by Amanda Nguyen
Intro:
Lancaster University is located in the North of England, about an hour away from Manchester. It might be small, but it is one of the busiest towns. Rather than a city landscape, the town is surrounded by acres of land.
Accommodation:
Make sure you research each one to choose the best college that suits your needs!!! I personally chose Lonsdale because it was known as the ‘party college’, and my liver is basically damaged, but it was soo worth it. Make sure you try and participate in all the activities and nights out during Freshers Week, and the occasional events that occur during the year.
Depending on your budget, I would definitely recommend the ensuite room because you have your own shower and toilet, rather than sharing with other students. If you’re up for it, cook your own meals in the shared kitchen that you share with your flatmates, rather than doing the easy option and getting catering.
Campus:
Campus is huge, depending on your college, it could be a massive trek to your classes. I would not recommend Cartmel college if you hate walking.There’s loads of football fields and a gym/swimming pool on campus. It’s worth getting a membership if you don’t want to gain a bit of weight from all that drinking/eating out. If you’re feeling lazy to make food or going to town to purchase food, there is quite a lot of food places to eat as well. There is a Subway, Greggs (AMAZING meat pies and sausage rolls for sooo cheap) and the best cheesy chips/burritos are at Fylde college.
Academics:
I did all my marketing subjects at Lancaster and I find the difficulty on par with UNSW. There are a lot of group assignments but I find British students are more determined than back at UNSW.
Also, ALL your final exams will be in the third/final semester. So you’ve got the holidays between semester 2/3 and beginning of the third semester to study for your exams. It’s a win/lose situation because you have heaps of time to study, but you’re going to struggle with remembering content all the way from the first semester.
Night life:
The hottest destination in town is definitely ‘Sugar.’ Wednesday nights is know as “sugar Night,’ when its packed with Lancaster students. A great place for pre-drinks is Mint. You can buy 5 jagerbombs for 5 pounds on Wednesday nights before you head to Sugar. A great place to stock up would be Sainsbury’s, which constantly has discounts on alcohol. The cheapest option for me was buying a 1L bottle of Russian Standard Vodka that lasted me about 3 weeks, along with the store-brand mixers.
Surrounding Area and Travel:
Considering you’re in the heart of Europe, you basically could travel anywhere. During the holidays, book some trips for countries around Europe! I definitely recommend using hostelworld.com. I was never a ‘hostel person’, but some hostels out there are 10/10, and they’re also excellent for meeting new people. Browse around skyscanner.com for cheap flights and research train prices between European countries
Extra-Circulars:
Similar to UNSW, Lancaster provide loads of sports teams and societies. In the third (and final) semester every year, there’s an event called Roses that occurs for a week where Lancaster Uni and Uni of York compete against each other in a number of sporting events. They take turns holding it at each other’s uni, so hopefully you’ll be lucky enough to experience it at Lancaster! It’s great to watch because everyone’s so competitive, especially in regards to the football matches.
General tips and Conclusion:
Budgeting is extremely important – I tried to limit my purchases to 100 pounds a week. It might seem a lot, but that’s only because of all the nights out. I’d recommend cooking a lot rather than eating take out, because you will seriously gain a lot of weight. Make loads of fake emails so you can take advantage of the Sainsbury’s first-timer discount on purchasing groceries. Google discount codes as well!If you’re looking for a haircut/colour, Prestige is your place to go. You should also invest in a good pair of boots and a coat – it rains A LOT
UNSW Commerce (International) Society 