An international student in Edinburgh - Part 2

I studied A levels, a British qualification, in order to study abroad. After my A levels, I decided to go to the University of Edinburgh. This is a story about how I got my accommodation in Year 1, and how it turned out.

My A level exam board was CIE, so my grades only came out in August. This, along with some personal issues, meant that I applied for university accommodation quite late.

Renting accommodation privately was not an option since I was not in the UK and could not view flats in person. That meant that university accommodation was my safest bet. Each person was allowed to have five accommodation choices. All of my choices were ensuite because it’s a little inconvenient to share one bathroom with four or more people.

However, when the accommodation assignments came out, I didn’t get any of my potential choices. I was assigned to a place called Riego Street instead. It was not ensuite. I heard that people got assigned here because they applied late for the accommodation. All of the other choices were already taken.

In high school, I lived in a room of four, and we shared a bathroom. That’s usually the case for universities in China. So it was alright for me to share a bathroom with other people, and the idea of having my own room already pleased me. I couldn’t wait to decorate it!

Riego Street

The Riego Street complex forms a U shape; my building was in the middle. When I arrived at the accommodation I saw a big yellow sign which had the University of Edinburgh’s logo on it, and ‘Riego Street’ in big letters. My accommodation is here!

When I stood at the entrance, I saw many volunteers (most of them were students from higher years), and a red door leading to the reception. A volunteer took me through and gave me an information pack. All the information I needed to know about the accommodation was in there. Then I followed the volunteer to my flat door. After handing me the key, he left.

There was an A4 paper on the door. It was printed with the Scotland flag and the name of each person who lives in this apartment. My roommates were all nice, they invited me to hang out with them a lot. One of them was from Poland, one of them was Scottish, and one of them was from Malaysia.

I saw a 10-meter-ish hallway when I opened the flat door. The first room on the left side was the kitchen. It was reasonably spacious. There were four hobs, one sink, one fridge, one dining table, several dining chairs, two big sofas and a tea table—also a toaster, a microwave oven, an oven and some cookware left by previous people.

Most importantly, we had a washing machine. Washing machines were usually shared by the entire building in other accommodation and cost money. A wash cycle (no drying) would normally be around £3. I only need to share with four people, and we didn’t need to pay to use it.

The only problems were that there were only four hobs and one refrigerator. My roommates and I all cooked very often. Two people cooking at once got crowded, not to mention three or four people. We could not buy too much food. Otherwise, the fridge got filled up too easily. Thankfully, all of us were considerate. We tried to stagger meal times and to buy the amount of food we would eat.

(The picture below is the view from the kitchen window. I took it because I thought my roommates’ decoration was cute.)

The next room on the left-hand side was the biggest bathroom in the flat. It had a toilet, a sink and a shower. There was another bathroom in the flat which had the same facilities but was smaller. One of the best bits about our flat was that although we had five people, we had two bathrooms which both had a shower. Unlike other four-person flats, which normally have one bathroom with a shower and maybe one extra bathroom without a shower.

The two rooms after the bathroom were bedrooms. The end of the hallway was the smaller bathroom mentioned earlier and a storage room. On the right-hand side of the hallway, there were the remaining three rooms. The rooms were labelled ‘A B C D E’ respectively. I lived in A.

I would say my room was spacious. You could see a big cork notice board on the wall, and below that, there was a heater. On the right-hand side of the room, there was an OK-sized desk with a shelf above it. Next to the desk was a sink. I didn’t expect a sink in my room, but it was very convenient. Even when I have morning classes, I didn’t need to compete with my roommates for the toilets. The only nuisance was that it was placed opposite the bed. Sometimes when I woke up to pee during the night, my reflection in the mirror shocked me.

A single bed was in the left corner, and you could see it when you enter the room, facing the wardrobe. There was a bedside table near the bed. The wardrobe was big enough for me. The single bed was a bit small but matched the size of my quilt cover. The window was placed between the bed and the sink. Sometimes I would use it to people-watch after class.

One of the things that surprised me about accommodation in the UK, was their sound insulation. At first, I thought it was only Riego Street which did not have good sound insulation. But I later found out that almost all accommodation (apart from some new builds) had the same problem.

If you speak in the hallway, you need to be prepared for your conversations to be heard by other people. The door seemed to be mostly decorative. However, the sound insulation between each room was alright.

The location of Riego Street was perfect. The nearest supermarket was 2 minutes walk away. And there was a good range of supermarkets; Tesco Express, Co-op Food, Sainsbury’s Local. I went to Sainsbury’s Local and Co-op Food most often, because Sainsbury’s Local is on my way to school; Co-op Food was the nearest supermarket.

A very special thing for me was that there was a Chinese supermarket very close, “Oriental Supermarket”. It was really convenient since I cook Chinese dishes a lot. If I was cooking and forgot an ingredient, it only took me 3 minutes to get it.

Except for supermarkets, when I wanted to buy toiletries, there was also a Boots and a Superdrug nearby. Even the bank was very close. My bank is RBS, and there was an RBS next door. I like drawing, and there was an art shop in the neighbourhood. Sometimes when I was free, I would go around the shop. Just looking at those painting tools would make me feel happy.

If I wanted to see a movie, I had two choices of cinemas. One was ODEON, and the other was Filmhouse. They were both within 5 minutes walking distance. I was surprised for my first time in Filmhouse because they don’t reserve seats, it was first come first serve. I thought all European cinemas were like this until I went to ODEON. Filmhouse was unusual.

If I wanted to go to a concert, the Usher Hall was a good choice. There was a performance almost every night. It was a pity that I didn’t find out about it until my second year.

The main shopping street, Princes Street was just over 10 minutes walk. It took a similar time to get to Edinburgh Castle. I often took a walk with friends there after dinner. Since the castle is on the hill, when you look down at the city during sunset, you can feel the beauty of the city even more.

Occasionally, when I didn’t want to cook, there were also many restaurants for me to choose. There are Japanese cuisine, Chinese cuisine, China Red (Chinese buffet), grilled fish store, Korean cuisine, Nando’s (fried chicken) and lots more.

I study computer science, so my classes were all on the main campus. It took me 15 minutes walk to the campus. So I didn’t need to worry about being late for lectures even if I woke up late.

It’s a shame that I didn’t take many photos of the accommodation. I can only recall the pictures in my mind. Overall, I think Riego Street was good accommodation, it was definitely good value for money. All bills were included in the price of 125 pounds a week. Even though I didn’t get my first choice of accommodation, I was pleased being assigned there.