year you will hopefully have made friends and may consider renting somewhere with them.

Reply 10