All entries for Tuesday 24 June 2014

The House Hunt

Well exams are finally over and the summer can now begin – well, at least until results day! It has been a crazy few weeks or even months to be honest. Revision has been all that anyone has been talking about, or indeed doing. I went a five solid days without ever leaving the house (except to take the bins out). It feels so good to now do whatever I want – and not having just a trip to Sainsbury’s as my ‘revision reward’.

However, there is still one task that needs to be completed: THE HOUSE HUNT. I don’t remember ever having much trouble finding a house on my last degree but there definitely are more things that need to be considered this time around.

First of all you need to decide where you want to live – Leamington Spa or Coventry being the main choices. This year there has been quite a large group of people living in both locations. I chose to live in Coventry this year, and am happy to stay in the area. Most of us who have chosen Coventry as our home have been living in an area called Earlsdon. It is pretty close to the university, about a 15 minute cycle ride or car journey (traffic depending, it can be double if you get stuck at the traffic lights). It also has a great high street with a good selection of shops, and even a May Day Festival. However, not everyone is happy with Coventry and a lot of people also opt for Leamington. I can definitely see the appeal – it is generally much nicer and cleaner, and saves you the expensive taxi fare on a night out if you haven’t got to get back to campus or Coventry. But the houses are also more expensive, and you need to consider the longer journey into university during rush hour in the mornings.

It isn’t just getting into university though; you also need to think about getting to the different hospitals. This year we were at UHCW every Friday. From where I am at the moment you could just about make it in 20 minutes, but again that was very traffic dependent. A lot of people from Earlsdon and nearby areas also cycled in. I only decided I was brave enough for this once on our last day, but it was actually a pretty good cycle. However, for my clinical skills I was based at Warwick – and for community placements I was based in Nuneaton and George Eliot. Therefore, wherever you live you can probably expect a bit of a journey to somewhere. It is just working out what you would prefer and planning things like car shares.

That is something you definitely notice about people being graduates – a lot more people have cars with spaces to fill. And, if not, buses run from Leamington to Coventry via campus, and others to UHCW, so you can always get to where you want to be.

Deciding between my friends where we are going to live next year has been difficult – some people wanted to be closer to Coventry for the train station, some wanted to be in Leamington for the night life, and others just wanted a better house! In the end we have looked in both places, and in other areas around Coventry. We still haven’t found anywhere yet but hopefully we will soon, and then we can tick that final task off the list!

Rachel :)

Sarah Hill : 24 Jun 2014 11:05 |  Tags: Accommodation Coventry Housemates Houses Leamington Location Rachel |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem