{"id":1949,"date":"2017-10-16T11:57:39","date_gmt":"2017-10-16T11:57:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/host-students.com\/uncategorized\/international-students-london-survival-guide\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T12:17:05","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T12:17:05","slug":"international-students-london-survival-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/host-students.com\/information\/new-students\/international-students-london-survival-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"International Students: London Survival Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hello students and welcome to London!<\/p>\n<p>Now that you\u2019re all checked in and university has started, we hope you\u2019re feeling more and more at home every day. If you\u2019re new to London, you probably still have a lot of questions and things to sort out. So, here are some helpful tips and information to get you through your first few weeks in this amazing city.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>First things first\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>If you\u2019ve travelled a long distance and have only just arrived in the UK, the first thing to do is recover from any jetlag. You\u2019ll find it very difficult to get anything done if you\u2019re tired and don\u2019t have the energy to get through the day.<\/li>\n<li>Get yourself an Oyster card. Visit your nearest tube station and pay \u00a35 for the card which will make travelling around London on the Underground and by bus easy. You should register your Oyster card online because if you ever lose it, you can get your credit back! Students can benefit from reduced fares with an <a href=\"https:\/\/tfl.gov.uk\/fares-and-payments\/adult-discounts-and-concessions\/18-student\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">18+ student Oyster card<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Swap your international mobile phone for a UK one or replace the SIM card, so you don\u2019t end up paying extremely high charges for calls and messages.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t wait until you\u2019re unwell, register with a local doctor as soon as possible. Check the list of local doctors in\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nhs.uk\/Pages\/homepage.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">England<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Make managing your money easier by opening a UK bank account. They usually ask for proof of address and proof of ID. The main banks in the UK are: Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Halifax, RBS, NatWest and Santander. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bba.org.uk\/publication\/leaflets\/international-students\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Click here<\/a>\u00a0for more information about UK bank accounts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Useful Apps<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Having a smart phone will basically save your life in London. Below are just some of the top apps to download. (Note: you may need to switch to the UK version of the App Store first, and in some cases, you may need to change the region settings from your phone from your home country to the UK to get them to work).<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/citymapper.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>City Mapper<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u2013 This will save your life time and time again when navigating around the city. It\u2019s essentially a one stop shop for how to get from A to B. It takes into account Tube closures, and also combines bus\/tube routes to give you the quickest\u00a0options. It also shows a \u2018rain safe\u2019 option which will help limit your exposure to the elements on those not so nice days!<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/gb\/app\/bbc-iplayer\/id416580485?mt=8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>BBC iPlayer<\/strong><\/a><strong> \u2013 <\/strong>The BBC is a British broadcaster who broadcast news, sports, TV shows, radio and more. The BBC iPlayer is a very popular app with students in the UK as they can watch TV on demand. However, you must have a TV license to be able to watch the TV channels. If you only watch Netflix, Amazon video or play online games, you don\u2019t have to pay for a license but you still have to declare that you have a TV.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/tfl.gov.uk\/fares-and-payments\/adult-discounts-and-concessions\/18-student\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Circuit Laundry<\/strong> <\/a>\u2013 Circuit is the company that most of our accommodations use for the student laundry services onsite. Just download the Circuit app, input your credit card information and you\u2019re ready to go with your washing! Don\u2019t forget to change the region settings from your phone from your home country to the UK to get this app to work.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Transport<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Bus: <\/strong>If you\u2019re getting around by bus, make sure you\u2019re taking the correct bus using your city mapper app. The buses have big numbers on the front and side so you can clearly see which bus is the one you need. When you board the bus, tap your Oyster card and find a seat. It\u2019s important to remember that the buses don\u2019t take cash.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Tube: <\/strong>It might seem it at first, but the tube is not scary at all and you\u2019ll probably get the hang of it within your first week. Use your city mapper app to find out where you\u2019re going and follow the easy steps. Pricing is per zone and in some cases, it\u2019s cheaper to set up a monthly fee. Travel by rail is also included in your Oyster card (within the zones that you\u2019ve selected for your Oyster card).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bike<\/strong>: You can hire Santander bikes all over London from as little as \u00a32. Once you\u2019re finished with the bike, just return it to any docking station around the city. When cycling in the city, make sure you\u2019re in the correct lane and taking the correct turns as the direction of lanes might be different from your home country.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Food<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Some of the main supermarkets in London are Tesco, Asda, Waitrose, Sainsbury\u2019s, Co-op, Morrisons, Lidl, Aldi, Iceland and Ocado. Most of these supermarkets deliver in London, so just create an account online and have your groceries come to you. It\u2019s easier than having to carry all your groceries back to your flat and it could be a great way to stick to a budget!<\/p>\n<p><em>If you would like to know more about the local area and amenities close to your accommodation, pop down to your reception and speak to your onsite Host management team &#8211; we&#8217;ll be happy to help. To find out more about our student accommodation and living with us at Host <a href=\"https:\/\/host-students.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">click here<\/a>. \u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019re new to London, you probably still have a lot of questions and things to sort out. So, here are some helpful tips and information to get you through your first few weeks in this amazing city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":1950,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,55,56],"subject":[71],"location-tax":[42],"class_list":["post-1949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-students","category-parents","category-university-students","subject-lifestyle","location-tax-london"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.5 (Yoast SEO v26.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>London Guide - Survival Guide for International Students - Blog | Host<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you&#039;re new to the city, you probably still have a lot of things to sort out. 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