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University of Leeds

Exchange Report

He Mengxi, Aurora BBA (Information Systems & Finance)

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Table of Content

Monthly Activity Log 3

General Exchange Procedure 9

Things to Bring 11

Useful Links 12

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Monthly Activity Log

September:

I arrived in Leeds on September 9th. Within the university suggested arrival period, there will be a small counter at the

airport and the student helper will give you welcome pack as well as some instructions and residential suggestions. You

could sign up online (Meet and Greet service) to get your welcome pack. They will also help you to call a taxi. The

airport is not so far away from the university and it takes around 30-40 minutes by taxi which costs around 30 pounds.

There will be quite a lot of events going on during orientation weeks. And many societies have GIAG which stands for

'give it a go', so you could try out societies' events. There will be tons of welcome parties as well. You get to meet quite

a lot of people during this month by attending activities. And do not forget to register and get your student card, you will

need it to access libraries and gym.

University will not start till September 20+th so feel free to take some time explore the city. You could sign up for city

tours on student union website as well as activities.

I traveled to Nottingham at the end of the month. And traveled to quite a lot of places in the following months. If you

are a frequent train traveler like me, 16-26 youth people card will be your cost-cutter.

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October:

The Mid-autumn festival is coming in this month and we celebrated by having hot pot. I experienced some culture shock

and started to feel sad sometimes. I went to York, which is a lovely and cute place to go and definitely worth visiting.

Especially, Leeds Minster is recommended. The Betty's is the most famous afternoon tea place in Yorkshire and it costs

about 20 pounds to enjoy the traditional tea set.

I traveled to Lincoln in mid-October.

I want to Snowdonia in Wales as well. It's okay and if you do not want to miss so many lectures, doing those short day

tour would be a reasonable choice.

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I want to Whitby for hiking and it turned out to be a good choice. The view was sort of like New Zealand. Cows and

Grasses. The Whitby was celebrating Goth Festival at that day and it was fancy seeing people dressing up and wearing

costumes. It was definitely a fresh experience for me and I was very impressed.

As Halloween approaches, there will be all kinds of Halloween parties going on. But they are just like every other parties

except that people dress up for festival spirits.

November:

I want to Peak District to hike. There were many hills as the name suggested. The view was alright.

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I went to Birmingham, where a paradise for Asian food (Including Yam Cha restaurant) is / milk tea / shopping.

I went to Stonehenge and Bath. It took 5-6 hours for a single trip so I would say it is a top trip to go from Leeds. Instead,

you could depart from London if you plan to visit London and super interested in these 2 places.

I went to Lake District and it was very beautiful, though Lake District is not like what I imagine. You need to climb

mountains in order to see the lakes and the mountain is sort of steep, be careful and wear the right pair of shoes.

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December:

I want to Christmas Carol at a Christian church and had some free mulled wine and cookies. The Christmas holiday

kicks off on 9th and you have one month free time till January 8th when the time comes for final exams. I want to Scottish

Highlands, Edinburgh, York again, London, Cambridge, Oxford during the month.

Scottish Highlands is my favorite place in UK. There are many snow mountains there.

We went to see the famous Loch Ness.

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January:

Final exams. 40 is a pass and most of my exams are essay-based. As long as you go over all the materials the prof covered,

it would not be so hard for you to find some topics to write about. I said goodbye to my friends and ended my adventure

in UK.

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General Exchange Procedure

Visa Procedures:

If you are holding a HKSAR passport, you do not need a visa to stay in UK for a maximum period of 6 months. If you

are a mainland student, you need to apply for a visa. I applied for short-term student visa and with this visa, you would

be able to stay up to 6 months in UK. You cannot travel to Europe with short-term student visa and cannot get a Schengen

Visa while in UK. So if you plan to visit Europe, you would better apply for a visa before coming to UK. But you may

want to double check with Embassy to verify this information since I did not do it myself. And you cannot work in UK as well. However, with a Tier 4 visa, you are able to stay up to 12 months and you could apply for visa to Europe in UK.

You are able to work as well. It literally takes long, about a month (20 working days) for the UK Embassy to process

Visa application. And sometimes they will not send out confirmation email to tell you your visa is ready to be picked up

(in my case). You may want to check with the office if you have not heard from them for a month.

Orientation Activities:

Both business school and university will have compulsory info sessions you need to attend. Information is fruitful and

you may want to take note. You could also apply for overseas exams before the deadline in mid-October which costs 50

pounds per subject. There will be student helpers around campus and feel free to ask them questions if you get lossed or

do not know what to do.

International Services and Activities:

Tons of events going on. You may want to follow several societies' Facebook pages for most updated activity info. Else,

you could check Leeds student union's website and check out what is going on.

Accommodation:

Exchange student are guaranteed a hall place and you could choose among catered hall or self-catered hall. It would be

easier to choose the self-catered ones considered that exchange students will be traveling and hanging out a lot so you

may want some flexibility. Some off-campus residences can be very distant and it takes you 40 minutes to walk to school.

So do choose your hall with care if you do not want to chill in Leeds's winter winds. You could indicate your preference among mixed gender / single gender, alcohol / alcohol-free, smoker / non-smoker while applied on line. I lived in

Montague Burton. The rooms were relatively small but I think it is very cost efficient. 90 pounds per week with shared

bathrooms and kitchen with 4 other students. It only takes less than 10 minutes to walk to school/libraries so pretty handy

as well.

Course Registration:

You will receive an email instructing you to complete an online application from the University of Leeds, during which

you would be able to indicate your course preferences. The email will be released by email and it is very likely that you

will be granted for all coursed you have chosen. You could then add and drop courses by sending email to rep from each

department and the process is quite messy and clumsy. When you arrive in Leeds, you could do it in person at course

office but since there are limited spaces in each course, you may want to do it ASAP instead of wait till you arrive in Leeds. You could enroll in 50-70 credits in one semester.

Teaching and Assessment Methods:

Most modules I chose is 100% final. Some 80% final. For some courses, you only need to write essays. Check course

page for detailed information.

Sports and Recreation Facilities:

The edge is the gym on campus and it has swimming pool as well. They offer some training courses (dancing, volleyball

etc.) and you would be able to join for free if you have the membership. Noted that some residence will include membership in hall fee.

Health and Safety:

You could registered with Leeds Medical Practice once you arrive there. Seeing a doctor is free but you need to pay for

the medicine. Anyone staying longer than 4 months could register with them. Hyde Park is dangerous and crimes happen

a lot near areas there. I do not recommend walking home through Hyde Park alone especially the sunset can be really

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early around 4pm during winter. The sky would be dark after 4:30pm.

Transportation:

Leeds is a quite packed city so basically you can walk anywhere. You could also ride on a bus if you want to go to some

far-away places other than city center. It costs 1 pound per ride within Leeds city with a student ID.

If you are a frequent train traveler, then 16-25 youth people card will be your thing. It costs 30 pounds to get one but it

gives you 1/3 price off on all rides. FYI: return trip from Leeds to London costs around 70-80 pounds without a card.

Climate

I arrived in early September and it's a lot cooler than HK especially at night. You need to wear a jacket to keep yourself

warm. And after mid-October, it turns from autumn to winter. And during winter time sky will be dark at around 16:30

and it's fairly cold during rainy days. And England is famous for its gloomy weather and it rains quite often. 3days in a

week's time on average.

Food

I do not eat bread so I cook for myself all the way. Ingredients can be purchased from either Leeds Market (Cheaper but

far away) or any supermarket. ZAAP is a Thai food restaurant you could try out. Cheap but delicious. For fish and chips,

you can get it in any café.

Communication

In England, of course you speak English everywhere. The accent can be hard at the beginning and you may find yourself

not understanding a single word. It’s a common thing and accent varies whole UK and even British people do not

understand each other sometimes. Feel free and brave to ask for "pardons". Once you have got used to it, communication

shall not be a big problem. There are some culture difference between western culture and eastern culture so keep

optimistic and embrace the culture shock.

Useful apps:

Academic:

- QLess: You need to join a virtual queue when using student services. Useful at the beginning of the semester when you

got tons of registration stuff to do.

- UniLeeds: Check your semester timetable and exam arrangement.

Travel:

- Trainline; Easy to buy train tickets everywhere.

Food delivery:

- Deliveroo

- Just eat

- Hungry House

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Items to bring

Passport

HKID

University of Leeds acceptance letter

Adaptor

Umbrella

Gloves, scarf and woolen hats

Medicines

Home Food

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Useful Links

University Website for international students: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/info/123000/international_students

Accommodation: https://accommodation.leeds.ac.uk/

Leeds Student Union: https://www.luu.org.uk/