Time for an update I think: I bookmarked a load of estate agents in Google Maps on my iPhone, then I booked two nights in a hostel so I could spend two days running round them all (and cursing the iPhone 3's battery life), and the third day hopefully putting down a holding deposit with one of them. Amazingly this actually went to plan and I managed to secure a nice flat within walking distance of the lab I'll be working in.

I'll soon be going up to collect the keys and drop off some of my stuff, before returning to London and coming straight back with the rest of my stuff in the removal van! It's a bit mad (not to mention expensive with all of those East Coast rail fares booked at short notice) but there seems to be no quicker or more convenient way, and I met a few other PhD students at flat viewings who were doing pretty much the same thing as me. It was good to get feedback on the best estate agents and property managers too- I managed to avoid one after hearing too many horror stories about them letting dodgy run-down "student flats" and never bothering to do any maintenance.

Tey- thanks again for recommending Student Movers, their Medium van service seems perfect for the amount of stuff I have so I booked it, and at a very reasonable rate too.

Thinking about how my attempts at moving house have gone before this seems to have gone suspiciously smoothly and I'm still waiting for some problem to come along at the last minute. If it all goes to plan I'll be in the lab the morning after moving and I'm looking forward to returning to my natural habitat. Right now I'm trying to get my packing done nice and early so I can have a little time to relax and be lazy ahead of three years of solid work, but at the same time I can't wait for the real hard work to begin. Thanks for the advice everyone, I will try and post some updates on how this whole move goes...

Hi Flack,

Good to hear things are moving smoothly.

I had to relocate, but from overseas. So it was doubly hard. We had friends view flats for us and based on their recommendations, put a deposit. If you think being a UK student is bad, it's a lot worse if you're foreign. We had to pay multiple months of rent upfront! Was tempted to take student housing, but it was pretty much a hole in the wall. Wouldn't have worked out for my wife and I.

One thing you should pay attention to is the internet connection in your connection. We had to set ours up ourselves, and it took a month because the agent told us to "call BT" only for us to find out our building is a new construct and doesn't use copper cabling. Only one provider services the block. We only found that out after a technician came down to to the preliminary installation, a full 2.5 weeks after we placed the order. What a waste of time! If only the agent had told us on day one. Thankfully the sole provider had things up and running for us in 2 working days.

I can tell you those ~3weeks without internet were pretty expensive and tortuous!

Hello there,

I am an international student who has just started her Phd in the UK as well. I undertstand totally the amount of adjustments one needs to make.

I hope I'll be able to seek advice and get a sense of connectedness from this forum.

Well done for starting it, Flack, and all the best to all. Happy learning and exploring! :)

Best,
Z

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