The "Ask a Durham Student" Thread :)

Reply 800

12

Slender Loris

Are you going in less than 7 days then? Usually I get an advance single with railcard to London or Southampton from Durham for about £13...

Yeah going in four days (not planned in advance you can tell :p:

) - can I risk it and buy an open return on the day? Or will it be more expensive? When I went to Cambridge it was much cheaper - book open return the day before was £60, on the day I paid £12!

Is it too risky though? :s-smilie:

Reply 801

Shaksi

12

River85

I would have thought £60 for a return, even at this short notice. Nevermind. I'm almost as bad. Rail travel in this country is just far too confusing.

I know people who'd pay twice that to come to Durham! (I'm really selling it now :smile:

)

Heh, I'd pay £100 if I had to (I want to go that much :redface:

)

Only prob with going to uni there (if they accepted me of course) is travelling between home and Durham. I hear you can't keep your stuff up there, you have to take it home every term. How would you take that on a train :s-smilie:

Reply 802

Hopping Mad Kangaroo

15

Shaksi

Yeah going in four days (not planned in advance you can tell :p:

) - can I risk it and buy an open return on the day? Or will it be more expensive? When I went to Cambridge it was much cheaper - book open return the day before was £60, on the day I paid £12!

Is it too risky though? :s-smilie:

The most you are going to have to pay is for a Saver Return ticket, so check that out first, then decide whether or not to make your gamble.

Reply 803

Shaksi

12

Hopping Mad Kangaroo

The most you are going to have to pay is for a Saver Return ticket, so check that out first, then decide whether or not to make your gamble.

OK thanks

Reply 804

generic hybrid

17

One thing you might want to try is splitting your journey up... if you're going from London to Durham try buying two tickets from London to Sheffield and then Sheffield to Durham that are on the same train. You might have to shift seats but a lot of the time it is quicker and National Rail allows it.

Not sure if Sheffield is on the route but it's just an example.

Reply 805

River85

17

generic hybrid

One thing you might want to try is splitting your journey up... if you're going from London to Durham try buying two tickets from London to Sheffield and then Sheffield to Durham that are on the same train. You might have to shift seats but a lot of the time it is quicker and National Rail allows it.

Not sure if Sheffield is on the route but it's just an example.

No, Sheffield isn't on the East Coast mainline (although Doncaster is). You can still go to Sheffield from Durham by getting on a train that connects to West Coast Mainline and then travel from Sheffield to London. That wouldn't be quicker than London to Durham direct.

You may be able to get a quicker train if you travelled to/from Newcastle and gettting the London Kings Cross train that has limted stops (one of the stops it doesn't call it being Durham). But that would be a hassle, probably more expensive and still no quicker as you have to go north just to go back south again.

Durham to London, directly on the mainline, is 2.5 - 3 hours depending on the service. You wouldn't find anything quicker than that. I'm open to being proven wrong, however.

Reply 806

Hopping Mad Kangaroo

15

generic hybrid

One thing you might want to try is splitting your journey up... if you're going from London to Durham try buying two tickets from London to Sheffield and then Sheffield to Durham that are on the same train. You might have to shift seats but a lot of the time it is quicker and National Rail allows it.

Not sure if Sheffield is on the route but it's just an example.

If you go into a train station they have to do that for you by law.

Reply 807

arkbar

12

I wouldn't use the phrase cellphone, that's my advice :p:

. What college are you at? Reception was pretty terrible upon the hill in first year but has got a lot better now and I get reception almost everywhere on Orange.

Reply 808

*River

15

O2's pretty good all over.

Reply 809

Itchynscratchy

10

*River

O2's pretty good all over.

Reply 810

de.novo

7

Is Orange absolute crap in Durham? Will I have to go waving my phone around at strategic spots to get reception?

And why can't we call it a cellphone? Cellphone, mobile phone, hand phone. Same difference. :p:

Reply 811

Piggsil

16

O2 used to be crap, but it's ok now. Orange is fine as well! Don't know about other networks but I imagine vodaphone works ok.

Reply 812

Aula

18

vodafone is good. I sometimes struggle a little in the curves in Aidan's, but otherwise I rarely have a problem.

Reply 813

*River

15

T Mobile is pretty awful, no idea about Vodaphone.

Reply 814

Hopping Mad Kangaroo

15

*River

T Mobile is pretty awful, no idea about Vodaphone.

T mobile seems to vary with type of network I have found. Though neither works too well in Aidans it seems...

Reply 815

de.novo

7

Becca

O2 used to be crap, but it's ok now. Orange is fine as well! Don't know about other networks but I imagine vodaphone works ok.

Well that's a bit of a relief. Thanks. :smile:

Reply 816

iliketurtles

12

de.novo

Well that's a bit of a relief. Thanks. :smile:

Just to echo what others have said, o2 is pretty good. Reception used to be non-existent indoors on the science site and patchy on the hill, but now it's ok :smile:

It's poor at the bottom end of the Bailey near Cuth's unless you're outside.

Reply 817

Bassoonery

Shaksi

OK

^

Ahh awesome! Did you find it to be useful? I'm pretty sure I'm going to apply to Durham (I kinda have my heart set on it :redface:

) so hopefully I wont hate it when I get there. It better be worth it, haha, the tickets are gonna cost me £100 or so :rolleyes:

What did you do during the day? Did you just walk around? I guess my friend and I will just go see a couple of colleges (maybe arrange a tour in advance as someone suggested), have lunch and just explore the city.

Thanks

Not sure if you will have been by now but in reply, yes it was useful but to be honest I didn't actually learn a lot that isn't in the prospectus or on the website. It was just a nice day out and good to get a feel for distances involved and the geography of the city. And I discovered how hilly it is, my legs killed when I got home, but maybe ballet pumps were a bad idea for a day walking on cobbles...

Contacting the colleges in advance would be a good idea. You definitely won't hate it, I don't think it's possible, unless you have a phobia of nice places!

Hope you have a good time!

Reply 818

River85

17

Bassoonery

And I discovered how hilly it is, my legs killed when I got home

Sofite

It does take it out of you, day in and day out. Especially for those who need to make the hike back up to the train station most days.

Oh crap, the 250,000 has gone on Deal or No Deal....

Reply 819

de.novo

7

deathlyhallow

A couple of random questions that came to mind:

1. Will I need to invest in a printer to connect to my laptop, or will computer rooms be sufficient?

2. My college said that we can move in from the 2nd onwards but have to be there on the 5th... will I be very lonely if I'm there on the 2nd or 3rd?

3. How long do parents usually stay after dropping us off?

1. I will be investing in a printer. I really don't see myself lining up to print one especially when there are deadlines.

2. I will have to be there on the 2nd as well, given the fact that I am considered an international student for fee purposes. We can go for a pre-freshers bar crawl.

3. I think my parents are going to drop me off and leave. Maybe stay for that day. But they are not going to be sticking around for long.

Wow... I answered all of them and I'm not a current student yet. Fantastic yea? :rolleyes:

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