Finding a accommodation

Finding a right accommodation is the most critical and difficult matter among many other aspects any international student should deal with in the beginning, or most of their time of staying. In most cases, you don’t get a right one from the first try and likely to keep searching for a most suitable one, spending a significant amount of time and efforts. Even if you are most adaptable to any residing environment, finding a place for you and your family (your partner) deserves your upmost attention, no matter how troublesome hassle it might eventually turn out to be. At least, that holds true to me and my wife, who are still looking for a better place to live.

Each one of us would have different criteria in choosing a place to live. It should be according to what are the priorities for each one. For example, my top priority in choosing accommodation before having come to England was a place with a most convenient access to the Uni. And accordingly I choose the Uni campus, a student dormitory, presuming that it should be located inside of or, at least, adjacent to the Uni. However, to my disappointment, it was located a bit away from the Uni, a ten-minute bus ride from the campus. One lesson I got from this, it might not be wise to assume things the way you wish to be. Always double check things, after all, it is a different country a half way around the globe from your home town.

Among the greatest things about living in a uni campus are that you don’t need to be bothered with dealing all utilities bills and you can spend a most warm and cozy winter. In a private house, as I learned, you need to wear many layers of cloths inside a house if you want to avoid paying exorbitant amount of heating bills.
One thing I would advise any future Korean international students looking for a place to live is that you should consider a location where you can get an easy access to a Korean community. If you need to eat some Korean food or get some Korean groceries, the southwestern part of Birmingham -more specifically Northfield- is the place you want to be staying closely.

All Korean grocery shops and some Korean community are formed there. As you might want to experience the diversity of Birmingham, it might not be that important. But to some people, like me, it is equally or even more important to placate my Korean food craving from time to time. You can attend a church where you can meet the friendliest people who never fail to make you forget all those troubles living abroad with warm smiles.

If you like an urban style of living, you might want to consider living close to the city centre. As Birmingham train network is well connected with many great places in the UK, you can take a train trip easily from the train stations conveniently located in the city centre. A big shopping centre, called Bullring, is a great place to go on a shopping spree. Especially during the Christmas season, you can hoard up some great bargains. Some relatively good eatery places are scattered around, so if you prefer to grab some quick sandwiches and coffee in a busy day, it is the place for you.

It would still be true that you get what you pay for in getting an accommodation. But sometime it seems also true that you can find a nice place with a good price, if you doing your research harder. My friend’s family rented a whole house for a great price after they moved twice.