Type of housing: With a family

Arranged by: Independently - I had no other choice

If returning, I would choose: Apartment/House

Why? More independent way of living, more space. Living with other students would have been great! Living within a family needs a lot of adjustment.

Personal comments:
Housing on campus was not offered to visiting students staying for less than one full year. Therefore I had to find accomodation on my own which was not that easy. The Accomodation Office of the University had sent a list of possible landladies/-lords. Some of them were not willing to house international students, others would only rent out a room for a period of at least one year.

Describe host city: Student life dominates the city

Activities, Nightlife, Travel: Takes place mostly within the university/student environment

Personal comments:
The Students Union is quite good and it often has good events organized. There are few other choices though, save a few pubs in nearby Englefield Green and a couple pricey night spots in Windsor. One can always take a train into London (40 minute journey), but that is somewhat costly and the last train back is at 11:30pm... but you can always take the first morning tran back which if I recall correctly, leaves at 5:30 or you can stay with friends in London. It should also be noted that most students go home on Saturdays and Sundays which can make it somewhat dull on weekends unless you actually do go to London.

Course recommendations:
They have a large choice of courses and a good library, and a very stressful Mrs Macbeth, who is the Erasmus co-ordinator. The French Department was nice; so was the English Language Centre for International students

Personal comments:
none

Language of instruction: English

Main source of funding:
Family

Other sources of funding:
Personal savings

Work opportunities:
I worked during my study abroad experience

Personal spending habits:
Things were more expensive than they are in Germany especially housing as well as food and toiletries. Besides I wanted to travel a little bit to get to know the country and therefore spend some money on train tickets, hotels, rental cars etc.

Food, Travel, Overall, Housing: was more expensive than at home.

Nightlife, Telephone: was the same price as at home.

I wish I had known...
A car would have been helpful, you need to walk a lot!!! I lived 15 minutes from campus which was alright. It was a 20 minute walk to the train station and a 25 minute walk to the supermarket. it wasn't fun carrying all the bags home. Besides, I was kind of stuck in the evenings. Trains are not necessarily very reliable. I had a car at home, I could have taken it...Unfortunately I did not know. Be prepared to spend a lot of money!

In my opinion:
Most people loved it.