You'll be spending a lot on tube fares then.

About the Council Tax, I'm not too sure about it myself but AFAIK, my landlord mentioned that they will settle it for me so I have no worries about it and all I need to pay is the rent agreed.

I'm not sure about Zone 1/2 but I was talking to one of the staff yesterday and they managed to find a 350GBP room in Southwark so basically, you might just need to browse around.

if u're a student, u dont have to pay for council tax. u'll need to provide ur landlord with the details (proof of study bla bla bla), and they'll settle it for u. landlords sometimes prefer students coz it'll take a huge chunk of the total council tax, so it'll actually benefit them.

on accommodations, usually u have 1 year contract the first year u stay here. but do mention this to ur accommodations office. they can provide/change u into a spouse room, which is within ur contract. breaking off the 1 year contract, however, is a little harder. u need to check with the accom. office.

another thing:

in london virtually all rents are calculated by week, not monthly. there're 12 months a year, or 52 weeks a year. dont just convert a GBP100 per week into GBP400 a month. here's why:

400 a month = 4800 a year
100 per week = 5200 a year

i made this mistake when i first came here. i thought i misplaced some of my money. then my flatmate told me to recalculate this. easy money for the landlords!

I fell for that too >_>

Just remember to calculate it based on 52 weeks and not by 12 month

for online shopper, try looking into this site

www.quidco.com

lots of rebates/extra discounts there

oh yeah, quid is another term for pound. so people can go around and say "that's ten quid, luv", which means 10 pounds

Checkout The Star today (Sunday). A good guide (in Education section) for those who are bound for UK & US soon. Any further questions, please do ask in here

I don't think it is only meant for US and UK bound students. It's a good read for all who are going overseas.

This post has been edited by feynman: Jul 30 2006, 04:09 PM

Oh shucks, I don't read the Star. Do they still have the article online?

Yeap. They do. Click here

If you need more detailed information don't miss EducationUK's pre-departure briefing this 19th August 2-4pm at British Council. I went for the earlier session, very informative and can even get info about visa application.
Check out

http://www.educationuk.org.my/

agree ...

Also the trick with keeping warm in extreme cold is all about layering, not about expensive specially made thermal wear or using wools/cashmere/angora only but layers.

Also remember that in most cases u will be spending time inside heated spaces so make sure your outer wear is easily removable or you will boil inside your hall/classrooms/lecturehalls with their superduper heaters.

Also remember again that London aint that cold in comparison to the other (generally northern) parts of UK.

one thing... extreme cold? uk?

actually a quality cashmere and a good coat would save you from wearing many layers of crappy stuff. as you say, it could be quite warm indoors, so wearing many layers is a pain in the ass if you move in and out.

Dude, u obviously haven't been to scotland eh?

ALso, when I was in Uni it was during the strange phenomenon of siberian cold stream or some such thing. I lived mainly in Nottingham and the temp over Xmas holidays was minus 10. Inside my heated house. I can't imagine it outside. Blizzard conditions where we got snowed in 3 days. 3 1/2 feet snow,wheehay!

yes i have been up there to peak at the kilted peasants before.

of the 11 years i was there, could only remember a few occasions where you could say that it approaches 'extreme' cold and they never last very long. but then again, you are talking to malaysians where 15 degrees C is considered extreme.

Another robinhood agent?

When i was there last time, it reach minus 14

Miss nottingham

Btw, as for clothing, best is wear 2-3 t-shirt with 1 jacket. but if you just reach uk, need couple weeks to use to the temp.

forget glove and internal thema clothing.

This post has been edited by chamelion: Aug 4 2006, 11:01 AM

Hmmm...reading all the posts on clothing, I guess it all boils down to personal preference.

True, layering traps heat, but it's a hassle to take it off when indoors.

Yeap. It is personal preference. For example, I only wear 1 t-shirt and a pair of jeans plus a wind breaker during winter. My friends say I'm crazy, but the fact is, I prefer cold weather than hot weather.

There's once (or twice or maybe more) whereby me and my friend drank hot milo (plus smoke ciggies) outside our acoomodation during winter. We only wore t-shirt and short pants plus a pair of slippers. My friend is suffering while I'm fine with it . The drink became cold within 5 mins

Whoa...u serious?? Geez...I wish my cold tolerance was like that.

Anywayz, want to ask about something else. Sorry if I seem ignorant

How do students usually use the Internet there? Is it like Malaysia (phone line etc)? Or do they go wireless every where?