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Is London really All it's Cracked Up to be?

Hi everyone. I've never been to London, but I've always heard that London is amazing and huge and so diverse and you could never get bored in it. I've never been to the UK in general so, really, compared to other cities(Manchester, Dublin, ect.) how does London compare? I liked that whole spread out campus sort of thing(not sure why, haha), I donno, I just like being in really big cities and stuff.

I really wanted to do a course that had 3 years in England or Ireland and 1 year in France(With International Business+French). But the only courses that had that were in Dublin and Manchester and maybe Birmingham, none in London because I'm not from the EU. But I like big cities a lot, and Manchester and Dublin don't really seem that big. I'm afraid I'm going to get bored of the city, they seem pretty small and only have like...1 main area of stuff to do, well, that's what Lonely Planet says at least, not sure if I can trust them.... :/

Do you guys who've been to Manchester and Dublin and Birmingham think of them as big cities like London? Also, out of those 3 cities(Man, Dub, Birm) which is the "best"?

Thanks everyone!

Reply 1

fishpaste

Right. Manchester is not London. It cannot be denied. London, is awesome. It's really quite something. But Manchester too, can be quite something. It has the biggest student population in Britain, population statistics can be misleading because alot of what would be considered the centre of Manchester is actually called Salford. The student experience is *the* student experience. I goto university in Cambridge. The nightlife is nothing short of atrocious. I'm from Manchester. The nightlife there is gosh I dunno how to say, infinite? There are hundreds of places to go out, probably thousands, numerous places will be open all night. In terms of nightlife, Manchester is exceptional and probably covers every conceivable base. The contrast for me is glaring, clubs in Cambridge can be counted on my hands, several of them close at midnight.

Out of the three of them, Manchester is the student city which has the 'vibe.'

Reply 2

lovemachine

1

London is pretty tight. ive only been in the summer. throguhout the rest of the yr, i hear the weathers pretty shitty..but theres still plenty to do. its a great city!

Reply 3

Adarah

16

hahaha, you'd get bored somewhere like Durham, but I don't think you'll get bored in Manchester or the like :wink:

Reply 4

silence

16

i live in london and i think it's amazing.

as well as stuff that every city has, london has more. the shops are obviously unbeatable , the parks are really impressive, the nightlife is great, there's tonnes of museums, and the history of the place is really fascinating. i mean, although i've been here for almost 18 years, with buildings from every century.

i'm going to birmingham next year, so i've had a look around there and it's nice. but i will actually miss london.

Reply 5

djk_99

13

I live near London and it is a great place. It has so much to do, its like any huge city. I can bet it would be a great student city, you'd never be bored there. I have also been to Manchester and that is pretty big. The uni is meant to be huge, and tons of students around. Birmingham is also pretty big, you really have chosen the biggest uni's really. I dont think you'd get bored in any of them, I think you'd be better off concentrating on course and general uni facilities and stuff. You can apply to all of them, and then make up your mind a bit later.

Reply 6

Starstrike

lovemachine

...ive only been in the summer. throguhout the rest of the yr, i hear the weathers pretty shitty...

lol! well that could be said for pretty much the whole country so your not gonna get much better no matter where you go.

out of interest, where is it in london you were looking at going to? which area and uni?

Reply 7

Madelyn

13

London's amazing and unique, studying there will be like nowhere else, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily the only or indeed best option. Manchester is also pretty cool and offers about the best student experience in the UK, as well as being a lot cheaper. Birmingham's huge, I find it as a city much more fragmented than places like Manchester and Sheffield (my city), but there's still enough to do there for it to last you a good few years. As I remember, the uni campus in both manchester and birmingham is just that, a campus, and restricted to one area of the city. It might not be totally practical, but the best way to find out if you like a place is to visit it - maybe you could come over to England for the summer or something?

Reply 8

Planxty

JakeR

Hi everyone. I've never been to London, but I've always heard that London is amazing and huge and so diverse and you could never get bored in it. I've never been to the UK in general so, really, compared to other cities(Manchester, Dublin, ect.) how does London compare? I liked that whole spread out campus sort of thing(not sure why, haha), I donno, I just like being in really big cities and stuff.

I really wanted to do a course that had 3 years in England or Ireland and 1 year in France(With International Business+French). But the only courses that had that were in Dublin and Manchester and maybe Birmingham, none in London because I'm not from the EU. But I like big cities a lot, and Manchester and Dublin don't really seem that big. I'm afraid I'm going to get bored of the city, they seem pretty small and only have like...1 main area of stuff to do, well, that's what Lonely Planet says at least, not sure if I can trust them.... :/

Do you guys who've been to Manchester and Dublin and Birmingham think of them as big cities like London? Also, out of those 3 cities(Man, Dub, Birm) which is the "best"?

Thanks everyone!

Why not stay in Boston?

Friends of mine who have been there (and everywhere) said its like THE best city in the world. I originally intended to go to college there (to Berklee) coz Ireland sucks for music courses uni wise, but Berklee is 30k a year. Which i could definitely NOT afford :frown:

I'd give anything to be livin in boston. Where Winter is winter and summer is summer. Not random whether like ireland. Where the sun shines while it lashes rain!

Reply 9

JakeR

OP

1

Why not stay in Boston?

Friends of mine who have been there (and everywhere) said its like THE best city in the world. I originally intended to go to college there (to Berklee) coz Ireland sucks for music courses uni wise, but Berklee is 30k a year. Which i could definitely NOT afford

I'd give anything to be livin in boston. Where Winter is winter and summer is summer. Not random whether like ireland. Where the sun shines while it lashes rain!

hahahah first of all, the weather here is so messed up, we had a blizzard here last week. and in the middle of february every year it's 75(crap...celcuis...um...28?). also, i don't like the american college system. Also, I've lived in Boston for 9 years already and I want to see/live in other places. Boston is really cool, yea, but it's different when you aren't a tourist, not really sure how to explain it.

It might not be totally practical, but the best way to find out if you like a place is to visit it - maybe you could come over to England for the summer or something?

yea, i think i'm going to go to London, Manchester, Birmingham, and Dublin for 2 weeks in the summer before I apply. It'd probobly only cost me like...$900, and I think it's worth it, I fly for free(dad works for American Airlines) so it ends up being pretty cheap. plus it'd be fun! :biggrin:

out of interest, where is it in london you were looking at going to? which area and uni?

Well in London I was looking at LSE, City, and Kings, and maybe London Metro Uni(?), but those aren't my favorite programs.

Reply 10

naivesincerity

2

JakeR

Hi everyone. I've never been to London, but I've always heard that London is amazing and huge and so diverse and you could never get bored in it. I've never been to the UK in general so, really, compared to other cities(Manchester, Dublin, ect.) how does London compare? I liked that whole spread out campus sort of thing(not sure why, haha), I donno, I just like being in really big cities and stuff.
!

In my view, its overrated. It is huge, but most of that, frankly, is either ugly downtrodden sprawl, or boring suburbs. If you reduce it down to the areas of London that might be regarded as beautiful, or full of stuff to do, or that people can actually afford to live in, you're not left with as much as people make out. Its nowhere near as good as Paris in my view, for atmosphere, beauty, anything.

Reply 11

Madelyn

13

Do you know which King's campus you'd be on? The Strand, where most arts/humanities-type courses are, is a great location (easily walkable to/from King's Cross/St. Pancras, British Library, UCL, Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross, Leicester Square, most of the halls, and loads of other places), St Guy's (which I think is just the medical stuff) is waaay out in Camberwell, which is good for its cheap accommodation and decent buses, but has much less in the way of nightlife, and a smaller student population, as well as no tube. The other campus I know nothing about.
I think LSE is also in quite a good place, as I remember it's somewhere near UCL and King's.
If you do visit them, maybe try staying in their halls? Definitely London and I think other unis let out rooms during the holidays, and they're not hugely expensive and are right in the centre of the city.

Reply 12

kitsune

12

naivesincerity

In my view, its overrated. It is huge, but most of that, frankly, is either ugly downtrodden sprawl, or boring suburbs. If you reduce it down to the areas of London that might be regarded as beautiful, or full of stuff to do, or that people can actually afford to live in, you're not left with as much as people make out. Its nowhere near as good as Paris in my view, for atmosphere, beauty, anything.

WHAT??? I've been to Paris twice and it has beautiful places but I was expecting something better of "la cité de l'amour"... I think London is a great place... although in a way... i's the centre of the world... midway between NYC and Tokyo I'd say it's the most important city in Europe... although it's not quite european...

By the way, did you see the thing on TV about Bush's wife saying bad stuff aobut him and all the people there laughing (in my point of) at him?!! It was funny! (I say this because of the quotes in your signature!)

Reply 13

JakeR

OP

1

I was looking at London Metropolitan, and the program I like there is at the North Campus, how far away is that from London? They describe it like it's really far, but I looked at the Tube map and it doesn't look that far. Is it really way out there?

Madelyn: Yea, the program I like there is at Strand, but I'm starting to like that program less and less.

Reply 14

naivesincerity

2

kitsune

WHAT??? I've been to Paris twice and it has beautiful places but I was expecting something better of "la cité de l'amour"... I think London is a great place... although in a way... i's the centre of the world... midway between NYC and Tokyo I'd say it's the most important city in Europe... although it's not quite european...

By the way, did you see the thing on TV about Bush's wife saying bad stuff aobut him and all the people there laughing (in my point of) at him?!! It was funny! (I say this because of the quotes in your signature!)

Didn't see it!..... i do like certain areas of London, like Bloomsbury, for example.....and its got the history, its impressive in parts...but as a whole i don't quite see what the fuss is about....I'm surprised you were dissapointed by Paris, i loved it.....each to their own i guess

Reply 15

Madelyn

13

What's the tube stop for london met? The tube map isn't to scale or anything, so it doesn't really show you how far places are from each other.

Reply 16

JakeR

OP

1

What's the tube stop for london met? The tube map isn't to scale or anything, so it doesn't really show you how far places are from each other.

For the North Campus:
Holloway Road (Piccadilly Line)
Highbury & Islington (Victoria Line)

Also, If I did go there, Could I just stay in accomidation downtown and commute there? I looked it up(from the accomidation that I like downtown) and it's only 13 minutes by tube away. Do a lot of people stay at accomidation at different campus's then they go to?