Hey! My name is Julia and I'm studying Architecture at London Metropolitan University.

This is my second year in London! How time is passing here! It seems to you that you are not participating in this fast pace of life, that you are not shoving your foot into the buzz of the business anthill, but after 2 years you become part of it, no matter how much you repel all this struggle.

From the teenage years, an unidentified feeling "somewhere" was drawing me. I didn't feel that the place I was living was for me. I felt that I did not belong, I wanted freedom, release from old rules and regulations. Thus, I still wanted to develop and make the best use of our human intellect. Did I figure where to find more freedom like me in London? Where better to discover all the nooks and crannies of your mind if not between people from all over the world gathered in one city? Yes! In my mind, I was already rushing the London Underground to universities ...

I must add that before that I just wanted to leave and live in London, but I thought about it longer and decided to accelerate the process. Study in London!

I have 3 subjects which include Design Skills, Technology and History / Theory of Architecture (Critical & Contextual Studies). I have 21 hours a week, which is spread over 3 days a week. One full day of lectures on Technology and History of Architecture, a then two days of Design exercises. There is no typical session in the UK, as we have in Poland, and not in architecture. There are also no quizzes, tests ... and not too many grades. It seems to me that it is the most convenient for a student who does not try to match the opinion/taste of the teacher but simply designs according to himself, i.e. develops. Of course, the leaders sometimes direct us to the right path or suggest solutions.

When it comes to design, we are assessed twice a year: returning a half-year portfolio and returning a portfolio for the entire year, of which the first assessment is only for the student to find out how he is doing. There is no it influences the final grade. During the year, there are usually three-fourths of projects that you need to develop yourself and then submit your portfolio for evaluation. The grading structure from Technology is somewhat similar to design.

Also during the year, we have only two passes, of which the first grade does not count for anything. For Technology, we have to prepare a so-called TechBook, in which we collect all our knowledge about technology, as well as solve previously assigned tasks (this year, among others, we analyze the Foster and Partners Bloomberg building).

For the History of Architecture, we have three "Miniblocks", something like three projects, each of which ends with an essay for a given number of words (this year the longest essay was 3,500 words) and in the topic of your choice. We receive a grade for each essay. Studying with studies, what about an apartment? Keep in mind that London halls of residence tend to diverge very quickly! To get into one of them, you should send your application in April. I started my search on July 1st (just after my high school graduation results) .. and gave up after a month. I started looking for a flat, but I encountered a similar problem - people wanted to rent "immediately". I decided that the best option would be to find a flat when I am in London. I did that too. I stayed with my cousin in a neighbouring town and within 3 days found a room that I shared with a previously found roommate. The easiest way to find a flat is to use applications such as Zoopla, GumTree or SpareRoom. They are very easy to use, there are photos of apartments and all contact details. Just remember! Before paying any amount, make an appointment with the landlord to visit first.

The lowest cost to rent a private room in a dorm is around

£ 120-140 a week (now I live in zone 2 and pay £ 149 a week).

Apartments are usually cheaper. For a room shared with another person (zone 3) I was paying £ 350 a month.

Of course, when choosing an apartment, we pay attention to its proximity to the university. However, there are places I do not recommend living in Wood Green, Seven Sisters, Turnpike Lane, Stratford, Whitechapel. In turn, very pleasant areas include Angel, Canada Water, Cambridge Heath, Bounds Green (some of the last two may disagree, but I like haha).

Studying architecture is quite demanding when it comes to finding time to work. I personally know a few people who do this, but in their opinion

"would like to have more time to study". I think that in this case, the best solution is working at the university! I work as a Student Ambassador and I earn £ 10.50 an hour. Unfortunately, it is not a permanent job, a contract

is signed for 0 hours a month. It consists in the fact that we receive information by e-mail about the emergence of a new job offer at school and we accept it if we have time on a given day. For some time now, on average, I manage to work about 7-10 hours a week - enough not to interfere with the university. I highly recommend it!

The atmosphere at the university is very cool! Especially in our "art"

department! Interesting people with lots of ideas. There is always something going on .. Additional evening lectures, meetings,

talk with people from outside. Sometimes an architecture student community organizes small events in Atrium with good music and "snacks". Applying for studies in Great Britain involves sending a large number of documents, keeping an eye on deadlines and your e-mail box, so I really recommend applying with the help of Edu4u! I am sure that they will take care of every date, advise you on solving any problem and help you find a dormitory! … And don't think you will fail! If you really want it, do it! Apply, just - try it! Great Britain gives us a lot of development opportunities .. It's worth it! Good luck! Julia Władysiak, more about studying and living in London on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX1xqkXzWVTm9GM4MFwv_Ig? view_as = subscriber and blog: https://londonskieporady.blogspot.com/