The joys of flat-hunting in London

A little over 6 weeks ago when I last posted on this blog I was about to get on a plane to fly back home from China as my Chinese year long adventure came to an end. I think it’s safe to say that after a little adjustment period and some reverse culture shock (you expect me to pay HOW MUCH for a drink?!) I’m now fully settled back into UK life. I’ve been enjoying spending lots of time with my family and friends and time has flown by so quickly that i’m now about to start off on my next adventure, moving to London, where i’ll be working a prep school in Fulham as of the end of August.

Of course this means I’m now desperately trying to overcome my first hurdle to becoming a fully fledged London gal…

…finding a place to live.

What’s the problem with that? I hear you cry… Surely just ring up some flats, view them and pick one?

 

Ohhhh ho ho.. no.

Ask anyone who has ever had to flat hunt in London and you will probably hear the same reaction. “It’s soul destroying”, “They could use this as a method of torture”, “so much money, so little space!!”

Flat hunting in London is indeed a very special experience.

In fact, if you’ve never felt your hope deflate, melt, and accumulate slowly into a pool of disillusion at your feet in the space of 30 seconds, then I highly recommend you try it…

I’m just beginning to find this out for myself, lucky me! So far my search has been completely unsuccessful. My first attempt saw myself and my dad making it down to the capital (more than an hour later than planned after a cancelled train, subsequently missing our first viewing and putting us both, as you can imagine, in a brilliant mood) where we headed eagerly to a flat in West Brompton that looked LOVELY from the pictures, boasting of a “huge kitchen diner” with “spacious living area” and “newly refurbished rooms”

We were greeted by Michael, the tenant trying to get OUT of the place and get the next willing victim in… as we walked into the “huge kitchen diner” which was infact a tiny, dark and dingy cave like room with only one dim light bulb I looked around for the “spacious living area”, peering over the work surfaces wondering if perhaps it was hidden behind the mountain high piles of dirty dishes and cups that seemed to have been left on the side for an eternity, not one single piece of work surface was visible, I’m pretty sure at one point I could see flies circling around the dishes in the sink… “Michael?” I asked, hopefully “Where is the living room?”

He then pointed at a small two seater sofa in the corner of the room, underneath the alcove of the stairs. The sofa was directly in front of a TV. I mean, if you like sitting snuggled up to only one other person and watching films/TV in such close proximity that you probably couldn’t see the whole screen at once.. then sure…this was a great set up, I certainly wouldn’t have gone for “spacious” as my descriptive word of choice though.

We were then frog marched past the 6 or 7 locked doors of the mystical “other flatmates” and shown the (definitely NOT newly refurbished) room on offer, which was a small single and yes, i’m going to use ‘that’ cliche now…you couldn’t swing a cat in it.. The funny thing was, even though I knew this place was a dump I found myself saying things like “Without that TV, you could probably fit another sofa in there”, and “Oh, well it’s not like I’d need to get to the kitchen much anyway” before shaking hands, thanking Michael and leaving, stepping over the puddle of despair on my way out. But that’s the thing with London flat hunting, you seem to try and find the positives in living in a cupboard… or having to share your space with rats… or whatever else is thrown your way because well, you need somewhere to live and if you don’t think positively you might just cry.

The rest of our day didn’t go brilliantly, we saw another place where the bedroom was literally the size of the bed, so you kind of had to just open the door and fall onto your bed and voila… the wardrobe was outside and well, you get the picture.. we went home feeling pretty deflated and I decided to leave the flat hunting for a while. I have spent an unreasonable amount of time on SpareRoom and Gumtree but I’m quickly learning to never trust anything or anyone: “shabby chic” means your bed is in the living room, “open plan” means your creepy new flatmates probably have a peephole into your bedroom and “£500 a month for a lovely double room in a nice location” is just a bare-faced lie.

Despite this, my naive side reared its head again the other day when I spotted what I thought was a GREAT find on SpareRoom – Modern, nice looking double rooms available in Shepherd’s Bush – only a 30 minute commute from work and 10 minutes into central. Too good to be true? yep! Did it stop me from getting my hopes up? nope! Forever an optimist!

Anyway here is the advert in question, from an agent called “Skyline Estates” who have a very swanky website and all of the pictures of their rooms seem to be fairly similar, I thought i’d hit the jackpot (notice the ridiculous amount of SpareRoom tabs I have open on my browser??)

 

I spoke to “Fabio” the Italian agent who was selling the property, who by the way was so flipping hard to get hold of and then not exactly helpful in replying promptly with address details (I got them on the morning of the viewing after pestering him with phone calls) but whatever… I’m kinda used to the Italian “it’ll get done eventually” attitude thanks to my year abroad so I just kinda let it slide… He essentially said that viewings were going to be on Monday (I spoke to him on the Friday) and that there was a lot of interest in the place so unless I could go and view it in person I probably would miss out. Despite living up north and having to fork out a silly amount of money for last minute train tickets, I figured this place would be worth it. Well. Never have I ever seen such blatant false advertising in my life.

• There was no shared living room, there was not a living room at all.
• There were not 5 people sharing the flat, there were 6.
• Despite advertising 3 bedrooms, and having 3 pictures of bedrooms which you would assume corresponded to those 3 bedrooms, the place looked NOTHING like that.
• The kitchen was so small you could stand in the middle of the room and touch all 4 walls without having to stretch.
• The “bathroom” was a tiny, disgusting little room and I was a little scared to go in there and touch things in case I caught something, bearing in mind this is to be shared with 6 people…not sure how that would work in the mornings when everyone wants a shower.
• The flat itself was basically one small claustrophobic corridor with doors leading into the bedrooms and since the kitchen was so small there wasn’t even room for a table, you basically would have to cook your dinner and either stand in the middle of the kitchen blocking the way for anyone else to get in there or go and sit in your room on your own, sitting among your “BRAND NEW IKEA FURNITURE OMGGGGGZ” but wait… it wasn’t brand new Ikea furniture was it? nope!
• And the bed was a wooden slab with two damp, really squishy crappy mattresses piled on top of each other
• BUT you did get your own fridge?? Bonus, I suppose? See there I am, i’m doing it again… “but you DO get a fridge which I suppose make the lies sting a little less…”

Here are some pictures I took of the actual room on my iPhone:

 

Clearly, I won’t  be signing for the flat. I am now going to stick to my original plan of waiting until I move down at the end of August when I’ll be crashing on my good friend’s sofa. That way I can actually go and view places without wasting money on train fares and hopefully weed out the places like this a little easier.

Don’t get me wrong the room itself wasn’t AWFUL and you at least DID have room to swing a cat. With a bit of a clean and a few personal touches i’m sure it’d look alright in there and would do just fine for someone who just needed a base, but I went to see this flat on the pretense of it being something it wasn’t and ended up being completely disappointed.

I’m sure once I’ve found somewhere everything else will slot into place. I’m really excited to be starting this new adventure in London and I’ll probably be blogging about life down there and how it’s going as and when I get the time!

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my flat-hunting woes, if anyone knows of anywhere that IS a nice place to live for a decent price then please do get in touch, or if you have any horror stories of your own to share then drop me a message! I shall leave you with this parting thought:

Samuel Johnson once said when you’re tired of London, you’re tired of life…

…I say when you’re tired of searching for a flat in the city, you’re probably only just getting started.

Ciao,

Pippa xxx

 

Why Oh Why Is China So Frustrating Sometimes?

China is a frustrating place.

There I said it. Everyone is thinking it. If you’re a fellow expat out here then you know you are too.

I would like to first make it clear that I love living out here, I love the opportunity that has been given to me, I love the people and I am having a really great time.

BUT as much as I enjoy living here, I have found China to be an incredibly frustrating place to live. You may be reading this and thinking you know what I mean, the general stuff y’know like how the water is dirty or the air is polluted – general perceptions of China from the outside world.

The real frustration, though, comes from all of the little things. These little things can’t be seen or even understood by someone who hasn’t lived in China. It builds up slowly until one day you know you have to just get out of here. Today is that day for me.

When I arrived here I listened to so many presentations about how everybody will inevitably cycle through a high with feelings of excitement and awe because of their new surroundings followed by a big dip where culture shock and home sickness hits you like a ton of bricks. Apparently everyone hits this wall. This “Great Wall” (geddit?!) I was promised that this emotional rollercoaster of feelings would eventually even itself out to reach a plateau of indifference and acceptance – I guess I just need to ride out the storm and get to this point.

I can most definitely confirm from experience that when one first moves to China, everything is new and exciting. It can even initially be fun and interesting to experience all the small little things that make it so different out here. Given the right amount of time, though, these things become less fun/interesting. It’s ok to laugh it off for a little while and see the bright side, the funny story behind everything, but after actually living with it every day…. this positive outlook can sometimes wear off. Of course put into context it’s all just a matter of cultural difference, social development, a larger population, etc. As a visitor in any new country, you’ve got to accept the local society and its customs. That doesn’t mean to say it makes day-to-day life easier.

So what are these little things?

1. The inability to just relax. The sheer number of people in China means there are people EVERYWHERE. I have never been anywhere where it was just me and no one else – where I can take a deep breath and get away from it all.

2. The crowds associated with this massive population are gargantuan and overwhelming and that is no exaggeration. Today I went to take the metro home and I was faced by a literal stampede of people who were all pushing and shoving, all trying to fit onto one metro carriage which DEFINITELY was already too full. Person after person stamping on my feet, elbowing me in the ribs… Sometimes it is easy to handle, sometimes you just want to have an easy commute. Is that too much to ask?!

3. People spitting on the street, spitting out of car windows, having a cheeky poo anywhere they fancy… oh it may sound funny but trust me, I have seen grown men squat over drains in the road, I have seen a mother hold up her child over a rubbish bin in the middle of a shopping centre and you guessed it “plop.” – put it away please!

4. Everyone shouts. All the time

5 People don’t wait in line for anything and push their way through to the front. I was waiting in line to pay for some food shopping a few weeks back and some woman just went and plonked her stuff down on the counter right in front of me. I actually said “errr excuse me?!” and then realised this would have zero effect since she didn’t understand me and I suspect she didn’t really care either…

6. This brings me to…language barriers. I’m trying to learn mandarin, I really am. I have the basics sorted and I’m a languages student so I pick things up fairly quickly but knowing the basics really doesn’t get you that far here and my lack of Chinese speaking skills really can make the simplest of tasks become twice as hard and take three times the time. Sometimes it’d be nice to order a meal or take a taxi without playing charades for 10 minutes and repeating phrases only to get the tones completely wrong

I have a little game going on: trying every day to say the name of the street where I live so  that the taxi driver understands without me having to repeat it.

It is challenging, even after hundreds of taxi rides.
This is the typical scenario (dialogue without tones, too much work!) :

me: nihao! (hi!)
taxi driver says: nihao! qu nali? (hi! where to?)
me: tong tai lu! (tong tai road)
taxi driver confused:  tong tai lu… nali? (tong tai road?? where?)
me: tong tai lu. tong tai lu. tong tai lu. tong tai lu!.  (tong tai road, tong tai road, tong tai road… – all spoken with minimal tone variations, each time slower…)
taxi driver: ah! tong tai lu!
me: dui! xiexie! (yes! thanks! with a very happy face)

And off we go, i feel more or less proud each taxi ride according to the number of times I have had to repeat myself. Lately this has been a lot of times, not so good!

7. Getting stared at all the time and approached with hi’s, hello’s and impromptu conversations. That’s cool for a while but it gets annoying too. Yes I’m a lǎowài (foreigner) but I’m getting a bit sick of being asked “where are you from!!?” on every street corner. This is probably me being a bit pedantic now as i’m tired and on a roll with the ranting but the staring’s gotta stop y’all.

Now don’t get me wrong, that’s a lot of moaning I’ve just done there I know but I DO stand by the fact that I love it here. I work at an incredible school full of amazing people and fantastic kids and I really enjoy my job. I have the opportunity to travel to places I could never have dreamed of if I was stuck back in the UK, I have plenty to keep me occupied in terms of a social life and despite any problems I’ve outlined above this whole experience is opening my eyes and broadening my horizons. Coming to China has changed, is changing and will change me. It may sound cheesy but I can feel it, I can see my character developing and my mind beginning to work in different ways. I’m learning about myself and at the same time I’m learning about a completely different culture to my own, which when you think about it is phenomenal. it’s just that these small issues combine after a certain amount of time alongside the awareness that you are SO far away from home and so far away from your comfort zone and they build up this incredible frustration in just about everyone I know who has cone to live out here, albeit to different extents.

I finally cracked today when going to get a haircut. I was naïve enough to think it’d be simple, it’s only a haircut right? WRONG! It was always an ambitious plan from the start. Everything is more difficult here and like I said earlier on in this post it’s okay to laugh things off for a while, see the funny side in not having a clue what is going on…but there comes a point where that’s just not possible. I posted on Facebook earlier mentioning I was off to the salon and that I would “see what I ended up with!” ha-de-ha-ha. Little did I know that I would soon be feeling extremely anxious and unable to make myself understood. Three Chinese hairdressers hovering above me speaking Chinese very quickly and at different volumes/with different tones hoping somehow they might make me understand them. I kept repeating “ting bu dong!” (roughly translated as “eh you what mate? I can hear you but I have absolutely no idea what you’re on about!) There was a lot of miming of scissors… pointing at my hair, shrugging of the shoulders and eventually I came out looking semi-decent (I now have a side fringe, woopee!) I then got completely lost on my way home and encountered those ridiculous crowds in the metro and yeah… oh and to top that all off i’m ill at the moment with some sort of cough/sore throat thing.

Anyway enough ranting – think it’s all out of my system now! Apparently the only remedy to China frustration is to get out of China for a while and go on holiday. Thank goodness Guangzhou, is so close to Hong Kong, Macau and SE Asia. I feel a much needed weekend trip coming up and I cannot WAIT to go home to the land of Fish and Chips, good manners and orderly queues at Christmas so I can stock up on dairy milk chocolate and recharge the tolerance batteries. Come on Pip, tomorrow is a brand new day and it WILL be better…

Up and coming posts: coping strategies for combatting home-sickness and what to pack when /if you move here.

Ciao,
Pippa
xxx

How to avoid doing work

Heyyy there,

So it’s that time of the year again when essay deadlines are looming ahead, exams are just around the corner and we slowly all go mad with fear as we get snowed under with work! yaaay!

So i’ve been inspired by this situation to write a handy little guide on how to avoid doing work and procrastinate from those deadlines!

**************************DISCLAIMER********************************

This blog post will be in no way helpful or informative other than to instruct you on exactly what NOT to do if you wish to be productive. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

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A day in the life of Procrasti-Pippa!!!! 😀

1– Set an alarm for 9.30am only to press snooze so many times that you end up staying in bed for at least another hour

Although this is clearly not me, this guys face is exactly the face i pull in the morning when i have things i need to get up and do. Yep

2– BREAKFAST TIME! I’d like to have cereal… and toast…maybe a yoghurt. Oh wait there aren’t any yoghurts??? Damn… i’ll just HAVE to pop to the shop then won’t I? doo de doo de doooo

3– Whilst at the shop looking for yoghurts, buy all ingredients needed to bake a cake.

4-PROCRASTI-BAKING.

5– Sort all toiletries out in the bathroom, throw away ones you don’t use anymore. Spend hours sniffing all of your products and reading the labels. It’s nice to know exactly what you have….

6– Tidy your room from top to toe, including under the bed

7– Paint your nails

8– Do laundry, then sit and watch the laundry go around in the washing machine for a while, just to make sure it is safe.

9– Watch some TV

10– Check Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Youtube and every other Social Media site you are on.

11– Better get in the shower…

12– Now email all the friends you haven’t spoken to in aaaaages. ALL OF THEM!!

13– Stare at blank screen for a while, write five lines… TIME FOR A BREAK 🙂 you’ve been working hard…

14– Make some food, eat the food and then spend a very long time washing everything up. Taking extra care and attention to get everything squeaky clean and sparkly so that it takes up some more time. Mmmmm clean dishes. Don’t forget to clean the kitchen too!!

15- Sit back down at the computer with the genuine intention to now actually do some work and decide after a while that you’re not in the “zone” and you need to be in the “zone” to be able to work therefore there is just no point today.

16– Wake up the next morning and realise that it is one day closer to deadline day. Think: “WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF?!?!?! then repeat steps 1-15

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Seriously now though, we all procrastinate….

If you have studying to do or anything important to do that you’re putting off then go and do it… NOW!!! don’t do the above because trust me the fear will kick in soon enough and you’ll panic…. GO AND BE PRODUCTIVE…..

………

…..

……….

…….

………..

You’re still here aren’t you?

Oh dear!!

Ciao, Pippa xxx

Reflections on a year abroad….

Hey guys

First off, It’s been a long while since I’ve found the time to write on this blog. I don’t have many good excuses, it’s just mainly been work, and reading, and family, and friends.

But alas, here i am and this time i’m writing on a topic which gives me a little bit of a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach. My time here has finally come to a close. : I can now finally say, officially, that my Year Abroad has come to an end. Writing that down and seeing it there on a page is so strange! It has regrettably been the fastest year of my life…from attempting to decide which cities I wanted to live in for 12 months to having done it – it’s been a bit of a whirlwind adventure!

When I finish typing this I am going to bed to then wake up, kill some time and head to the airport at Pisa in the evening. I fly back with good old Ryan Air (I may aswell be an official mascott for them and Easy Jet now, the amount of flights I have taken this year, you know you fly too much when you start to recognise the same airhostesses)

And now it is time for the dreaded ‘P’ word.

Uttered only at the end of the year when it can no longer be avoided; this word is feared by Year Abroad students everywhere

(…some call it an unrecognised art-form, some see it as a viscious form of mental torture… )

Packing! Dun dun dunnnnnn

Living out of a suitcase all year has definitely not been fun. The amount of times I have packed and unpacked my suitcases is ridiculous. At least this time will be the last time for a while (well, until the end of July when I move down to Bath)

Unfortunately, it never gets easier, less time-consuming or any less frustrating; it’s that massive, unavoidable job at the end of the semester – that one last challenge before heading home again.

It’s also the time when you realise how much stuff you thought was necessary but have actually never used. That fourth hoodie and sixth pair of shoes was probably over doing it a bit…not to mention the toaster and speaker system and bed rug I purchased…I’ve been consumed by this task  all day today and I’m not happy about it. My suitcase has now been banished to the other side of the room out of annoyance. I will need to finish everything off tomorrow and then I will have to actually walk with the stuff across town … but we’re not mentioning that yet so shhh

Anyway enough whinging. Jeez Pippa…
Lets talk about the year I’ve just had eh.

Since my arrival in Paris over 12 months ago, life has been rather non-stop for me.

To anyone who doesn’t know, and even for those who do.. here is a recap of what I’ve actually done and where I’ve been since July last year in handy numbered list form:
1) July 1^st – August 31^st 2011 – Living in Torcy, a suburb of Paris. Working at Disneyland Paris

2) September 7^th – January 22^nd 2011/2012 – Living in Lyon, France. Studying at the Universite Lumiere Lyon II (I know, sounds posh right?!)

3) February 15^th – July 10^th 2012 – Livng in Siena, Italy. Studying at the Universita degli studi di Siena

It’s been a mix of ups and downs really. I’d have to say that I’ve enjoyed the French part of my year much more than the Italian part and that will surely be reflected in the following highlights and lowpoints list…

HIGHLIGHTS and things I’m really going to miss

• The amount of travelling I’ve got to do: Favourite places being:
  Venice
  Rome
  Florence
  Perouges
  Louhans
  Cahors/Tolouse
  Paris/Versailles
  Geneva
• Telling people I’m from derby and them thinking it’s exotic. If only you knew!
• One sister having a baby back home, and the other getting married with a baby on the way
• Working at Disney. The whole experience was great and I want to go back one day
• Being able to pop into the middle of Paris after work
• Faking understanding in French conversations by repeating “pffft” “d’accord” and “ahh putain”. These three golden nuggets got me through many an otherwise awkward encounter and happily swanning off into a fake future of fluency disguised as a native speaker.
• Alcohol being really alcoholic. Ask for a vodka and coke, get a quadruple measure…
• Residence Andre Allix (where I lived in Lyon)
• Being surprised at meeting the best group of friends in France I could ask for – Nick Nina JB Raphael Amandine Zac Julie and Dahron, you guys are all amazing and I miss you !
• Lyon in general!
• Fete des lumieres, an amazing light festival in Lyon with exibitions all round town. I got to play human PacMan
• Neal visiting/Matt visiting/Jo visiting
• Playing football a lot
• Late night trips to Macdonalds with the gang
• Being proposed to in French on public transport
• Laid back Italian deadlines
• My family visiting me, and going on holiday in Figline Valdarno
• Copious amounts of Ice-Cream, sunshine and tanning on the window balcony
• Dancing through the streets of Bologna like I didn’t have a care in the world with Jo, the start of something really special
• Meeting Loredana. Going to the beach with Loredana, walks to CONAD with Loredana. Chinese meals with Loredana. Sitting doing nothing with Loredana. Singing with Loredana…. You get the point…

LOWPOINTS and things I really won’t be sad to leave behind

• It has been trying at times, quite stressful and frustrating.
• Culture shock and homesickness
• Pervy European men. No I don’t want to sleep with you. No I’m not easy because I’m an English girl and an Erasmus student… back off!!!
• Nothing being open on Sundays
• The education system in Italy
• Maintaining a long distance relationship.
• Too many goodbyes. Being ripped away from a life you’ve gotten used to… having to move onto somewhere else and taking all your stuff to a new place to start all over again
• 8am classes in Lyon
• Pisa. Nothing there
• Lectures that really don’t make sense.
• THE ADMIN. AAARGHDFSHDFSDFsdfodfuidgsagpga. So annoying. France and Italy were just as bad as each other. I was drowning in forms and probably used enough paper to kill off an entire rain forest.
• Erasmus grant problems because my university back home has a rubbish ERASMUS department. Sort it out Bath!
• The time it rained and thundered for weeks in Siena. I felt cheated of my Tuscan sunshine
• Equally, it being 35 degrees at night, TOO DAMN HOT and being bitten alive by insects.
• My biggest challenges in Siena weren’t the student life, it was adjusting to the culture. (which, by the way, is completely different – and I’m not sure If I mean that in a good way!)
• But despite any negative points and issues, the whole thing coming to an end. N’awwww….

And there we have it…

Thinking about the expectations that I left England with and how many I have actually achieved during the Erasmus year, I’d say I’ve achieved what I wanted to..

1. I’ve learnt to be more self-sufficient. I was independent to begin with but more so now.
2. I’ve adapted to new cultures and friends from all over the world. Some of whom I will be seeing again in the future
3. I’ve experienced amazing new places and foods…
4. I’ve discovered more about myself and who I am as a person
5. I’ve worked out that I prefer French and I feel motivated to sort out my career options in the next year now. I definitely haven’t made the most out of Italy, not spoken much Italian at all.
6. I’ve developed a bit of a love for blogging
7. I’ve accumulated lots of stuff to put on my CV
8. I’ve tried new things that I wouldn’t normally do
9. I got over my shyness when speaking to people in foreign languages
10. and finally I feel like I can say that I have no regrets and everything I have done this year has been a learning curve which is going to help me in the future.

Goodbyes are a strange thing. Turning away from people, very much aware that it will be the last time I will do so for quite some time, I feel compelled to state when I will see them next, as if through some desire to establish our time apart as finite; to console both me and them and put a positive spin on the whole thing I guess. That’s why I’ve practically begged my room-mate here in Italy to come and visit me in the UK sometime in the next year. I’ve gotten to really like her and leaving for good is really quite sad as I’ll miss her. When you live in the same tiny room as someone for five months you really do get close! And that’s where I’m going to wrap this up. It’s been great. Thanks so much to all who have kept up with my adventures on here, I may very well post more in the future while in my final year at university.

Goodbye, Aurevoir, Ciao…

Pippa xx

Siena, from an insiders perspective

Today while i was sat on the steps by the duomo i heard an American girl say to her friend “Wouldn’t it be great to study here! can you imagine?!”

Well, random American girl, i hope you somehow manage to find this blog because i am going to give you the inside scoop to setting yourself up here and staying for a period of time! Lets go…..

Finding somewhere to live
I’m going to go against the most common nugget of advice here and say that although a lot of people would recommend finding a place to live before you arrive, i personally think that it’s much easier to find something when you’re actually here.

There aren’t many cheap places to stay in Siena but it would be perfectly feasable to book a room at CASA DI ALFREDO (http://www.hostelbookers.com/hostels/italy/siena/43338/) for a week and look once you arrive. To do so all you need to do is get yourself to the tourist office or look on the many notice boards around the unviersity which are always full at the beginning of the year of advertisements for places. I say this because out here you really need to look round the accomodation before you agree to anything and check with your landlord regarding the facilities in your prospective house.

Be aware that single rooms can be rather costly *upwards of 400 euros*

If you want to get something cheap look for a “posto letto”  or a “doppia” (double) but be aware that this will be a bed in a shared room

For those who would feel better finding somewhere before you leave, the two best websites are:

http://www.uniaffitti.it/
and http://www.easystanza.it/

Getting around
A good thing with Siena is that as long as you live “dentro le mura” (inside the city walls), you can feasibly walk anywhere in the city- nowhere is out of the way and the longest you’ll have to walk is 30 minutes (or 40 if you go at snails pace)

If you do need to take a bus you can buy tickets from local newsagents and shops and they cost 1 euro for a single ticket. To be honest i’ve only ever been on the bus 3 or 4 times since i got here and that was to go to the big supermarket out of town, or when i was too lazy to do the 30 minute walk to the train station!

You’re supposed to stamp your bus ticket when you get on the bus and if you get checked and haven’t done it there is a fine to pay. I have never seen a “checker” and i’ve been living here over a month now, a lot of things in Italy are based on trust that you will do what you’re supposed to do. (this goes for the bars too, it is quite easy to walk out of a bar without paying as the Italians are strangely disorganised, give you what you want and trust you to tell them what you had before you leave. I am of course, not in anyway condoning theft, but just making you aware of how things work here)

Studying in Siena
I am studying at the Universita Degli Studi di Siena. There are many different faculties dotted around the town, i’m at Scienze Politiche. I must say I don’t even check for opening hours and schedules anymore as I know they don’t mean anything, the organisation of the University here can only be described as a compete chaotic mess. It can be difficult to sort out a timetable without your options clashing. Offices are only open at certain time of the day and you have to queue at a certain time on a certain day to speak to a certain professor.  It is a good idea to check the website and faculty notice boards constantly, because lesson times and locations change without warning, whats even more frustrating can be the fact that you show up for a lesson that is cancelled with no prior-warning. You quickly get used to all this though and adapt to the system, as long as you adjust and learn to be self sufficient and a little more care free, things will work well for you here.
You have to find out when and where you need to be and manually sign yourself up  for your exams, i’m yet to have done this yet but it all gets explained to you upon arrival to siena when you register at the university.

Travelling further afield.
Siena has good links with many places such as Florence and Rome
You can even easily get as far as Venice and Milan thanks to SENA buses which leave from Piazza Gramsci and generally cost a lot less than a train. There is a direct bus to Florence at a cost of 7 euros which is definitely worth it. It’s also better to leave on a bus from Piazza Gramsci as it is in a more central/easily reachable location (Siena train station is a little further out)

Eating in Siena
Once you enrol at the university you’ll be given a MENSA card. The Mensa is the university cafeteria, there are two in Siena (One on Via S. Bandini and the other is Mensa St Agata near Via Andrea Mattioli)
Most Italian students eat here every night rather than cooking as it’s cheap, easy and good for socialisng. A meal (starter, main, desert + fruit + unlimited drinks) would cost around 2.50/3 euros

My favourite places to eat are:
1. El Gringo, Via Pantaneto.
A  Mexican restaurant where you can get proper nachos, tortillas and chile con carne. Its colorful and cheap, but you do have to eat on plastic plates! the best thing about this place is that they deliver so if you are too lazy to leave your house you can get tasty mexican food brought right to your door
2. Gelateria Kopakabana, Via Rossi
For the best and most generous portion of gelato in Siena you should go and see Stella in her ice cream shop not far from the faculty of political sciences, don’t go and get ice cream near the campo unless you want to pay about twice as much!
3. Trattoria Dino, Casato di Sopra
This little place does the best spaghetti bolognese i’ve tasted since i’ve been here for only 5 euros, and they will let you take it away in a box if you want. Its normally always full of old people, but they’re very friendly and talkative, its great for practising italian!!

Shopping in Siena
Attention those who like to shop!!!!!! SIENA IS EXPENSIVE. All you will find here are small independent and pricey shops with not a lot of choice. The best place is probably OVS which do a few thing for the younger generation but its still generally very expensive and not overly fashionable. For the nearest H&M you need to head to Florence on that 7 euro bus!

As for food shopping, you have two CONAD small supermarkets in the walls of the city aswell as a few smaller shops called “SMA BOTTEGA”, if you’re prepared to go a bit further/take a bus you can go to bigger “proper” supermarkets such as PAM, the COOP (both at the trainstation) and the big CONAD(on the number 3 bus route)

Keeping Fit
I’ve noticed that before you go on your year abroad no one ever tells you about gyms or places to exercise because they think you will spend the whole year milling around the Tuscan hills in your maxi dress and sunnies while eating a gelato (they’re not far wrong to be honest)
However if you’re here long enough you need to get yourself into some sort of routine as you would be back home or else you’ll slowly go stir crazy. For a lot of people this means exercising, for me it’s swimming.
There are a couple of gyms in Siena. Like everything here they are very expensive at about 60 euros a month but at GOLD GYM you can take any classes you like during the week and it is included in this price.
As for swimming you only really have one choice as although there are two pools, one is simply too far out to reach. However, near Porta Camollia in Piazza G Amendola there is a pool where you can pay 4.90 a time to go for a swim (or 37 euros for 10 entries to save a bit of money)
For those who dance there is the Ateneo della Danza (Via dei Pispini) and for free exercise, don some trainers and go for a jog around the city, it’s so hilly you’ll be losing weight in no time.

Nightlife
The most important part of Siena’s nightlife is Piazza del campo, especially in the summer where it is normal to sit on the floor drinking beer with groups of mates
There are two “clubs” within the walls, Barone Rosso (Thursday/Saturday nights) and Al Cambio (Tuesday ERASMUS parties) They are very small and more like a bar with a dancefloor so Siena is not the place to be for the most diehard of clubbers (although if you venture a little further afield you will find VANILLA, a big “proper” club, the Erasmus group often arrange coaches here with drink deals and discounted entry)
Aperitivo is also a large part of the night time culture in Siena. Most bars do a free buffet that anyone who buys a drink can access, its normally just finger food.
There are a few pubs in Siena, noteably the Irish pub (The Dublin Post in Piazza Gramsci)  and for something a little different with a student vibe you can always go “il tea room” where there are often jazz nights and you can get over 50 types of tea aswell as a range of cocktails and cakes (which are brought out to you on a plate which is on fire… interesting!)

Learning Italian in Siena
Beware that if you come to study here as an ERASMUS exchange student it can be very easy to not speak hardly any Italian. You have to explain to people that you are here to learn Italian and therefore you only want to speak in Italian, and be quite forceful with it.
Because Siena is full of tourists you will probably find that a lot of the shop owners automatically speak to you in English, again you just have to persevere but it can also be quite nice when you don’t want to speak Italian one day because you are tired.
I’d recommend taking a language course which you can arrange with the university and are normally the month before you start lectures.
I’d also say, read some Italian newspapers and watch Italian TV (Although be prepared for repeat of the simpsons, dragonball z and a multitude of random game shows)

The Palio
This is a massive part of Siena and if you are planning to come here you probably already know a little bit about it. Every summer, an important horse race is held in the main square (piazza il campo) called Il Palio
Localised patriotism is a key feature of Sienese culture and it is interesting for an outsider to witness how a modern population still observes medieval tradition. Siena is made up of 17 Contradas (districts), each with their own mascot, flag and colours. Each Contrada sends a horse to compete on July 2nd in the Palio, and if they win then the celebrations go on long after the race has finished

People in Siena
Most people are very friendly but a lot can seem inconsiderate. Especially in the streets. It isn’t uncommon to push and shove in the streets to get through the crowds, this is normal behaviour here. You have to be a little pushy and forward yourself if you want to get things done
The Sienese like many other Tuscans are so used to Tourists that they look down on them quite a lot, it can help to look like you know what you’re doing and not walk around with socks in sandals and a camera strapped round your neck unless you want some dirty looks and to be taken for a bit of a ride!
Like anywhere popular with tourists you have to keep an eye open on thing such as pick pocketing and being ripped off but this is rare and the crime rate in Siena also is very low. It feels very safe waking around late at night and alone (although i’d still recommend staying in a group) You have to be sensible, but from what I hear the types of muggings and crimes reported in places like Rome and Naples are virtually unheard of here.