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I was given the opportunity to complete my PhD at Cambridge University. Pending my visa, I'll be moving come late September/Early October. I haven't had a chance to visit or even talk to anyone who's lived there. All I really know is that (a) it's small, and even whiter than the pacific northwest, and (b) there's a train to london. I need to make living arrangements. I'm getting paid fairly well (a little over 20K) due to a combination of fellowships and visa requirements. I want to live close enough to the medical campus that I can walk to work and the gym, but also central enough such that I can easily get to the trains and what nightlife destinations there are. Plussss I'd like to live alone, in a studio or a mother in law. My other concern is.. well, nightlife and the people. Music, especially. I'm not a huge fan of indie-ish stuff, EDM, or pop - I like hip-hop, R&B, and reggae/dance hall. Are there any places in cambridge that play this kind of music? Is there even anything beyond pubs? How reasonable is it for me to travel to and from London for a night out?
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Jul 26, 2014 00:02
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| # ? Apr 28, 2024 23:04 |
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I'm not a medic so I can't help much wrt good accommodation, but if by 'medical campus' you mean Addenbrooke's it's so far out of the way that I imagine you'll probably have to compromise. E.g. on walking to work, all the physicists I know use bikes and the physics labs are significantly closer to the city centre than Addenbrooke's. Depending on your idea of 'walking distance', you'd basically have to be away from the centre and isolated from the rest of the university almost by definition. I don't know how representative they are but I've met quite a few medic postgrads who opt to live in the city centre and just commute to Addenbrooke's. By all accounts the Cambridge nightlife is ... not great, at least compared to other universities (though I'm not a party person so I'm not one to judge). Most clubs do do R&B and hip-hop, though, I think -- I know Fez and Cindies (Ballare) do -- but generally mixed in with other stuff. Travel to and from London is easy and I've gone for nights out in London plenty of times. Trains go to and from King's Cross and a return ticket there is £16, travelcard £22. As far as whiteness goes I think the university itself is reasonably diverse by UK standards, especially at postgrad level -- though if you're from America that probably doesn't count for much!
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Jul 26, 2014 15:57
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I've lived in Cambridge for the last 5 years. Echoing the poster above, nightlife is pretty bleak. There are a few generic clubs dotted around the centre of the city, but mostly in the form of cocktail bars with a few dancefloors here and there. I can't comment about them too much though experience so I'll skip over that part. In regards to living arrangements - I assume you mean you're on around £20k? Expect just under half of your take-home pay to go on rent alone. If you're a student you probably won't need to worry about council tax. For a studio apartment set aside around £650-700 per month all in if you plan to live in actual Cambridge. If you're going to be working or going to and from Addenbrookes a lot, consider looking for somewhere to live in Cherry Hinton - it's a district at the southern end of the city and affords you a minor break from the huge rental prices, though you may struggle to find much other than house shares there. The same applies to the town of Milton, which is on the other side of the A14 and could probably be considered part of Cambridge. People-wise... more or less what you can expect from a city built around a prestigious university. A fair few eccentric types, high-brow academics, lots of guys in chinos, dress shoes and blazers. I've never been to the university and struggle to find much common ground with most in the city, but that's my experience only. I'm sure they're nice enough though. Also I hope you like huge groups asian and europian tourists.  I'll add a bit more to this post if I think of anything more constructive!
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Jul 26, 2014 22:31
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Technically I'll be considered an employee. It's complicated, but it's a combination of remaining a PhD student at my US institution and Cambridge's study abroad restrictions. Turns out I'll be making a little over £26k... How is Council tax handled? How does credit verification work for renting apartments? I noticed that Craigslist is pretty much nonexistent in Cambridge. If I wanted to find a sublet for a month, what'd be the best site to look at? For cell service, if I wanted a plan with text and Internet, what should I budget? What providers are decent? Grocery shopping- what are my options for bulk foods? I'm used to running to Costco every two weeks and stocking up on meats and dairy... AfricanBootyShine fucked around with this message at 22:30 on Jul 30, 2014 |
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Jul 30, 2014 20:45
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As a postgraduate research student you would technically be exempt from Council Tax, providing you met the minimum study amounts etc, however in practice it seems difficult to convince the local authority that you are exempt. The actual amount you would pay is a fixed rate, based on the value of the property you live in. Credit checks for renting would depend on who you are renting with, I don't think you need to worry about this if you can demonstrate your ability to pay rent on time. Try spareroom.co.uk For mobile internet I'd recommend either Three or GiffGaff, they are both very cheap for sim-only plans. If you want 4G you will need to use Three or EE, and EE is expensive. Edit: The big 4 supermarkets are Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons, with Waitrose as a high-end alternative. Looks like the biggest store in the area is a Tesco Extra, out of town in Bar Hill. nozz fucked around with this message at 21:08 on Jul 30, 2014 |
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Jul 30, 2014 21:02
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My partner lived in Cambridge for years and I've been there quite a lot - it's a really nice city. Gumtree is the Craigslist alternative that gets a reasonable amount of traffic in the UK: http://www.gumtree.com/flats-and-houses-for-rent/cambridge or RightMove is the big online property site that most estate agents use. You might struggle a bit to afford a flat on your own - I've just had a quick look at RightMove and the cheapest place I could see that wasn't a houseshare was £600 a month for a bedsit, and you'll have to pay all your utility bills on top of that. As a foreign student coming to the UK I'd have thought the uni would offer you a lot of help in finding somewhere to live, and I wouldn't discount the possibility of the uni having postgrad accommodation you can live in - uni accommodation in the UK is variable but you're extremely unlikely to be sharing a room like at US colleges. At my uni accommodation (not Cambridge) I had my own room with a shower/toilet/sink and high-speed internet, although I did have to share a kitchen. It looks like they have an accommodation service who help with exactly this so I would definitely get in touch with them: http://www.accommodation.cam.ac.uk/ The Junction is Cambridge's big music venue: http://www.junction.co.uk/ and I'd be 99% sure that the uni will have a hiphop society. There are some good pubs and decent restaurants. I know people who live in Cambridge who commute to London daily for work so I assume it's very easy to go there for the night. Cell service - my plan with O2 is £25 a month and gives me unlimited free texts, 500 free evening minutes and 500MB of data. There are probably cheaper SIM-only options if you already have a phone that will work in the UK (not all US ones will, I don't think). For getting around, get a bike and use the cycleways, they're great.
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Aug 17, 2014 19:55
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How much are utilities typically? Duh. Gumtree. AfricanBootyShine fucked around with this message at 20:26 on Aug 17, 2014 |
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Aug 17, 2014 20:15
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AfricanBootyShine posted:How much are utilities typically? You'll need a UK bank account, I would think. If you have uni owned accommodation there's a good chance that some/all of the utilities will be included. There seems to be a huge list of properties they have on their website so definitely have a chat with them - even if they don't have anything suitable they ought to be able to advise you a bit on how to find somewhere.
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Aug 18, 2014 09:08
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