How an Intern Can Find the Ideal Place to Stay in London
If you are living away from London and if you have been fortunate to get an internship placement in the city, one of the main problems that you will need to sort out is your accommodation since the internship stipend may be too meagre for you to be able to afford a full-fledged decent place to stay. London is basically an expensive city especially for those who are coming from third-world countries and the cost of accommodation is also high. However, there are some viable options that you can consider that are enumerated below.
Living with a Host Family:
This option provides an intimate experience in which you get a room in your host family’s house to live or you share a room with another room mate but you will have to find that other person and apply together for the room. While staying with the family, you will get the advantage of being able to learn and practice the language in order to get more fluent in it. You will also be able to get closer to British culture and get proper guidance from the family regarding various aspects of staying and moving around the city and also regarding your profession. As part of your stay, you will get the opportunity to interact with members of your host’s family, eat with them and spend time with them for attending family events such as travel, camping, eating out, and visiting amusement parks. However, you would need to share the cost of the total expenses incurred by the family towards any such outing. A lot, however, depends on the family members as some may be lively while others may be quiet. The secret of making the most of your stay in a host family is how much you can adapt to your changed environment as opposed to staying at your own home.
Living in Students Shared Apartments:
This option is different from the host family accommodation and it does not suit everyone as 5 or 6 people share an apartment either in single rooms or in shared rooms. Moreover, all the flatmates may not be interns and many be from different walks of life with different tastes and habits. The flatmates have to share the bathrooms and all the apartments may not have a living room with TV and washing machine. The rooms are furnished with just the basic necessities but bed linen and necessary cooking utensils are available. The apartments are non-smoking and each inmate has a key and is completely independent. For a comfortable life, however, each person staying at the apartment has to be co-operative especially with regard to keeping the place clean and sacrificing, if the other person does not do essential cleaning. Apartments in London are usually expensive and as such apartments for student accommodation may not be top of the end but very basic. You will only have to pay for the shared rent as all bills and taxes are included in it. You will also have to arrange for your own food.
Criteria for Choosing a Student Accommodation:
Whether you choose your London Accommodation by staying with a host family or in a students’ shared apartment, there are certain aspects that need to be considered before choosing any one of them. The first criterion is location of the accommodation as it would be best to stay near your place of work so that you do not need to spend time, energy and money in commuting. It would be best to stay at Shaftesbury Metropolis London Hyde Park for a couple of days when you arrive in London so that you can find out the nearby accommodation options since most business offices are located in central London. You can also look for private providers, for a suitable place to stay.
The other important criterion is to find a place that will fit your budget. You have to plan out your various expenses such as accommodation, commuting, food, entertainment and other incidental expenses, based on the inflow of money every month. It is better to choose an accommodation that is inclusive of all utility bills and internet.
You also need to choose a place that has a full time staff that is available 24 hours a day so that you can approach someone in case there is some maintenance problem or a parcel has to be signed for or to be able to enter the premises in case you forget to take your key. You can also consider staying in student accommodations where students of all grades stay including post grads and other interns so that you are in the midst of like-minded people.
The other important criteria that you need to consider while choosing the right accommodation include having an on-site laundry that is open 24-hours a day; being able to get a convenient payment plan in tune with when you will get paid by your employer; getting the facility of a free 24/7 on-site gym as gym membership is quite costly in London and it will be a great help if the gym facility is included in the rent so that you can relax and stay fit; having nearby facilities for food stores and other shops so that you can do shopping conveniently and have a comfortable stay.
