The "Ask a Durham Student" Thread :)

hello,
I ve never been to Durham or england before so I am afraid that when I will travel to Durham everthing could go wrong..can you please help me in order not to get lost?they sent me a link that i can book a train ticket from london to durham but i dont know which train station i will choose (from station) i mean i prefer from heathrow because i will arrive at this airport so i will put heathrow rails?and why they say heathrow terminal (1 to 5) i dont know in which terminal i will be.. generally can you help me to decide the best way to travel and not to get lost and/or loose the train?

thanks

You need to get from Heathrow to Kings Cross, from where you can get a train straight up to Durham. Get a ticket from Heathrow to Durham. This ticket will take up across London so that you can get up to Durham.

You need to find out which terminal you're flying into, and then you'll be able to plan your journey. http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ is good for finding out exactly how to make the journey.

thanks for the replay!so when i find out which is the terminal i will choose the from destination as heatrow terminal x and then i will go to kings cross and from there i will take a direct train to durham?

they also told me to book my ticket through internet in order to be cheaper?is there a big difference or i can buy it from kings cross in order to be sure that i will catch it on time?

ok thanks do you ever need textbooks for lecture or practicals?? or only really in your room (or wherever you choose to study) ??

I can only speak for biology but for lectures you'll only need pen and in some cases paper (you'll get handouts of the slides, most people tend to write on these), and for labs you'll need your lab coat (you can buy at the beginning of the year for £10 if you don't already have one) and you'll get a lab script for each module at the beginning of the year which tells you what you do in each lab as well as when the labs are. You won't need textbooks in lectures but you can use them to go over the lecture material afterwards as in 1st year at least most of the material is basically out of the core textbooks and some slides have diagrams direct from the books.

Is it easy to find part time work in Durham?

Does anyone know what the 'one-off charge for College levies' (last year £339) is actually for at St. Aidan's college?

First year students also pay a one-off charge for College levies which for 2010-11 was £339; this included the University's sports levy of £126 per annum. NB: The charge for 2011-2012 is to be confirmed.

Do I need to carry blankets and bedspreads and pillowcases to Durham? Or do colleges provide that stuff?

From http://www.dur.ac.uk/st-aidans.college/undergraduate/fees/ :

Thanks, but that's the link where I found out about it in the first place. I was just wondering if anyone knew what the college fee actually pays for. Thanks for replying though!

I've looked all over the website, and I'm having trouble finding dates for congregation (graduation). I assume that it's similar all the time though, even if the exact date isn't settled.

I'll be working on my MSc from Oct 2011-Oct 2012. Does anyone know when the congregation for this would be?

Oh sorry, I misread your initial post! ("actually is" instead of "is actually for")

So the link says a third of it is the uni sports levy for being able to use all the relevant facilities (I think it's just for one year, but not sure) like Maiden Castle. I paid it, and wish I hadn't, since I ended up involved in no sports at all.

I think the rest is payment for being able to use college JCR facilities like washing machines, gym, etc (as opposed to college bills which cover accommodation, dining and the support like porters, cleaning, etc). But don't quote me on that.

Just wondering if there is any news yet on who will be taking over the reins as Chancellor?

Just on the off chance, does anyone know if there's like Fresher's groups on facebook? I swear all my friends going to other uni's seem to have joined a group for their uni on fb but I can't find one for Durham!

Just on the off chance, does anyone know if there's like Fresher's groups on facebook? I swear all my friends going to other uni's seem to have joined a group for their uni on fb but I can't find one for Durham!