Whats life at Surrey like?

croyboy2000

Hi,
Recently I got an unconditional offer at Surrey. I'm an American who's never actually been outside of the country. Obviously, due to that I really don't know what it's like across the Atlantic. I've read a bit online, but I thought it might be a good idea to directly ask the people who go, or plan to go.

Reply 1

8472

Original post by croyboy2000

Surrey is great. I cannot talk about the residentials exactly but the area and people is lovely. You'll be in Guildford, Surrey. Surrey is one of the richer, posher parts of England with lots of countryside and things to do. You'll be a 40 minute train ride from London. Town center has a shopping mall and outside cobbled streets with a good range of shops. It's very popular with commuters. I live close by (20 minutes) and regularly shop there.

University of Surrey

Guildford

Reply 2

University of Surrey

Official Rep

Original post by croyboy2000

Hey @croyboy2000,

I was a student at Surrey from 2012-2015 (BA Hons Theatre Studies), so I can give you a bit of an overview of Surrey as a uni and the general area. I'll break it down into sections to make it a bit easier to read. Sorry if it's info overload!

Freshers Week: During my Freshers Week, there were lots of activities run by my course during the daytime, which allowed me to meet my coursemates before the first lecture. I’m not sure if every course does this, but there will be general uni things to do as well, such as registering, getting your campus card etc. Most people use Freshers Week as an opportunity to explore campus and the local area. This is helpful as your lectures may be in a number of buildings across campus, so it’s good to have an idea before your first lecture so you’re not wandering around lost (though if you do get lost there are several maps on campus or just ask someone passing by). Most people will take a walk into town and to Tesco as these are likely to be places you visit a lot! Freshers Week is also a good opportunity to meet your housemates – I went knocking on everyone’s door on my floor to introduce myself – most people are in the same boat and haven’t met any of the other freshers before, so it’s nice to get to know your flatmates and hang out with them.

Clubs and Societies: Freshers Fair is run by the Students’ Union, normally on the Friday. This allows you to take a look at all the sports and societies the uni has to offer, and sign up for more info. There are departmental societies, course-specific societies and general societies, as well as loads of sports – we have over 100 societies and 46 sports clubs, many of which offer the chance to compete or just play for fun. A list of these can be found here. Local businesses, restaurants etc have stands at Freshers Fair as well, so it’s a great chance to bag some freebies. This is in addition to all the crazy club nights that are held in Rubix over the course of the week – from live acts, to fancy dress, to foam parties!

Life on campus: Life on campus is good! There’s always lots going on – Rubix is open on Wednesdays and Fridays, and there’s a weekly Open Mic night in Hari’s Bar (in the Students’ Union) which is brilliant. The Union organises trips and activities throughout the year, too. Past trips have included Edinburgh, Brighton, Oxford, Winchester, Disneyland Paris, Thorpe Park and loads more. There are regular free movie screenings, and training classes such as self-defence and CPR…. I’m pretty sure the classes are free too. The SU produce an Events calendar for each term which lists everything going on – you can pick one up from the Union’s stand at Freshers Fair or access it online.

Library: In my opinion, the library one of the coolest buildings on campus. There are loads of books which you can physically take out, but there are also lots of online resources as well, which are available via the library's website. We also do a laptop-borrowing scheme, so if you can't find a computer to study at then you can take out one of the laptops to study.

Guildford: I’m a big fan of Guildford as a place to live – it’s a very safe, pretty town with plenty to do. After graduating, I lived in Oxford for a year, but I much preferred Guildford so I decided to move back! Guildford has got a nice mix of high street chains and independent shops, restaurants and pubs/bars as well as a few clubs. Our Wetherspoons (Spoons to the locals) is much nicer than most Spoons – it’s set over two levels in this cool old industrial building and has a dancefloor (and obviously great drinks deals – 4 jaegerbombs for £10 being a student favourite :tongue:

). It’s open til midnight on weekdays and until 2:30am on Fridays and Saturdays. There are a number of other clubs, with Thirteen probably being the best of them. I'm not going to lie, if you're after an open-til-6am kind of club or a club with specialist music, you'll have to go to London, but I find Guildford fine for a night out. The clubs usually play a mixture of chart hits, with Spoons and Popworld throwing in some old classics like Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston. There is a cocktail bar/club called Komo which often has live bands, and also a DnB club called 33 Hertz.

Pubs wise, the best in my opinion is The Whitehouse or The Weyside, with my fave bars being Turtle Bay, Five&Lime and Pews (their beer garden is lovely). Then you’ve got your usual restaurants like Nandos, Pizza Express, Giraffe etc. as well as some fantastic family-owned places like Positano (best Italian food I’ve had) and Thai Terrace (incredible cocktails and Thai cuisine). We’ve got a cinema, leisure centre with bowling and a massive ice rink, 3 theatres, a number of music venues, loads of parks and scenic places to walk/cycle and it’s only a 34 minute train ride to London! The only downside I can think of is that it is a bit more expensive than other towns due to its proximity to London. It is cheaper to live in Guildford rather than London though! You can find nice rooms here for £400 a month. I pay £550 for a double room with all bills included (and a Sky box) that’s only a 20 minute walk from uni.

Part-time work: If you need to find a part time job to help with living costs, there are loads of jobs available in bars/restaurants and within the uni as well. We have a Unitemps on site who have a variety of part times available that would suit students, and you can also apply to work in the Students’ Union at Hari’s Bar or Rubix (I did when I was a student and had some great fun with my coworkers). Or you can go direct to the shops, pubs etc in town!

So that's a quick overview of life at Surrey, I hope it helps! If you've got any more questions about the specifics just let me know and I'll try my best to help :smile: