University of Exeter and the South West Country

Personally, I love cats.  I had 2 of my own that now live with my parents.  My wife likes them as well, but she has some alergies.....strangly enough, though, she's ok with certain cats.  I'm not sure how it works.  Maybe she's outgrown it...so it wouldn't be a problem.

Have you looked into all the requirements of bringing over a pet?  We have a small poodle that we were planning to bring....but you have to have a microchip put in with a clean bill of health for 6 months or they have to be in quarentine - all pets flying into England must travel cargo, etc.  It's all very scary.
We had almost everything set up and then we found that we had to bring him in cargo.  Even though you can fly to France with a pet that small as carry on....England has such strict rules that we have to leave him.  He'd die.  Cargo isn't presureized or air conditioned until ready for take off, there's no guarentee of things not moving around and slamming into things, etc.

Not trying to scare you...but we did a little research ourselves and it was a little too risky for our little Bo (he weighs 5 lbs).  HOWEVER, people do it everyday and are fine.  As a matter of fact, my wife did so with their family dog when she was little and he lived very happily...he was also a little bigger.

I really hope this isn't a downer.  I just want to make you aware of some things that were a bit of a shock to us.

We've looked into the pet thing--in fact, this afternoon is devoted to taking them all for their chips and rabies shots. My wife has been doing some research, and apparently there are companies that specialize in transporting pets in cargo, but in heated/cooled and pressurized holds and very safely. I'll see if I can get some information from her and post it here.

Hey,
any of you guys that have pictures of Exeter (the university or otherwise), I'd love to see them - if you don't mind sharing.

I've seen some online, but it's amazingly hard to find pictures that aren't from some brochure.  I'd like to see some real stuff too.
thanks.

Unfortunately, all of my photos from Exeter involve my friends/the interiors of bars and pubs, rather than the city itself . The only view I have of the university is the photo in the link I posted on page 3 of this thread.

However, I have just found a few pics of Exeter on my friend's Facebook account, which I've saved and added to Photobucket so you can see them:

http://s153.photobucket.com/albums/s206/ksanders_album/Exeter/

So, we've got the loans secured - we've got the plane tickets - we've got a room - we're on the move.  Now we just have to get the visas and we're on the way.

I'm so excited.  It's looking like this may actually happen.  I"m a little worried about the visa situation because we're waiting on my wife's passport to come back so we can send off for the visa. 

I'm looking for a good car rental company.  We're flying into Heathrow and it's only a little more expensive to rent a car.  Then we can enjoy the view, have an adventure, and so some emergency shopping once we move in ('cos I'm sure we've forgotten an million things).

Don't know if this will help, but the first year my husband and I were married(1999) we lived on the Exeter campus in married housing - a nice little one bed flat.  It was reasonably priced and came with a daily cleaner and everything.  It was his last year of his undergrad degree.  PM me if I can help with anything.  Exeter is a great city and Devon is just lovely. 

the first year my husband and I were married(1999) we lived on the Exeter campus in married housing - a nice little one bed flat. 

Really?  I didn't know they had married housing.  I could never find anything like that.  We, eventually, went into the private sector and rented a room from someone who owns a 4 bedroom house.
We'll be sharing the house, of course, but we can always find something later if we prefer the privacy.

It was reasonably priced and ... 

What does "reasonably price" end up being for this area.  Although I live in a rather expensive area in the states...once my dollars become pounds (and, therefore, half as much) the term "expensive" just got a much larger role.

Yeah, they've got some married housing that I looked into a while back. Unfortunately, they don't take pets, so that became out of the question. We're currently trying to find a reasonably-priced one-bedroom somewhere, assuming I can get an estate agent to return my email messages... 

Really?  I didn't know they had married housing.  I could never find anything like that.  We, eventually, went into the private sector and rented a room from someone who owns a 4 bedroom house.
We'll be sharing the house, of course, but we can always find something later if we prefer the privacy.

What does "reasonably price" end up being for this area.  Although I live in a rather expensive area in the states...once my dollars become pounds (and, therefore, half as much) the term "expensive" just got a much larger role.

Can I be nosy and ask how much you'll be paying in your shared house?

Back in 2001, I was paying £54 per week (not including utilities) for a room in a 3-bed terraced student house, which was pretty reasonable then. In 2004, I lived in James Owen Court (university apartments) and was paying £85 a week (bills included).

I seem to remember that some students back in 2001/2002 found really good deals on rooms in a house (i.e. £48 per week including bills) and some ended up paying a lot (i.e. £75 per week, no bills included). It really depends on the area you're in, the size of the house, how nice the landlord is etc.

I've just done a quick search for one-bed flats available in Exeter: http://www.torent.co.uk/1_Bedroom-properties-for-rent-In-EXETER-EX.htm - this site currently has 2, one in Pennsylvania Road (a very popular student road close to the uni - almost impossible to get a house on because of the popularity) and one in Broadfields - about 3 miles from campus.
There's also 2 results on here.

Unfortunately, student accomodation is not as readily available in Exeter as it can be in the US. It is often the case that there are almost too many students for the number of houses/flats available, as opposed to more houses than students. You should be able to find somewhere to rent, but a lot of the housing is taken by March of each year for the following year as groups of students tend to panic about finding accomodation several months in advance.

We actually got a large room in a 4 room house for 90 lbs/wk (not including utilities). 
I wasn't too disappointed with this because while there were some cheaper places - the money I'd save in rent I'd pay for in sweat.

The landlord is a professor at Exeter and very kind.  He's working with us on so many things.  Everywhere is charging by the person (i.e. 65 lbs/person) which is alot more for us.
He's charging more for the two people, but not doubling it like the others would.
He's also going to let us pay our rent bi-monthly instead of the whole term up front because we're international and won't have the money until the loans come through.

It's all worth a few extra bucks (quid?) to me.  Did I mention it's furnished?

AND we're not in the party section.  We're in a family area, which I like more.  Not that I don't like to party - I just like to be able to choose when I party and relax without loud or drunken festivities going on around me.

I think we paid about £90pw, which I thought was good, since it was inclusive of utilities and I didn't have to scrub the toilet!  They're down at King Edward Court. 

We actually got a large room in a 4 room house for 90 lbs/wk (not including utilities). 
I wasn't too disappointed with this because while there were some cheaper places - the money I'd save in rent I'd pay for in sweat.

The landlord is a professor at Exeter and very kind.  He's working with us on so many things.  Everywhere is charging by the person (i.e. 65 lbs/person) which is alot more for us.
He's charging more for the two people, but not doubling it like the others would.
He's also going to let us pay our rent bi-monthly instead of the whole term up front because we're international and won't have the money until the loans come through.

It's all worth a few extra bucks (quid?) to me.  Did I mention it's furnished?

AND we're not in the party section.  We're in a family area, which I like more.  Not that I don't like to party - I just like to be able to choose when I party and relax without loud or drunken festivities going on around me.

That sounds pretty good - landlords tend to vary quite a bit in terms of money issues, so it's good that he's not charging you double (one of my friends managed a really good deal for a double room in a 9-bed student house in Bristol - she shares the room with her boyfriend and they pay about £30 a week each - they're in a fairly cheap area, so rent is only £250 per month split between them!!).

When I lived in Exeter, I didn't find the nightlife too noisy (I was living at the end of the high street right by the Odeon cinema and football stadium - we had more noise from the family with a 2-year-old on one side of us than from the male students on the other), so if you're in a family area, it should be really quiet.

Is the house in the private sector? I ask because unless you live in university-owned housing, you shouldn't need to pay rent by the term anyway. All the private sector contracts I've encountered require monthly rent payments (either by cheque or direct debit each month) and not termly. Also, if it's a student house, it ought to be furnished as standard anyway because students can barely afford to buy food and pay bills, let alone buy their furniture too, lol.

- she shares the room with her boyfriend and they pay about £30 a week each - they're in a fairly cheap area, so rent is only £250 per month split between them!!).

Wow!  That's amazing.  Even in USD ($500) is cheap for rent.  I'm paying a little over $900/mo here.

But I'm not too disappointed with the rent.  I mean, if we get there an we find something cheaper that we like better - we'll consider that for my second year.  But for now, I'm just glad I have a place to live.

Is the house in the private sector? I ask because unless you live in university-owned housing, you shouldn't need to pay rent by the term anyway. All the private sector contracts I've encountered require monthly rent payments (either by cheque or direct debit each month) and not termly. Also, if it's a student house, it ought to be furnished as standard anyway because students can barely afford to buy food and pay bills, let alone buy their furniture too, lol.

I wanna say it's actually private sector...however, I found the place on the Exeter Uni website (for private) and it's owned by a professor there.  He's been so nice that I bet if I needed to pay weekly he'd let us.

It's not going to make me do so now - but do you think I should look for something else in my second year?  Could I find something cheaper for a married couple?
(It's certainly cheaper than ANYTHING I found owned by the Uni. and with more privacy)

I wanna say it's actually private sector...however, I found the place on the Exeter Uni website (for private) and it's owned by a professor there.  He's been so nice that I bet if I needed to pay weekly he'd let us.

If it's in the private section of the Exeter wedsite, then it should be in the private sector. University owned housing is mostly the large residence halls and large houses catering for more than 10 people and your 'landlord' would be the accomodation office on campus. The fact that your landlord is a professor is likely to be irrelevant.

It's not going to make me do so now - but do you think I should look for something else in my second year?  Could I find something cheaper for a married couple?
(It's certainly cheaper than ANYTHING I found owned by the Uni. and with more privacy)

I'm not sure if you could find anything cheaper. In a shared house, your bills and utilities will be split 4 ways, so while an apartment would have smaller bills, it could end up costing you more. I'm not sure about the flats in Exeter, but in Bristol, you'd be lucky to find a 1-2 bedroom flat (non-student, at least) for less than £500 a month (not including bills). That's about £150 more per month than your current shared accomodation in Exeter.

Anyone know roughly how long the university will take to process a student loan check from the US? I'm a little worried about the gap between when I get there and when I'll have the money from my first disbursement available...