Arrive & Survive in Coventry (UK): A Survival Guide for your First Weeks at Coventry University

A Survival Guide for your First Weeks at Coventry University... or: What you wished you had known before moving to the West-Midlands' city of: Lady Godiva (belgian chocolate anyone?), the world's two fastest cars (Coventry Transport Museum), Global Headquarters of the classic Jaguar cars and admired scenery of The Italian Job (original) and Keeping Up Appearances.

or how I ended up at: Enlarge for bigger map - R04, Second Floor Middle Bedroom, 33 Northumberland Road, Spon End, Coventry, CV1 3AP, West Midlands, England, Great Britain, United Kingdom (of Great Britain & Northern Ireland), European continent, Commonwealth Nation, Northern Hemisphere, Earth.

Put on this tune and enjoy some great music while reading...

This post is actually very much oriented towards belgians who are thinking about continuing there studies at Coventry. If you're not belgian (and will thus not be able to enjoy/understand this part), do skip this module and continue reading as from beneath the KHLeuven-logo.

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If you're studying a professional Bachelor (Hogeschool) in Business Management in Belgium and are thinking about going for a Masters, you have several options: 

First, you can try to go for a Masters in Belgium, by doing the so-called "transition year" in which you are supposed to catch up on all the theoretical classes you missed during the first three years that you were at College (hogeschool) and University-students had these classes. So basically, you're supposed to catch up all the boring parts of three years, accumulated into one (as I hear, really though) year. This is not easy.

Second, you can go for a Masters abroad directly. A couple of the Universities KHLeuve has good connections with are: ECS Rennes, Coventry University, Warwick University, etc. (more to be found via KHLeuven - changes annually). This might be a big step: going from undergraduate (bachelor) in Leuven to postgraduate (Masters) abroad.

Third, there's the "easy way". At KHLeuven, all bachelors in business management/communications management/.. can start a Postbachelor or Bachelor-Na-Bachelor (Postrgraduate) in different courses, all called Advanced Business Management. During this two-semesters program a broader range of specific courses are given by business professionals (unlike during the Bachelor's, where most teachers had some good, but often unapplicable for their students, business experience). The second semester focusses on a company-intern project, basically an internship followed by a thesis on the project one worked on. After this postgraduate, depending on which one you exactly did, you are able to go for a Masters of Science in International/Strategic/Advertising/... Marketing at Coventry or Warwick University. As I only know about Coventry, I'll focus on these advantages: 

• Only 2 instead of 3 semesters. Thanks to the previous degree, for all classes of the first semesters, KHLeuven-alumni are exempted. So instead of studying from September-September, it's actually from January-September. This saves you time (you win a semester) and money (tuition fee).
• Coming from KHLeuven, includes that you get a (quite big) discount on the tuition fee to be paid for the remaining two semesters.
• As during Semester 3 (well 2 if you don't count the exemption semester), students are "only" supposed to write a thesis OR do an internship & projectpaper, students only really should stay in Coventry for one semester (January-May) saving them money for accomodation.
• Something that (probably) counts for most intl. univerisities. If a belgian student has the right to receive a studying fee from the belgian government at a university or college in Belgium, and if the study the student will undertake abroad are not achieveble within Belgium, the student will probably also receive a studying fee when studying abroad ! (usefull financial information right?). For more info call 1700 (within Belgium only)

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I must admit that after having studied at ECS Rennes in fall 2011 as an Erasmus-student (read all about it on the previous link), I had quite high expectations on getting installed and studying abroad of Belgium. In some ways, unfortunately, I was disappointed in the way things are done at the British side of the Channel. On the other hand, some things are better here. " Not better, not worse. Just different" as we say at AFS Intercultural Programs.

Let me try to explain to you what I would have loved to know before coming to Coventry. 

1. Accomodation
• FutureLets Coventry: an organization within CU solely responsible for housing of students. Although they're very friendly when you meet them, it sometimes takes a while to answer you via e-mail as they are extremely busy at the beginning of each semester. When calling them, make sure that whatever you want is actually being taken care of as they tend to "forget" your calls. Two tips: start searching in time &/or go to Coventry yourself before semester begins to find a place you'd like living in. I personally just arrived at the FutureLets office during a random day at the beginning of semester, asked if there were still rooms left within my budget and they (awesome service!) actually drove us around the city in a minivan, showing us all these different houses. But this might not be the best way, as obviously all the best accomodations are already taken at the beginning of semester. FutureLets demands an 80Pound extra 'accomodation' fee, which basically means they ask 80£ to handle the paperwork you give them by renting a room. Moreover, at the end of your stay, even if you have perfectly cleaned the house, they will charge you an extra 35£ to clean the rooms without telling us. Also, It took me about 7weeks to get my warranty (minus 80£ minus 35£) back. So NO, I did not have a good experience with them. 1 Tip: DON'T GO WITH FUTURELETS. IT'S BAD. Trust me, I've been there. 
• Private: private owners are also renting their houses/appartments. Although sometimes cheaper, it is not easy to find them and issues concerning contracts etc. are obviously more current. 
• Others: include: Accomodation for Students, RightMove, Coventry University Student Accomodation (Facebook-group), Looking for a room in Coventry (Facebook-group), Gosford Estates Coventry, Coventry Rooms, ...
2. Usefull stores
• The UK is not the cheapest place for shopping as you might know. But if you are willing to do an effort, you can easily save money for more fun stuff than for useless expensive shopping. A lot of different supermarket chains have one or more stores in Coventry. Find the addresses, close to where you live on Google Maps. I'm talking about: Ikea (in the city centry!): Morrissons, Sainsbury's, Aldi, Tesco's, Poundland (everything for 1pound!), local shops,... are probably the most known and biggest stores. 
• Shopping: in the city centre there are lots of different shops, including H&M, etc. all located on or near the infamous Upper and Lower Precincts. Concerning clothes shopping I can only recommend one place: Primark. The girls will know what it is, the guys will soon discover its advantages (and disadvantages). 
3. Transportation
• Within Coventry, to university etc.: Coventry is actually a small city, so wherever you need to go, usually it should be within a 10-25mins walk. A bike might be usefull, but honestly it's not necessary. Taxi's are cheap and usefull during nights out. 
• National/within UK: UK's national train systems are not cheap, unless you book at least a month in advance. The best options for travelling around the country are probably: 
• Train: The Trainline & Virgin Trains
• Bus: Eurolines & Megabus. Be aware that Eurolines leaves from City Centre, near the gym and university, but Megabus doesn't. It will cost you about 10£ by taxi to get to its stop in Warwack, which is about the amount you save on the ticket compared to Eurolines. 
• International: as foreign students, you might want to head back to your homecountry (within Europe) sometimes. The best options are probably: 
• Planes: with the airports of Birmingham, Manchester & London Heathrow and Stansted all within a two-hour drive. 
• Bus: Same as national transport. To travel to Europe, a lay-over in London (straight from Coventry) is needed. I tried the bus: Coventrey-London-Brussels and I have had plenty of nights on busses in South-America, but the lay-over at Dover port, where everyone needs to disembark, show passports etc. etc. takes so much time that we actually missed the boat. Both times. Not advisable. 
• Train: Eurostar: taking the train to London, and 3stops via underground will get you to London St. Pancrass where all international trains leave from. Beautiful train station by the way. Be sure to arrive at least 45mins before international departures as you need to pass by security, ID or passport-control etc. Expensive but advisable if you know your free dates long in advance, as it might even be cheaper -and way faster- than the bus. 
• Do you need a car?: honestly: no. You can do everything by foot or taxi. If you think about moving there with a group of friends, like sharing a house, it might be a good idea though. This way you can easily do: shopping, excursions, etc. and split the costs. 
4. Expenses: It's hard to determine how much your stay in Coventry will cost, as it depends on how much you are willing to spend as well as to how "expensive" your lifestyle is. 
• Tuition Fees: are pretty strict and straight forward. Find the 2014-fees here.
• Accomodation: as stated above, various organizations offer accomodation. The prices vary from 200-600Pounds per person or per room, depending on the offer. 
• Food: I would say that, even though the UK is more expensive, food should be not much more expensive if you compare prices. Sometimes I went to the chinese supermarket where I would buy a ton of noodles, rise etc. which give you healthy food for at least a couple of days. 
• Money Issues: Bank. This is a common problem among itnernational students. For Belgians I would opt for the following choices:
• Open a UK bank accound: enables you to extract pounds for free, gets you a membership for the gym etc. 
• Keep you belgian account: but remember that it will costs you retreival and exchange fees every time you withdraw. The best option I know of is Argenta bank. They let you retreive money for free anywhere in the world, as long as you let your bank know in advance. 
5. Travelling within UK: as students tend to have a lot of free time, which should be spent 'studying' a lot of opportunities exist to visit other places/cities/... within the UK. University organises trips to big cities, like Liverpool, Cambridge or Bristol, for very cheap prices (ask around on campus). Nothing stops you from travelling alone though. English is a fairly easy language and everybody (sort of) speaks it there...
6. Things to do and see in Coventry
• Coventry Transport Museum, Coventry Watch Museum, Coventry's Belgian Bar and obviously the campus, because (some parts of it) are really neat architectural pieces of art. 
• More info concerning: Coventry, TripAdvisor on Coventry, Virtual Tourist on Coventry


7. Need help?: get in touch with the University and they will easily help you or forward your questions to the right person! You can be assisted at: 
• Student Centre
• Reception of each building at the univeristy campus
• Departmental reception: of the department you're studying at.
• Facebook: CU International - Intake Group, Coventry University International, Coventry University, Coventry University Student Union, ...
• Twitter: Coventry University Campus, Coventry International Students
• Website: Coventry International
• Coventry University official Student Blog: CovUniInternational. Good example: Packing for Coventry

Alright, I know this was probably boring to read, but I do hope that in the future other students will be eager to read this and have a good start at Coventry University!

_cheers mate'

One more thing: if you're afraid of a culture shock... When you see a 40-year old eating a kebab in a disgusting kebab-place regularly, you know you're in the UK. 

PS: If you're thinking of quitting school before you achieve your diploma, here's a tip: Stay in school kids