Dear Students, Thank you to everyone who has ... - WordPress.com

Dear Students, Thank you to everyone who has emailed us a question, following my previous Letters from London of July 21st and a second one on July 29th, as featured on the blogs sent out by our Global and Liberal Studies offices in New York. I hope all of the information is helpful to your planning for your forthcoming study abroad experience at NYU-London. You may remember, from my previous letters, I like to share the individual questions I receive with the whole group so as, hopefully, everybody can benefit from the information the questions prompt. This last week, I received quite a number of questions on the following issues; travelling to NYU housing from London’s airports, having mail sent, cell-phones and some fun stuff to do in London. So please let me (now) share this information with you all:

What would be the best way to get a cab from the airport? I'm flying into Heathrow and found 3 other girls who are landing around my same time and would love to be able to figure out how/where to get a cab before we land? There are quite a number of cab companies you can try. Each has an on-line booking service:   

Addison Lee on http://www.addisonlee.com/services/airport-transfers/ Just Airports on http://www.justairports.com/ Radio Taxis on http://www.radiotaxis.co.uk/

We have used all three. I think Just Airports would probably be the cheapest: probably around £45.00 (or $US 75.00) from Heathrow Airport to each of the NYUL residence blocks. “Good to knows”, when it comes to booking cabs: If you have to nominate a time (on the on-line booking system) for a cab to meet you, consider that there will be a time-lag between your plane arriving at the terminal building and you meeting your cab outside the Arrival’s Hall. In London, after disembarking your plane you will need to walk through “Passport Control” and then on to the baggage carousel before emerging in to the Arrival’s Hall, ready for your cab. I wish this was an easy process to put a time on; unfortunately it is not: On a good day, you can get through Heathrow in one hour after disembarking your aircraft. On a bad day you can double this time-span, on a really bad day …….. So how do you get around this conundrum and make sure your cab is waiting for you, outside? If you are booking a cab in advance (either on-line or via phone) you will notice that many of the cab companies will usually ask for your flight number - as part of the booking procedure. This (then) allows the cab company to monitor the arrival of flights and, from other local intelligence on the day, get a “feel” for how long it is taking passengers to emerge through Immigration, before releasing the vehicle - so there is usually not a problem. As for actually locating your cab: Sometimes the driver will wait in the Arrivals Hall holding a sign with your name on - so that is an easy way to locate the cab. The taxi firm will (also) usually give you a number to call and/or details of the vehicle collecting you (e.g. type of vehicle, its colour, its registration plate number etc.).

If you arrive outside the terminal and your taxi is not there, you can either call the number given, or speak to the ‘taxi captain’; a person in the taxi area directing the traffic and s/he will help you to locate your vehicle - again, it is usually fairly straightforward and easy. Obviously, different cab companies can have different procedures, so it might be worth researching each company’s “pick-up procedures” before you make a booking, so as you are sure of what to expect. Just a point of caution, if you are seeking to meet up with people off other flights, so as you can share a cab ride: It only works around 75% of the time. Good odds (of course) but you should all make some contingencies, just in case one of your party’s flight gets delayed, etc. When you have a cab booked and waiting for you, this obviously becomes even more important. My suggestion would be to give everyone a time and a place to meet up; say 11am, at the “Meeting Point” in Terminal Three. NB: Heathrow has five terminals Please refer to the attached document with advice on how to travel from London’s Heathrow Airport to the three NYUL residences. Then if you each have a sign saying something like “Lucy Lou: looking to meet Minnie Mouse, Daphne Duck and Ella Cinders” this would give you a good chance of all meeting up. Have your cab booked for (say) 11.10am, in this example. If by 11.05am, Minnie, Daphne and/or Ella have not met you – they know to make their own way in to London. I know this all sounds a bit harsh, but honestly, it is the best way this will work and you not have to pay a fortune for a cab with its meter running.

What is the cheapest way of getting to the NYUL Residence Blocks from London’s Heathrow or Gatwick Airports? London has two major international airports London Heathrow which is located to the west of the city and London Gatwick which is located to the city’s south. The cheapest way to reach the NYUL residences from each airport is via public transport (e.g. train, bus and/or London Underground – London’s subway system). The attached guides will help you to make some decisions between your travel options, travelling via public transport can save you around 90% (of a cab fare), but there are a number of other things to consider:   

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How mobile are you? If you’ve got lots of bags, you’d probably be happier in a taxi How many people are you travelling with? Two people effectively split a cab fare, of course. How badly do you want to save money? A cab from Heathrow (for example) to Bloomsbury will likely cost over £45.00 ($US 75.00). A one-way Underground ticket between Heathrow and Russell Square (the nearest station to Byron Court and Guilford Street) or King’s Cross, nearest station to NIDO is £5.50 ($US 8.00). How confident do you feel taking public transport (with bags)? Only you will be able to answer this question – those who are less confident would likely take a cab.

Why doesn’t NYU organize airport transfers? This is an obvious and natural question to ask. We tried to organize group transfers a couple of years ago and it was a disaster!!!!! Why? 1. London has five airports. The biggest Heathrow has five separate terminals – working out quite where to send transfer buses to was our first challenge.

2. Students ended up waiting around. We had a fleet of coaches working on looped runs between the airports and the residences, but the effective turn-around time was 3 to 4 hours, especially in London’s traffic. This meant we had a lot of very tired students waiting around simply for a bus to turn up. It was just frustrating for everybody. 3. It is just so easy to take the Tube into Bloomsbury. Each of our three residences is located very close to London Underground stations on the Piccadilly Line – the line that serves Heathrow. It is a simple 45-minute ride into town and, as a student last year told me, the ride was a piece of cake! So given what I’ve said above, about riding with bags, taking the Underground is the simplest, cheapest and (importantly) quickest way of getting to the residences. What we will do though: Is post a member of NYUL staff at London’s Heathrow airport on Wednesday August 28th 2013 (the date of Housing Check-In) so as this person will be a resource for all arriving students. We don’t have the details just now, but this person will be positioned in a highly-visible position (look out for the BIG sign and NYU violet T-shirt!!!), probably in Terminal Three at Heathrow. This person would then be able to assist with directions into town, etc. As I say, more information to be announced, so keep an eye open for further news!

Our second most popular area of questioning was: Where should I have inbound mail sent, if my parents want to send me a package? Please have all mail sent to the NYUL Academic Centre at 6 Bedford Square. The reasons I say to use this address, rather than your housing address are three-fold: 1. We have no provision to store mail at Byron and Guilford! 2. You will be at NYUL most days of the week and therefore it is convenient to collect your mail there. Mail usually arrives at NYUL twice a day and there is a good system in place for students collecting inbound mail – details given at Orientation. 3. Sometimes, packages need to be signed-for and there is always somebody at Reception (in the NYU Academic Centre) who can accept your package and sign for it. Once a package has been received, Reception will post a note (on a noticeboard in Reception) informing you of this and giving directions of how to retrieve your package. 4. NYUL will continue to receive any mail for you, even after you have left London, so we can easily forward it on to you – this might not be the case, at your place of residence. I would address all inbound packages/mail in the following way: Ms. Jane Doe, Student, New York University – London, 6 Bedford Square London, WC1B 3RA England, UK. Usually when sending a package overseas, your local post office will have you (or your parents) complete a “Customs Declaration Form”; which gives the mailing service an idea of what is in the package. This usually is sufficient, but I would suggest you (or your parents) add the following, in clear block letters, somewhere on the front of the package “NO COMMERCIAL VALUE”. This term will (usually) mean that your mail will not get held in Customs, awaiting import-duty clearance and so should hasten the time it takes to reach you.

I was curious to know if we had to provide our own bed linens or not? Yes, linen is provided. You get a pillow & case, a duvet (you call them comforters, I think) with its cover, and a bottom sheet: So there is no need to bring (or buy) your own. You will, however, need to bring your own towel as these are not provided.

Should I bring my NYU ID with me? Yes; if you have one! The NYU ID card will be used as your primary form of ID when using the campus buildings. So it is important that Upper Classmen students bring it with them, so please pack it! Freshmen students new to the University and who are unlikely to have an ID card yet, or visiting students who will also not have this card, should apply for their NYU ID card as soon as possible and can find out how to do this here: https://photoid.nyu.edu/

My friends are coming with me to London. Can they stay in the residences? There are overnight guest policies at all 3 residences, and as NIDO is a private residence not controlled by NYU London their policies are a bit different to Byron & Guilford. We'll provide full details of the visitor policies at all buildings once you arrive, but one common thread is that all students can host guests for a maximum of 8 nights per month in all of the residences. In Byron or Guilford, guests are allowed to stay overnight from Monday 2 September, once everyone has settled in and classes start, so unfortunately anyone accompanying you to London would need to find lodgings outside of the student residences. You might recall that we mentioned some hotel options in my last Letter from London.

My parents are going to be in London over Orientation, is there anywhere you recommend them to eat? They like nice but fun places and are quite keen to discover the local food. It used to be said that to eat well in England, you would have to eat breakfast three times a day!! That was then, this is now: London is now one of the world’s culinary capitals and features every type of world cuisine. Here are a few ideas (though) of places that are fun, nice &/or unusual:  Eat pie in the Pie Room at the Newman Arms (23 Rathbone Street, W1)  Eat “Pie & Mash” at M. Manze’s (Tower Bridge Road) www.manze.co.uk  St. John (St. John St. near Smithfield Market) temple to new-Brit cooking  Bar Shu (28 Frith Street) for the best of Sichuan Food  Roast (at the Floral Hall, Borough Market) – dedicated to British food.  Do Dim Sum at Hakkasan, 8 Hanway Place W1  Indian street food at Imli 167-169 Wardour Street  Incredible Indian Food at the Painted Heron 12 Cheyne Walk  Best curry in London? Shampan on Brick Lane  The Table (83 Southwark Street) http://www.thetablecafe.com/aboutus.html  Dip in to the Hummus Bros.  Order London’s best tapas at Barrfina (54 Frith Street)  Best fish and chips in London? The Golden Hind on Marylebone Lane – with Spotted Dick or Bread and Butter pudding for afters too!  Go to Bodeans (Poland Street) for the best pulled-pork sandwich this side of Tennessee.

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El Vergel - London’s only Chilean café – 8 Lanty Street, Borough Americans seeking comfort food should head to Chipotle on Charing Cross Road. Drool over the food halls in Harrods Greasy spoon at Kray Twins favourite – E Pellicci, 332 Bethnal Green Road, E2 Dine in the Dark at Dans Le Noir (Clerkenwell Green) www.danslenoir.com/london Take in a cowbell show over dinner at the Tiroler Hut (www.tirolerhut.co.uk) Have dinner at the dogs www.lovethedogs.co.uk/wimbledon Tom’s Kitchen www.tomskitchen.co.uk brasserie off King’s Road. Order fish at J Sheekey – best fish restaurant in town: great place for lunch. Discover Burmese food at Mandalay, 444 Edgware Road www.mandalayway.com The Grandfather of Gastro-Pubs: The Eagle, 159 Farringdon Road, Clerkenwell. Arbutus 63 Frith Street (www.arbutusrestaurant.co.uk) for the best set menu prices around Best deal in town? Patogh (Persian food) in Crawford Place. Fabulous lobster &/or burgers at Burger and Lobster www.burgerandlobster.com in Soho.

Unusual  Have dinner in a converted power station (The Wapping Project)  Hunt down the mobile Choc Star van (www.chocstar.co.uk)  Coffee, Cake and Kink (61 Endell Street, WC2)  Fancy a Snog? – trendy frozen yoghurt in Soho  Late Night/Early Morning Bagel at Beigel Bake in Brick Lane  Candid Arts Café (Candid Arts Centre, 3 Torrens Street, EC1)  Munch on an original Maid of Honour http://www.theoriginalmaidsofhonour.co.uk/  Elvis Graceland’s Palace 881 Old Kent Road www.gracelandspalace.com has Paul “Elvis” Chan  Have dinner aboard a London Bus in Elys Yard, Hanbury Street www.root-master.co.uk  Eat Afloat on Lightship Ten a Danish Lightship www.lightshipx.com in St. Katherine’s Dock.  Order a tub of whelks at Tubby Isaacs outside the Aldgate Exchange pub: Goulston & Middlesex Sts.  Get a table by the lake at Inn in the Park (St. James’s Park) www.innthepark.co.uk  Munch a macaroon at Laudree  Swing by Viva Cake (Shoreditch) hosted by three rock-n-roll nostalgics.  Take afternoon tea at the Hoxton Pony www.thehoxtonpony.com  Have a TV dinner at the Roxy www.roxybarandscreen.com

When it comes to power adaptors should we buy them in the US before-hand or buy new electrical products UK (e.g. a blow-dryer)? To power American electrical appliances, you will (firstly) need an electrical voltage converter to power your machine (unless it automatically does this for you – many do, so ask your local electrical goods retailer for clarification). Typically American appliances are powered off 110volts: Europe uses 220volts; twice that power – so imagine what would happen to your curling irons with twice the power coming through – it’s not just your curling tongs that would fry! Secondly, and in addition to a voltage converter, you will need a plug adaptor. The British plug socket is different from the one used in America, it has three quite large rectangular prongs (as opposed to two in the USA); so you will need a three-pronged adaptor so as you can actually plug your appliance in to the wall in the UK. Unless you are a qualified electrician, of course, this information can seem a bit confusing, but you should be able to get some help and advice at your local Radio Shack (or equivalent) and they should be able to guide you fully for each piece of electrical equipment you own.

As I say, some American appliances will (either) have a switch built in that you can alternate between European and American voltage, others might do this automatically (for example, some modern lap-tops have this facility, but, importantly not all – so please check with your personal equipment). As you predict in your question, you can buy many of the things you can buy in the States here in London – it also saves carting your blow-dryer across the Atlantic, which is another plus. Whenever English people want to buy anything for a better price, we usually go to a place called Argos (see: http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Home.htm ): This is a warehouse store, where everything is a little bit cheaper. The best bit about Argos in London is that they have a store at Chancery Lane, which is very close to the residences – which you could easily visit during your first few days in London.

How do I go about getting a “pay-as-you-go” cell phone in London? Are there stores near campus that sell them? How much are they? I do have a cell phone here in the States, but hear the international plans are too expensive and someone suggested either a “pay as you go” or a SIM card purchased in London that can go into my Blackberry which would pick up a London based cell company- do you know much about these SIM cards and where to purchase? You can certainly buy a "pay-as-you-go" cell-phone here in London. Let me send you the link for the Car Phone Warehouse http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/ . The good thing about the Car Phone Warehouse is that they are not owned by any phone company, so they can give impartial advice on what type of phone would work best for your needs and the facilities you would require (e.g. ability to contact the USA). I bought a PAYG phone the other day for a visiting faculty member from the Car Phone Warehouse on Tottenham Court Road (5-minute walk from the NYU Academic Centre) and it cost me just £4.95 ($6)! I couldn’t believe it! So, you can easily pick up phones these days for very little money. Another option you have (of course) is to purchase a SIM card once you arrive in London – which tends to be the cheapest way to go and they get the best rates. Here is quite a useful website to have a look at http://www.britishsims.com/SIMCards.html Again, you would need to make sure the cell phone (or SIM) has international capability and (importantly) that this facility is “unlocked”. Note: sometimes that might take a few days to “unlock” the phone. Finally, and don’t forget, you have a whole range of internet-based communication options too. If you haven’t done already, do sign-up for Skype http://www.skype.com/en/ and Viber (an internetbased phone service) on http://www.viber.com/ – which cuts through all of the worry about having to pay! My final area of questioning for this week, related to the Cultural Programming Calendar sent out with last week’s Letter in London. We are very pleased to see that you have enjoyed reading about some of the exciting things we have arranged for you this coming semester, a number of you (though) wanted clarification on a few areas; these being: What if I really want to participate in more activities, which exceeds my 100 credit expense? Do I simply pay additional fees (for, perhaps, operas & shows)? Would there by NYU student discounts in regards to those shows?

What we’re trying to do, at the moment, is give everybody a “fair shake” at all of the activities. With 400 students to cater for, we have to have some way of giving everyone chance to do (at least) their favoured events; so we will need to restrict everyone to their 100 credits, at first instance. Obviously, if we don’t fill all of the seats on the bus (for a day trip) or the seats, we’ve purchased, at a soccer game or theatre show (etc.) we would likely offer the trip back out to students. As far as generally getting access to student discounts is concerned, London is a great place! When you arrive in London you will not only have your NYU Student ID but we will give you an ID to the University of London’s Student Union. The ULU card, as it is known, is the key to many of the discounts available to local students. Many local retailers honour the system – so it is always worth asking when you make local purchases – but where the card really comes into its own is getting access to “Student Standby” tickets at many of London’s theatres. This will mean that you should be able to purchase theatre tickets for many of the top shows at 1/3rd of the face value of the ticket. Admittedly, you cannot purchase these tickets until one-hour before curtain but after this time, many theatres will sell-off their unsold tickets at this huge discount to students. It’s the best deal in town! For the volunteering weekend in Wales (10/19~20), the brochure mentioned "See Credit Value Below" but I still couldn't find it. Is it the same as Maggie's Cultural Crawl, aka credit-free? Looking at the Calendar again, as prompted by your question, I’m not sure if we made the description as clear as it could/should have been – so thanks for alerting us! Basically, the (“see below”) was referring you to the last line of the section; i.e. “Details of the cost and how to sign up for this trip will be sent shortly after the start of term”. What we typically do, is send out an email inviting people to tender their interest. It is like Maggie’s Cultural Crawl in that it is credit-free but what we do is ask people for a contribution towards the group’s food: This is likely to be £20.00, but we’ll confirm once we’ve worked all of our sums out! As part of the experience, we will all cook and eat together in Wales. The £20.00 the student pays to participate on the trip will pay for all of the food for dinner, on the Saturday night, and breakfast on Sunday. On the trip itself, students will be split into two teams; those who like to cook will form the “Cooking Squad”, those who don’t (like me!) will make up the “Cleaning Team”. Last year, this arrangement seemed to work well, so we’ll do it again. Clare (our Volunteering guru) will let you know more, possibly in a Letter from London she will write (in a weeks’ time) or, in the email she sends out about the trip, once term is under way.

I will be at NYU London for a whole year. During spring 2014's semester, will there be several repetitive activities that I could sign up (if I didn't manage to go in this fall semester)? There is going to be a whole new calendar for the Spring Semester with mostly different trips and events although some are repeated (we always go to Stonehenge for example). It’s a bit too early to say quite what will be in the program and we (also) ask the students what they would like to see included – so you’ll have chance to contribute towards what we do too. We usually have the Spring Calendar ready, for distribution, by the end of the Fall term.

Is the Travel Clinic only open on 9/17? I mean, I'm not quite sure about when I would want to go on a Europe trip or London tour so would it be possible to still be able to ask/consult NYU's Student Life Team another time?

The Travel Clinic on September 17th is a good opportunity for people to learn about travel, as we’ve invited a number of top London travel experts to attend but (and importantly) it is not your only opportunity. We in Student Life spend quite a bit of our time throughout the semester working with students, on a small group or individual basis, helping them to develop travel plans – so there is plenty of assistance at hand to help you formulate some great trips.

Thank you for sending the Cultural Programming Calendar, but can you give me an idea of what other things there are to do in London? That’s a nice BIG question to end. You could, in all honesty, ask what else would there be to do in New York – the possibilities are endless! Fortunately, help is at hand. We Londoners have a great resource that is issued every Tuesday: Time Out Magazine http://www.timeout.com/london/ Now New Yorkers reading this letter will say “we get Time Out too!” well, it’s the same type of magazine; a listings magazine that each week tells us what is happening in our fair city, when it’s happening, how much tickets cost, where to get tickets from, the nearest underground station to the venue, etc. etc. etc.. But Time Out is even more useful than that, it gives you details of future events, so if you want to see (for example) Glasvegas at the Scala on October 2nd or seminal postpunks The Fall at the Grand in Clapham on November 15th it will tell you how to do it. It will also give you comment on what is hot and what is not, so you don’t waste your time going to the wrong nightclub. Take a look at the website and consider picking up a copy of the magazine each Tuesday: best of all – it’s free!!!!!! Just for fun, here (attached) are some of the fun events that Time Out suggests its readers should try in London which I think will help to answer your original question. After you have done all of this, you can really begin to call yourself a Londoner!

I hope, as always, this information is helpful to you planning. I am about to go on holiday for a week, so the 4th Letter from London will be written by my colleague Clare Calland – our Community Engagement and Volunteering guru. But, in the meantime, please keep sending your questions coming and we will keep answering your questions as best as we are able. Best regards, Tony Attachments:  How to get to the NYUL residences from Heathrow and Gatwick airports.  Time Out London’s Top 70