Durham International Foundation Year

2

I'll be starting my foundation year at Durham soon as an Internation Student (from South East Asia btw), studying for their English Literature course. Anything I need to know/expect? I've never been to UK and have no friends studying in Durham, or any uni near Durham for that matter lmao. Really nervous so wanted to ask for some advice on here, thanks! :smile:

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 1

WhitneyPowel

4

hey which advise do you want how can i help you?

Original post

by kapcake

I'll be starting my foundation year at Durham soon as an Internation Student (from South East Asia btw), studying for their English Literature course. Anything I need to know/expect? I've never been to UK and have no friends studying in Durham, or any uni near Durham for that matter lmao. Really nervous so wanted to ask for some advice on here, thanks! :smile:

Reply 2

kapcake

OP

2

Original post

by WhitneyPowel

hey which advise do you want how can i help you?

oh just anything really. like say, the weather, cuz I've been living in a pretty hot area my whole life and I'm not sure how much jackets should I bring lol. and was wondering if the people there are really racist towards asians and stuff.

Reply 3

textured-balcony

2

Original post

by kapcake

oh just anything really. like say, the weather, cuz I've been living in a pretty hot area my whole life and I'm not sure how much jackets should I bring lol. and was wondering if the people there are really racist towards asians and stuff.

Hope you are doing well and how was ur foundation year ? I will start this year and I am so nervous

Reply 4

DurhamRep Lesath

Official Rep

9

Original post

by kapcake

I'll be starting my foundation year at Durham soon as an Internation Student (from South East Asia btw), studying for their English Literature course. Anything I need to know/expect? I've never been to UK and have no friends studying in Durham, or any uni near Durham for that matter lmao. Really nervous so wanted to ask for some advice on here, thanks! :smile:

Hello!

As a fellow international student from Sri Lanka, I'd like to assure you that at least in my experience Durham has become almost like a second home! I'd definitely say there isn't much to worry about but I do have a few tips and tricks I've picked up along the way that hopefully can help you out!

For outfits, you WILL need some good winter clothes. If you can find some really warm clothes back home, its probably a good idea to get a few there but I'd recommend buying most of them here (you can buy really cheap ones second hand on Vinted or from shops in town/Newcastle). I'd recommend getting gloves that work with touchscreens too and earmuffs (though headphones work completely fine in my experience!) I'd also recommend getting some good leather/walking shoes that ideally aren't white (trust me white shoes will become brown by the end of the year here). You might also want to buy some thermal clothing (though they aren't necessary if you aren't doing a sport in my opinion)

I'd also say that most essential South East Asian food can be found here through our Asian shops here (and recently I've noticed Tesco/Lidl stocking up on more ethnic food too!) If you have any speciality spices or foodstuffs though, I'd recommend bringing them here as they could be hard to come by.

I'd also recommend bringing your suits/formal dresses and - if you have it - a black tie outfit as well. Durham has a lot of formal events and balls and most of these have formal dress codes so it's better to be prepared from day one. I'd also recommend bringing your cultural clothing as well for celebration during things like Global Week!

Generally, I did find that going from Asia to Durham was a big difference but you'll get used to it, like I did!

Good luck!
– Lesath (DU Rep.)

P.S. Get ready for the cold.

Durham International Foundation Year

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