HELP! Just arrived in London from Los Angeles and now my views on uni has changed!
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Original post by mbaker18
Wait why embarrassed?
Also do you guys really think that UAL (LCC) connections are better than Birmingham because Birmingham has 80% job prospects and is ranked #17 I would assume that a higher ranked uni would attract better employers.
Another thing I forgot to mention, initially I was really interested in LCC but after reading a few articles about students saying they lacked a social life because everyone is so scattered throughout the city I was a little set back. As an American coming to the UK on my own, I really want my social life to not be so difficult to create. I know no one in the UK so i figured a campus might make it easier?
Also do you guys really think that UAL (LCC) connections are better than Birmingham because Birmingham has 80% job prospects and is ranked #17 I would assume that a higher ranked uni would attract better employers.
Another thing I forgot to mention, initially I was really interested in LCC but after reading a few articles about students saying they lacked a social life because everyone is so scattered throughout the city I was a little set back. As an American coming to the UK on my own, I really want my social life to not be so difficult to create. I know no one in the UK so i figured a campus might make it easier?
This is a common issue with most of the central London universities, but you wouldn't find that with any of Birmingham, RHUL, Aberdeen or UEA. They are all university bubbles, with halls on/next to campus, and clubs & societies easily accessible for social activities and meeting people.
Honestly you'll be happy at any of them, just visit them all, and decide based on which environment you like the best and which course you want to study.
Most grads end up in London after university, that is where the jobs are. It doesn't mean you gain any advantage by studying there, and the finances are a very major disadvantage.
Original post by mbaker18
Wait why embarrassed?
Also do you guys really think that UAL (LCC) connections are better than Birmingham because Birmingham has 80% job prospects and is ranked #17 I would assume that a higher ranked uni would attract better employers.
Another thing I forgot to mention, initially I was really interested in LCC but after reading a few articles about students saying they lacked a social life because everyone is so scattered throughout the city I was a little set back. As an American coming to the UK on my own, I really want my social life to not be so difficult to create. I know no one in the UK so i figured a campus might make it easier?
Also do you guys really think that UAL (LCC) connections are better than Birmingham because Birmingham has 80% job prospects and is ranked #17 I would assume that a higher ranked uni would attract better employers.
Another thing I forgot to mention, initially I was really interested in LCC but after reading a few articles about students saying they lacked a social life because everyone is so scattered throughout the city I was a little set back. As an American coming to the UK on my own, I really want my social life to not be so difficult to create. I know no one in the UK so i figured a campus might make it easier?
Because I would be graduating from it in few days so a bit well, traitorous.
UAL connections are very helpful in terms of job specifically in Arts or Media.
I had lots of classmates who were from countries and they managed to socialise just fine. I found that the class itself really likes night outs and things like that so people really get to know each other well plus from what i've seen they bring friends from other courses, campus or even other unis within London in that group (hope I'm making sense here)
If you live in student accommodation then chances are you'll have an active social life too.
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Original post by mbaker18
x
I live in London, and naturally I think it's the best generally.
BUT for student life? Birmingham over London definitely. At least in my experience anyway.
Original post by Eboracum
Birmingham is a city on the rise. It's currently undergoing a 1 billion pound re-development project, it's gaining a new positive reputation and is a nice place.
The reality is, I've studied abroad (in Australia) and I met Americans who I talked to about the UK and they seem to think it just evolves around London. Somebody said to me 'I get confused by the UK, and all the names for it, I mean do you call it Britain, England or London?'
London is the capital, so there is the most going on there. I lived there when I interned at Parliament. But I'm from Birmingham and its a lovely place as well. There's many great delights all over the UK which you can travel to during your time here. It might be helpful to get out of the London bubble and enjoy a different place, you'll find Birmingham more British, London is full of people that believe the world evolves around London. Birmingham is a higher regarded uni than UAL anyhow. Best of luck.
The reality is, I've studied abroad (in Australia) and I met Americans who I talked to about the UK and they seem to think it just evolves around London. Somebody said to me 'I get confused by the UK, and all the names for it, I mean do you call it Britain, England or London?'
London is the capital, so there is the most going on there. I lived there when I interned at Parliament. But I'm from Birmingham and its a lovely place as well. There's many great delights all over the UK which you can travel to during your time here. It might be helpful to get out of the London bubble and enjoy a different place, you'll find Birmingham more British, London is full of people that believe the world evolves around London. Birmingham is a higher regarded uni than UAL anyhow. Best of luck.
sorry but no
Birmingham sucks. Why? its not the best at anything.
Best place for Jamaican culture? Bristol
Best place for Irish Extraction culture? Glasgow
Best place for Asian culture? Bradford
Best place for Chinese culture? Manchester
the one thing that brummies can try to say they are the best at is being ghetto. and even then Manchester, Liverpool and a bunch of other northern cities are much more Ghetto than birmingham. so they can't even say they're the best of the worst. its just a nothing zone.
are there any posh nice areas of birmingham? not really. the nicest one is edgbaston which is around the uni and even then thats not as nice as entire other places like Chester or Harrogate.
live events in birmingham SUCKS. Edinburgh, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol all crap on birmingham for live events and artistic performance.
the nightlife in birmingham sucks. the only thing anybody seems to care bout is going to Gatecrasher (a chain of nightclubs up and down the uk. you've been to one you've seen em all) maybe you get some arty stuff round digbeth but its not consistent and poorly communicated.
communication.
no one in birmingham seems to even know anything about birmingham. people in other cities are waaaay more in touch with whats available and even if they don't go to certain venues they know where they are.
example. when I was in onestop in perry barr I asked like 6 people if there was any shops that sold bedding in there. everyone was clueless as f**k and said they had no idea and that i might wanna try the city centre.
I walk around the corner and see a huge shop dedicated to bedding, an argos that sold bedding and another shop which i can't remember that sold house hold things like bedding.
public transport in birmingham is weird and impractical compared to other cities like leeds and nottingham.
birmingham is a big spread out city. so rather than everything being concise and in the centre, you'll have to find your self running about like a lunatic from one end to the other.
the taxi drivers in birmingham are pretty famous for being bastards. many local brummies who have had the benefit to leave birmingham have often been surprised at how "normal" other taxi drivers are.
Poorly stocked
when I'm in other cities I can walk into a shop. expect something to be there and buy it.
in Birmingham they are constantly out of stock for things. when you ask members of staff anything about it like when they will restock they never know anything. the phrase "we can order it in" is something that I am not alien to. but the sheer frequency of the amount that i have to hear this is ridiculous.
Bad Business Ethic and customer service
I have repeatedly had issues with customer service in birmingham. businesses are pretty badly ran. out of all the cities i've spent large amounts of time in the businesses in birmingham start and crumble regularly. anywhere good I have found and regularly frequent has gone under. not just this but stuff like pizza hut. pizza hut would deliver to a place further away from their store than where I was and had to drive past me to get there. yet they would not deliver to me because i was in the wrong postcode. now i've ordered from other pizza huts and new someone that worked there and they have a big ethic of going a little bit extra and using common sense. like if the place is 1 street out of their delivery zone they'll usually go for it. but not birmingham. no. there was also a place in birmingham that produces something i wanted to buy. i lived round the corner from the place but they told me i had to order it online... so thats just some examples of the top of my head.
Food.
Birminghams food is pretty bad. if you want mediocre Jerk Chicken, Balti or 3am pizza kebab shops then your in luck. the caribbean food in birmingham is ok but not as good as i've had elsewhere. there doesn't seem to be any sense of competition to provide a better product. likewise with the curry shops. there are a few good ones, but not many. which considering how many there are in birmingham is pretty shocking. they are all boring. i think the only nice curry place that is actually worth your time is Lasan Eatery and the Best Jamaican being Bailey's but even thats hit and miss.
the general public of birmingham seem to not be in favour of independent original family run food places. like you cannot find a good old fashion italian place. its all chains. brummies LOVE chains. but more on that later.
Culture
Birmingham's general culture and zeitgeist is pretty poor. people are as generally friendly but there is a spirit of getting one over people. manchester has a lot of ruff and seedy people but its also got a lot of nice people. its kind of one or the other. i have found in birmingham a common pattern of people being friendly to feel out for weakness and then trying to step on your toes or cross the line. you do have to keep putting people in their place.
there's a lot of racism/racial tension. the National Front (racist white group) started in birmingham. Birmingham also has a lot of tension between the Black and Asian Communities and riots between them have kicked off in the 80s and 2005. they almost kicked off again during the august riots. the racism might not effect you. but certainly i have noticed convoys of typical pakistani chav profile driving in convoys down broad street trying to beckon drunk girls into their cars and getting pretty nasty about it.
despite Birmingham's big caribbean population its carnival is still worse than bristol,leeds and quite possibly manchester. birminghams irish community has saint patrick's day which is not bad to be fair but for me it still doesn't beat manchester or glasgow.
musically birmingham has not contributed anything since Heavy Metal. outside of that? birminghams strong point is not being original. its following. for example one of its best known bands UB40 was essentially a cover band that did reggae and it was a novelty because the lead singer was white. the best birmingham can do is be proud of keeping up. while london was coming up with grime and the north was coming up with Bassline, birmingham was was still trying to copy american rappers.
as i mentioned above with the chain restaurants and what not. brummies only tend to like things once the rest of the UK has said its ok. so thats why they prefer eating at places like cafe rouge or nandos rather than a restaurant that serves the real deal local authentic stuff. just like how most brummies favour pretty much the only franchise nightclub above all the others. and its mostly outsider students who support Birmingham's digbeth scene. which by the way i refer to it you would think is a pulsing mecca of artistic incubation. but its not. its just not as bad as everywhere else.
want an example of their love for unoriginality? date someone from birmingham. boy or girl. go on a date with them see what they choose. i guarantee you that you will be overwhelmingly underwhelmed. if they do take you somewhere interesting you have either found someone who is not from birmingham, or who doesn't have a birmingham accent because they've travelled a lot or they are a very rare exception.
birmingham is looked down upon by most cities in the uk. not because its bad. but just because of how unremarkable and beige is for a place having the confidence to boast that its the "second city"
i mean take this website for example
www.birminghamitsnot****.co.uk
how many other cities have a website like that?
during my travels i met a columbian girl who went to the uk and lived in birmingham and she told me she couldn't wait to come back to columbia. you know... drug cartel ridden columbia...
Birmingham University is literally nice because its almost gated and quarantined off from the rest of the city like the vatican is from italy.
to recap. my main motion about birmingham is
"Its not particularly bad at anything. But its not particularly good at anything either"
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by Shaolin Punk
x
This is just utter nonsense OP, incredibly biased drivel from somebody with a grudge against the city. Birmingham's a nice place and is only going to get better and better. It's way better than Glasgow and Bradford. The live events are fantastic, all the top bands come to Birmingham, it's probably only second to London in that sense. There's a huge amount of food choice and very good transport as well.
Original post by Eboracum
This is just utter nonsense OP, incredibly biased drivel from somebody with a grudge against the city. Birmingham's a nice place and is only going to get better and better. It's way better than Glasgow and Bradford. The live events are fantastic, all the top bands come to Birmingham, it's probably only second to London in that sense. There's a huge amount of food choice and very good transport as well.
yea its not hard to be better than glasgow and bradford.
my comment on those two places is that
glasgow has a better irish community than birmingham.
bradford has a better asian community than birmingham.
that was my point. which your aware of. but your best come back was that birmingham is better than glasgow or bradford. which i agree i'd rather live in birmingham than glasgow or bradford because they are more ghetto (glasgow) or overly asian (bradford). but whilst birmingham might not be as bad as them in the bigger picture. they still beat birmingham for their ethnic communities. despite Birmingham's huge asian community they still cant say they beat bradford. despite Birmingham's big irish community they cannot say they beat glasgow. and if it wasnt for the parade i'd be tempted to say they'd be beaten by manchester and liverpool too.
now to answer "all the top acts come to birmingham"
no doubt birmingham gets some good acts come to the city. but the city sucks at getting the info out there. Marilyn Manson came to birmingham last year. I only found out THE DAY the concert was and managed to go. when I told people about it the next day people didnt believe me because they thought that if he was coming to birmingham there would of been much better publicity.
hence my comment about communication and birmingham being so bad at it. good people come to birmingham but they just do so little to put it out there.
brummies as audiences suck too. Like Marilyn Manson's mosh pit consisted of me and about 6 other people. maybe at a push 15 at the MAX. the venue was not even half way full either. there just wasnt many people there.
then when i went to see alterbridge in the o2/carlsberg academy and me and my friend thought the rest of the audience was seated because of how still they were. when the lights turned up and we saw they were stood up we couldnt believe it. in fact the band that was on before alterbridge who was good. actually said "come on birmingham don't be so f*cking subdued"
i've never been to a rock concert anywhere outside of Birmingham and seen
that.
also all the top bands go to festivals elsewhere in the country.
for example i'm a big fan of sbtrkt. he is playing in leeds, reading and newport. not birmingham. despite Birmingham's big irish community christy moore has not played in birmingham in yeaaaaars. when Down came to the uk they went to manchester not birmingham. cool bands like gogol bordello are going leeds and reading this year. NOT birmingham. whens the last time valve sound system came to birmingham?
marylin manson and alterbridge also played in manchester as well as birmingham.
the only tour i can remember that was london and birmingham but no other major city was kevin hart.
so thats it. most cool bands go to other places as well or just skip birmingham and rarely exclude manchester over birmingham. but birmingham gets regularly excluded over manchester.
manchester, leeds and bristol have better live events than birmingham.
You say "birmingham has very good transport" I disagree
maybe you can give me some examples of how its good?
I can tell you how its bad.
most cities have a bus station where all the buses eventually go. no matter what bus you get on. you will find your way to the city centre.
not birmingham. birmingham has buses that go literally down one side of the city skipping the centre.
birminghams buses become extremely unreliable after dark.
their tram system is almost invisible with how few people actually use it.
they have no oyster cards.
also many other cities allow for you to get change if you pay for cash on the bus.
NOT birmingham. no with birmingham if you want to pay with coins you have to have the EXACT change for your busfare or they just tax your money. for example if your fare is £1.20 and all you have on you is one £1 coin and one 50p coin you lose 30p cause they dont give change.
also if your in a rush and you have no change and you hop on a bus and want to pay cash. they cannot give you change. so that means if your lost and have no money. you have to get to a cash point and find a shop to get change for the f*cking bus. and good luck with that if its after 6pm because 90% of the city just goes to sleep.
oh yea and theres no buses after midnight.
wheras places like manchester have late night buses that go on up until 3.am
for a city. birmingham behaves like a town the way it just shuts down on sundays or the way almost everywhere shuts after 6pm. dont get me wrong i know theres places open but they can be very hard to find.
if you compare that to say leeds, manchester or what ever its quite easy to find open places after that time. from when your the "second city" and theres other cities that are more 24/7 than you then you've failed
yes there's lots of choice for food. but the choices largely suck.
give me examples of good places to eat and explain to me how the transport in birmingham is GOOD?
I've given good examples. why can't you?
here's a quote from Birmingham food critic and blogger Smoke & Umami.
"Most of the city’s offerings were becoming very generic, especially in the suburbs, there wasn’t any distinction between them." (http://smokeandumami.com/2013/01/21/mughal-e-azam/)
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by Shaolin Punk
very well may be.
but in my own social circles i've never met anyone that went there. norwich is just not somewhere i think of. when i look at ents24 at all the bands im interested in and all the djs im interested in its i never see norwich come up.
but in my own social circles i've never met anyone that went there. norwich is just not somewhere i think of. when i look at ents24 at all the bands im interested in and all the djs im interested in its i never see norwich come up.
Well that's perhaps your music choice. Coldplay, Lily Allen, Rizzle Kicks, Frank Turner, Haim, Kaiser Chiefs... all big names performing on the actual UEA campus. Not just in the city but actually where the students study
Original post by thenationalhealth
Well that's perhaps your music choice. Coldplay, Lily Allen, Rizzle Kicks, Frank Turner, Haim, Kaiser Chiefs... all big names performing on the actual UEA campus. Not just in the city but actually where the students study
thats pretty cool tbh.
still i think its hard to beat sheffield universities Tuesday Club.
I prefer less poppy music. more atittude and a agression. stuff that doesnt make day time radio. like drum and bass, bassline, garage, heavy metal, house, grime, dubstep, dancehall. or more interesting arty stuff like folk music, comedy music acts like reggie watts or crazy weird bands like gogol bordello, hazmat modine or electronic cool stuff like Lamb or Portishead n acid house or trip hop.
Original post by mbaker18
Thank you for your comments, it really helps!
I did loads of research prior to coming here and was 96% set on Birmingham based on it reputability on the league tables, employability and night life. Only reason why I started getting concerned was because it had only been 8 hours and two people made those comments without me asking for their opinion. So at that point I thought, they were trying to be helpful and seriously warn me. One of them even said if I applied to U of Manchester, I would have more of a social life/ uni experience. (which I didn't apply to)
I came from a massive university in thee united states with 50,000 students and it was very social and posh but honestly I'm over that now. The only reason why I took their comments so seriously was because I thought I would be missing out on a full British uni experience. I have 10 more days in the UK to decide so I'll probably keep writing in if I hear other odd comments when I travel up to Birmingham and scotland. I truly appreciate your feedback! Thank You!!
I did loads of research prior to coming here and was 96% set on Birmingham based on it reputability on the league tables, employability and night life. Only reason why I started getting concerned was because it had only been 8 hours and two people made those comments without me asking for their opinion. So at that point I thought, they were trying to be helpful and seriously warn me. One of them even said if I applied to U of Manchester, I would have more of a social life/ uni experience. (which I didn't apply to)
I came from a massive university in thee united states with 50,000 students and it was very social and posh but honestly I'm over that now. The only reason why I took their comments so seriously was because I thought I would be missing out on a full British uni experience. I have 10 more days in the UK to decide so I'll probably keep writing in if I hear other odd comments when I travel up to Birmingham and scotland. I truly appreciate your feedback! Thank You!!
There's some small but historic and cultural unis which will definitely maximise of 'Britishness' I.e. York, Chester,
Original post by Shaolin Punk
yea its not hard to be better than glasgow and bradford.
my comment on those two places is that
glasgow has a better irish community than birmingham.
bradford has a better asian community than birmingham.
that was my point. which your aware of. but your best come back was that birmingham is better than glasgow or bradford. which i agree i'd rather live in birmingham than glasgow or bradford because they are more ghetto (glasgow) or overly asian (bradford). but whilst birmingham might not be as bad as them in the bigger picture. they still beat birmingham for their ethnic communities. despite Birmingham's huge asian community they still cant say they beat bradford. despite Birmingham's big irish community they cannot say they beat glasgow. and if it wasnt for the parade i'd be tempted to say they'd be beaten by manchester and liverpool too.
now to answer "all the top acts come to birmingham"
no doubt birmingham gets some good acts come to the city. but the city sucks at getting the info out there. Marilyn Manson came to birmingham last year. I only found out THE DAY the concert was and managed to go. when I told people about it the next day people didnt believe me because they thought that if he was coming to birmingham there would of been much better publicity.
hence my comment about communication and birmingham being so bad at it. good people come to birmingham but they just do so little to put it out there.
brummies as audiences suck too. Like Marilyn Manson's mosh pit consisted of me and about 6 other people. maybe at a push 15 at the MAX. the venue was not even half way full either. there just wasnt many people there.
then when i went to see alterbridge in the o2/carlsberg academy and me and my friend thought the rest of the audience was seated because of how still they were. when the lights turned up and we saw they were stood up we couldnt believe it. in fact the band that was on before alterbridge who was good. actually said "come on birmingham don't be so f*cking subdued"
i've never been to a rock concert anywhere outside of Birmingham and seen
that.
also all the top bands go to festivals elsewhere in the country.
for example i'm a big fan of sbtrkt. he is playing in leeds, reading and newport. not birmingham. despite Birmingham's big irish community christy moore has not played in birmingham in yeaaaaars. when Down came to the uk they went to manchester not birmingham. cool bands like gogol bordello are going leeds and reading this year. NOT birmingham. whens the last time valve sound system came to birmingham?
marylin manson and alterbridge also played in manchester as well as birmingham.
the only tour i can remember that was london and birmingham but no other major city was kevin hart.
so thats it. most cool bands go to other places as well or just skip birmingham and rarely exclude manchester over birmingham. but birmingham gets regularly excluded over manchester.
manchester, leeds and bristol have better live events than birmingham.
You say "birmingham has very good transport" I disagree
maybe you can give me some examples of how its good?
I can tell you how its bad.
most cities have a bus station where all the buses eventually go. no matter what bus you get on. you will find your way to the city centre.
not birmingham. birmingham has buses that go literally down one side of the city skipping the centre.
birminghams buses become extremely unreliable after dark.
their tram system is almost invisible with how few people actually use it.
they have no oyster cards.
also many other cities allow for you to get change if you pay for cash on the bus.
NOT birmingham. no with birmingham if you want to pay with coins you have to have the EXACT change for your busfare or they just tax your money. for example if your fare is £1.20 and all you have on you is one £1 coin and one 50p coin you lose 30p cause they dont give change.
also if your in a rush and you have no change and you hop on a bus and want to pay cash. they cannot give you change. so that means if your lost and have no money. you have to get to a cash point and find a shop to get change for the f*cking bus. and good luck with that if its after 6pm because 90% of the city just goes to sleep.
oh yea and theres no buses after midnight.
wheras places like manchester have late night buses that go on up until 3.am
for a city. birmingham behaves like a town the way it just shuts down on sundays or the way almost everywhere shuts after 6pm. dont get me wrong i know theres places open but they can be very hard to find.
if you compare that to say leeds, manchester or what ever its quite easy to find open places after that time. from when your the "second city" and theres other cities that are more 24/7 than you then you've failed
yes there's lots of choice for food. but the choices largely suck.
give me examples of good places to eat and explain to me how the transport in birmingham is GOOD?
I've given good examples. why can't you?
here's a quote from Birmingham food critic and blogger Smoke & Umami.
"Most of the city’s offerings were becoming very generic, especially in the suburbs, there wasn’t any distinction between them." (http://smokeandumami.com/2013/01/21/mughal-e-azam/)
my comment on those two places is that
glasgow has a better irish community than birmingham.
bradford has a better asian community than birmingham.
that was my point. which your aware of. but your best come back was that birmingham is better than glasgow or bradford. which i agree i'd rather live in birmingham than glasgow or bradford because they are more ghetto (glasgow) or overly asian (bradford). but whilst birmingham might not be as bad as them in the bigger picture. they still beat birmingham for their ethnic communities. despite Birmingham's huge asian community they still cant say they beat bradford. despite Birmingham's big irish community they cannot say they beat glasgow. and if it wasnt for the parade i'd be tempted to say they'd be beaten by manchester and liverpool too.
now to answer "all the top acts come to birmingham"
no doubt birmingham gets some good acts come to the city. but the city sucks at getting the info out there. Marilyn Manson came to birmingham last year. I only found out THE DAY the concert was and managed to go. when I told people about it the next day people didnt believe me because they thought that if he was coming to birmingham there would of been much better publicity.
hence my comment about communication and birmingham being so bad at it. good people come to birmingham but they just do so little to put it out there.
brummies as audiences suck too. Like Marilyn Manson's mosh pit consisted of me and about 6 other people. maybe at a push 15 at the MAX. the venue was not even half way full either. there just wasnt many people there.
then when i went to see alterbridge in the o2/carlsberg academy and me and my friend thought the rest of the audience was seated because of how still they were. when the lights turned up and we saw they were stood up we couldnt believe it. in fact the band that was on before alterbridge who was good. actually said "come on birmingham don't be so f*cking subdued"
i've never been to a rock concert anywhere outside of Birmingham and seen
that.
also all the top bands go to festivals elsewhere in the country.
for example i'm a big fan of sbtrkt. he is playing in leeds, reading and newport. not birmingham. despite Birmingham's big irish community christy moore has not played in birmingham in yeaaaaars. when Down came to the uk they went to manchester not birmingham. cool bands like gogol bordello are going leeds and reading this year. NOT birmingham. whens the last time valve sound system came to birmingham?
marylin manson and alterbridge also played in manchester as well as birmingham.
the only tour i can remember that was london and birmingham but no other major city was kevin hart.
so thats it. most cool bands go to other places as well or just skip birmingham and rarely exclude manchester over birmingham. but birmingham gets regularly excluded over manchester.
manchester, leeds and bristol have better live events than birmingham.
You say "birmingham has very good transport" I disagree
maybe you can give me some examples of how its good?
I can tell you how its bad.
most cities have a bus station where all the buses eventually go. no matter what bus you get on. you will find your way to the city centre.
not birmingham. birmingham has buses that go literally down one side of the city skipping the centre.
birminghams buses become extremely unreliable after dark.
their tram system is almost invisible with how few people actually use it.
they have no oyster cards.
also many other cities allow for you to get change if you pay for cash on the bus.
NOT birmingham. no with birmingham if you want to pay with coins you have to have the EXACT change for your busfare or they just tax your money. for example if your fare is £1.20 and all you have on you is one £1 coin and one 50p coin you lose 30p cause they dont give change.
also if your in a rush and you have no change and you hop on a bus and want to pay cash. they cannot give you change. so that means if your lost and have no money. you have to get to a cash point and find a shop to get change for the f*cking bus. and good luck with that if its after 6pm because 90% of the city just goes to sleep.
oh yea and theres no buses after midnight.
wheras places like manchester have late night buses that go on up until 3.am
for a city. birmingham behaves like a town the way it just shuts down on sundays or the way almost everywhere shuts after 6pm. dont get me wrong i know theres places open but they can be very hard to find.
if you compare that to say leeds, manchester or what ever its quite easy to find open places after that time. from when your the "second city" and theres other cities that are more 24/7 than you then you've failed
yes there's lots of choice for food. but the choices largely suck.
give me examples of good places to eat and explain to me how the transport in birmingham is GOOD?
I've given good examples. why can't you?
here's a quote from Birmingham food critic and blogger Smoke & Umami.
"Most of the city’s offerings were becoming very generic, especially in the suburbs, there wasn’t any distinction between them." (http://smokeandumami.com/2013/01/21/mughal-e-azam/)
Birmingham has 4 Michelin star restaurants and the biggest German Christmas market outside Austria and Germany so there must be some good things. Especially the market, everyone I know who's been says how good it is.
Original post by mbaker18
Thank you for mentioning Aberdeen! what do you mean "connections with edinburgh/glasgow"? Can you elaborate a little bit more your review on the school? How is the social life/ student life? Reputation? Is it respected in Scotland or is it hiding in the shadows of St. Andrews Edinburgh and Glasgow?
As someone else explained, by connections I do mean transport links such as trains/buses which are handy for exploring. I don't actually go to the University of Aberdeen, I go to Robert Gordon University which is on the other side of the city; though I do know plenty of people that attend both unis, and obviously there's a shared social life between the two!
University of Aberdeen is certainly the more respected out of the two in the city, and is deemed to be the "clever" university. It's fairly respected, though St Andrews, Edinburgh University and Glasgow University tend to be deemed better. It depends what course you're looking to do!
As far as I know the uni has plenty of societies to join as one social opportunity if that's your thing, then the nightlife in Aberdeen is pretty decent... really cheap too!
Hopefully that's a half-way decent answer, if you've got more questions ask away!
Original post by pink pineapple
Birmingham has 4 Michelin star restaurants and the biggest German Christmas market outside Austria and Germany so there must be some good things. Especially the market, everyone I know who's been says how good it is.
You seem to be familiar with Birmingham, do you know about this racism that the other person was talking about? is it that bad?
Original post by Shaolin Punk
there's a lot of racism/racial tension. the National Front (racist white group) started in birmingham. Birmingham also has a lot of tension between the Black and Asian Communities and riots between them have kicked off in the 80s and 2005. they almost kicked off again during the august riots. the racism might not effect you. but certainly i have noticed convoys of typical pakistani chav profile driving in convoys down broad street trying to beckon drunk girls into their cars and getting pretty nasty about it.
Can you please elaborate on this? I'm a female from the US and I look black. What is the racial tension? In the US racism is really really bad and one of the reasons why I love the UK is I've hardly noticed it here at all. I've been in London and I see black girls with white guys so often, I would never imagine that there is a serious problem as you described? Is the racial tension between whites and blacks or between blacks and asian?
Original post by PC2852
America is not just LA or New York like you idiots see in the movies.
So true!!! PRSOM
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Original post by Shaolin Punk
as a white guy I've spoken to them and they do have tendancy to start just slagging off black people. i think they assume cause im white and a bit chavy (chavs are like white trash) looking that i must hate black people. but i've been told by them that some of them refuse black people cabs saying its booked for someone else etc... you may also get asian guys in cars pulling up next to you when your walking trying to solicit sex from you. you may also notice subtle passive aggressive racism in certain places. i know marco pierre white steak house has a bit of a reputation for treating non white people pretty rudely.
but yea as i said the likely hood of you experiencing something is quite unlikely.
hope that info helps.
but yea as i said the likely hood of you experiencing something is quite unlikely.
hope that info helps.
thank you for your detailed comments it is really helpful! So just to reiterate the main tensions seems to be between blacks and asians but not so much white and black? I've dated lots of white guys in the US and I would assume I would do the same in the UK, sounds like that wouldn't really be a problem for me right? Also do you have any commments on Aberdeen because I'm going there today, as for Bham I'm pretty much no longer considering it. Please tell me all that you know about aberdeen
Original post by mbaker18
You seem to be familiar with Birmingham, do you know about this racism that the other person was talking about? is it that bad?
I can't imagine it would be any different to any other English city in terms of racism (or US probably). Of course there will be some be it will be a minority plus Birmingham is fairly big so it has a large immigrant population anyway. If you're worried about the university, the area that it's in is lovely and it's a big university so will have a large amount of foreign students.
I'd ignore the other person, whilst Birmingham might not have the international reputation of London, it still has everything a city has to offer. Good shopping, lots of places to eat and drink, museums and art galleries, good music venues etc. And it's a lot cheaper than London too, which is never a bad thing!
Original post by mbaker18
thank you for your detailed comments it is really helpful! So just to reiterate the main tensions seems to be between blacks and asians but not so much white and black? I've dated lots of white guys in the US and I would assume I would do the same in the UK, sounds like that wouldn't really be a problem for me right? Also do you have any commments on Aberdeen because I'm going there today, as for Bham I'm pretty much no longer considering it. Please tell me all that you know about aberdeen
That's a real shame OP, because Birmingham was a great choice given what you are looking for. Please do visit the university before you make up your mind, and don't reject the place just because of the one very biased poster above. I have no idea what he has against Birmingham but the smear campaign he is running on this thread is quite extraordinary.
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by Crumpet1
That's a real shame OP, because Birmingham was a great choice given what you are looking for. Please do visit the university before you make up your mind, and don't reject the place just because of the one very biased poster above. I have no idea what he has against Birmingham but the smear campaign he is running on this thread is quite extraordinary.
I will still visit and openly consider it but my choice wasn't so much based on the racism as it was the course, because I forgot to mention that Bham was for the Msc Marketing and Aberdeen for an MBA. I've been thinking that the MBA might be best for me but I'm visiting Aberdeen today. Thank you very much for your comments!
OP, I'm American and from California as well, lived in the UK for 9 yrs now... just wanted to log in and give my opinion. Of all the schools you've mentioned, Birmingham is the best by far. I've nothing against Aberdeen, but as a city it is a lot smaller and a lot less diverse than a lot of the cities you could choose from. I'm not really clear on what sort of British university experience you're after. Are you looking for a university with a good international reputation that will help you find work when you move back? Or are you trying to find a city you can live in here and possibly stay on after you finish?
Original post by mbaker18
Please help!
I'm from Los Angeles and I've been accepted to University of Westminster, University of the Arts London (LCC MA Advertising), Royal Holloway, University of East Anglia, University of Aberdeen and University of Birmingham.
(all of the other unis are for Msc Marketing)
At first UAL was my top choice, it wasn't until I did research on student life/social life that I thought a "campus setting" would be a better fit. A few days ago I got an offer from University of Birmingham which changed everything. I thought it was a game changer because it had a campus and was a russell group uni which has a lot of respect and job opportunities.
I just landed in London about 8 hours ago for the first time and so far two Londoners have asked why I thought Birmingham was a good choice? They implied how boring it was and how if I'm coming to the UK, London is where I need to be. These were two random people, one at UK Boarder who suggested UAL because it was in London, the other around Camden Lock suggested Royal Holloway because its near London and is most respected of them all.
This has really thrown me off because they made it seem like it was a bad choice? In the U.S college ranking is everything so I figured, Bham being a russell group uni, would be a better option.
Please provide me with your honest opinions on which uni is most reputable and how I should go about deciding?
Long term goal: I know its difficult but I plan to eventually move to the UK and I want to have made a good choice in Uni.
Thank You!
I'm from Los Angeles and I've been accepted to University of Westminster, University of the Arts London (LCC MA Advertising), Royal Holloway, University of East Anglia, University of Aberdeen and University of Birmingham.
(all of the other unis are for Msc Marketing)
At first UAL was my top choice, it wasn't until I did research on student life/social life that I thought a "campus setting" would be a better fit. A few days ago I got an offer from University of Birmingham which changed everything. I thought it was a game changer because it had a campus and was a russell group uni which has a lot of respect and job opportunities.
I just landed in London about 8 hours ago for the first time and so far two Londoners have asked why I thought Birmingham was a good choice? They implied how boring it was and how if I'm coming to the UK, London is where I need to be. These were two random people, one at UK Boarder who suggested UAL because it was in London, the other around Camden Lock suggested Royal Holloway because its near London and is most respected of them all.
This has really thrown me off because they made it seem like it was a bad choice? In the U.S college ranking is everything so I figured, Bham being a russell group uni, would be a better option.
Please provide me with your honest opinions on which uni is most reputable and how I should go about deciding?
Long term goal: I know its difficult but I plan to eventually move to the UK and I want to have made a good choice in Uni.
Thank You!
OK, so I was born and brought up in Birmingham and now I live in London.
As an American what you won't know is that people in the UK, especially Londoners, like to badmouth Birmingham when they have never visited. At the most, they might have been on a day trip if that. Don't listen to them
Birmingham if great, its got everything you could ever want from a city, for about a third of the living costs of London. London is really really overrated, especially for Uni. You get a much better quality of life for your money in places like Birmingham or the North of the country.
In short: don't let ignorant and uninformed people dictate your uni choices and seriously feel free to ask me any questions about life in either Birmingham or London
Also, to add: Royal Holloway is so out of the way you might as well not be in London. It takes about an hour to get to central.
Aberdeen is in the middle of nowhere.
Edit: as for racism, Birmingham is the place I have experienced the least racism. My best friend from age 2 is black and she never had any issues, it is really well integrated and different races get on very well with each other. The vast majority of the people of Birmingham take a lot of pride in our history of being very accepting towards immigrants and multiculturalism pretty much defines Birmingham as a city. There is very little racial tension, the biggest being between the Somalian immigrants and Indian/Pakistani immigrants.
(edited 9 years ago)
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