Living in Birmingham

[00:00:05] Speaker 1 Hi, I'm Ethan. [00:00:06] Speaker 2 And I'm Libby. [00:00:07] Speaker 1 And we're both first-year students at Birmingham City University. [00:00:10] Speaker 2 This is the Get Ready for Uni podcast, where we talk about our experience of first year and give you guys top tips for starting uni. [00:00:16] Speaker 1 And if you're looking for more tips for starting uni, you can visit BCU's free Get Ready for Uni hub online. Just search for get ready for uni on the BCU website. [00:00:25] Speaker 2 And make sure to follow BCU on all social media platforms. [00:00:28] Speaker 1 Yeah. So Libby, what are we talking about today? [00:00:31] Speaker 2 Today we're talking about actually living in Birmingham as BCU students. [00:00:37] Speaker 1 I live in Birmingham. [00:00:37] Speaker 2 I also live in Birmingham. So I think we should start with why we chose to come to this university because, you know, BCU, why did we why did we decide to move to Birmingham? Whereas, you know, we could've moved anywhere in the UK. Do you want to start because you live further away? [00:00:52] Speaker 1 Ok, so I looked at four other universities and I think when I came to look at this one, it just felt right. Like so for my course, like the facilities that they had. So I do media, so the course facilities, it was like, you know, big studio screens, stuff like that, green screens. [00:01:12] Speaker 2 Yeah. [00:01:12] Speaker 1 And it just felt like, you know, I just had the feeling like, this is where I'm meant to be. [00:01:18] Yeah. When I came to the open day, I looked at a few other unis, but when I came to the open day here, I was like, wow, for my course in specific, they know what they're doing. You know, It's also the Second City as well. I didn't want to go to London. It was too far, too expensive too, you know, too much. So I thought Birmingham, it's quite close to me it's only a half an hour drive. I didn't want to go far, but I wanted to go far away enough that I could have my own separate life. [00:01:44] Speaker 1 I also definitely feel like there's a lot of like, even though we spoke about facilities about our courses, there's also loads of stuff for other courses. There's like law courtroom things. [00:01:53] Speaker 2 We have the 24-hour library as well. [00:01:55] Speaker 1 We've got like a whole jewellery place, just a building just based around making jewellery and stuff. [00:02:01] Speaker 2 I feel like the campus by itself is actually really good facility-wise because when we did the open days it was us and other courses mixed. Remember it was like music, all those sorts. When we all sat in the lecture hall and like, you know, were going through it all. I was actually interested in all the other courses too. I was there going, wow, like they've got a lot of stuff going for them, this is great. They've got all these students for this course, the journalism courses, these are great. And then, you know, we looked into, in our classes, we walked past all the law stuff, you know, they've got all the fake courtrooms and stuff like it's really, facility-wise it's really good. [00:02:35] Speaker 1 There's a lot of stuff for it. And like so much more stuff that's coming up. [00:02:41] Speaker 2 I yeah I looked at a few other unis, I looked at some close to me, some far and I just didn't it just felt very... a bit too academic. A bit too, like, serious for me, I'm not a very serious person, so I thought, I want to go somewhere where I can have fun, where I can experience life, but also have uni there as well. I don't want uni to feel like a chore. I want it to feel like a life experience. And these other places I felt like I was in a prison of like, Oh, it was awful. [00:03:08] Speaker 1 This was the only uni that I looked at. Now that I think about it, that was like, really in the city centre? Obviously, you do, you'll have like other unis over the country that will obviously also be in the city centre, but this one was like... [00:03:21] Speaker 2 This was really central. [00:03:22] Speaker 1 Bang on the door. Like it takes like what... [00:03:25] Speaker 2 15 minutes to get to Bullring if you're a slow walker. [00:03:29] Speaker 1 And the whole time, the whole walk there is just walking through the campus because the buildings are like massive. [00:03:33] Speaker 2 Like it's only longer now because of the HS2 stuff but like literally it's, and also I feel like Birmingham, Birmingham is such a developing city at the moment as well because you just had the Commonwealth Games it is absolutely bizarre how, how much they've got going on here. I came here and I was like, I mean, I lived down the road. I've never really been here. And I come here, I'm like, Oh my God, there's so much to do. Like, there's so much. [00:03:57] Speaker 1 There's so many sections as well. So you've got like, you know, stuff like the mailbox, which is like this really nice, fancy, like. [00:04:02] Speaker 2 Very fancy. [00:04:03] Speaker 1 Feels almost like, I don't want to say it, but like Venice because of the canals. [00:04:08] Speaker 2 Yeah, I do love the canals all Brindley Place and stuff like that. I love going out around there just to like go for something to eat, but all round there. [00:04:16] Speaker 1 You've got like, you know, your kind of, you've got B-Town type of stuff like Digbeth. [00:04:21] Speaker 2 I love, I love Digbeth. [00:04:23] Speaker 1 I found out that B-Town originated from Digbeth actually. [00:04:27] Speaker 2 What is B-Town? [00:04:27] Speaker 1 It's like a music genre, like Indie stuff, and it originated from Digbeth in Birmingham. [00:04:33] Speaker 2 Nice. See, there's a lot of stuff that we go and do in Digbeth. We did our pub golf there the other day didn't we, that was good with all the bars. But then we also go, we go to Roxy Ballroom a lot, go play bowling there or go play pool and then there's Ghetto Golf as well, which is quite good. [00:04:48] Speaker 1 There's a lot of activity. [00:04:49] Speaker 2 There's a lot of stuff to do and it's like alcoholic and non-alcoholic, which is good. You know, sometimes you don't want to go out and drink. Okay, well, let's go bowling instead. Let's go eat and do this. It's really, there's actually so much to do. It's, it was kind of overwhelming at the start, but you never actually get bored. I feel like you don't. There's nothing boring to do. I also go to Flight Club down near Colmore Row. You not been there? It's darts, well I'll take you I'll take you. It's really nice there and it's so fun, like it's just it's something I wouldn't get back at home at all, which I really like about, that's what really kind of sold it for me as well. And also I like the, with the uni itself when I came and looked at it. When we came and looked at the accommodation as well I really liked that it was more modern. Everywhere else was kind of more beige and boring. But this place was really it was like, wow, I feel like I'm living in a hotel. This is great. [00:05:41] Speaker 1 What I've also realised is that all of the accommodations built in and around our one, so like basically, all in the city centre. They're all very recent. [00:05:50] Speaker 2 Yeah. [00:05:51] Speaker 1 They've all got en-suites. [00:05:53] Speaker 2 Oh, I love an en-suite. That was a big, that was a big thing for me as well because I was like I'm not sharing a toilet with anyone. When you're going for some, a place to live and spend your life for three years, aesthetics shouldn't matter but I feel like first impressions do. And when I came here, I was like, whoa, this is really nice. It was like so much nicer than all the other choices I looked at. But I feel like, definitely with our nightlife, or even just going out in the day because obviously we've finished our course now, we've got so much free time. We're like oh we'll go here, we'll go do this. There's so much to do and there's loads of shops as well. I love the shops even though I have no money. [00:06:29] Speaker 1 And I also feel like it's a very cultural city, Birmingham, there's a lot of new things that you can try out. So you know, there's a lot of like different types of restaurants that you normally wouldn't get. So I was, I was speaking to... [00:06:44] Speaker 2 Ming Moon. [00:06:45] Speaker 1 Like before, yeah, which is like an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet. But then you've also got a lot of like Indian cuisine, Korean... [00:06:51] Speaker 2 Yeah. Well obviously Indians like, you know, Balti. [00:06:55] Speaker 1 You know, you've got everything kind of. [00:06:57] Speaker 2 Yeah, I like that as well. Specially for takeout we tried, where did we try the other day? Big John's, that was really good, that was very nice. But yeah, good prices, quite cheap. That's a good thing that you can try loads of new things as well. I feel like in most cities, like they don't have as much range, yeah, range of stuff as they do here. I mean we've got the Bullring down the road, that is immense. You've got all the designer shops and you've got like H&M Home. I've never heard of a H&M Home in my life, I love it in there, I want to spend all my life savings in there. I'm like, oh my God, look at these tiny bowls. You know, I just, I just browse. And the Lego shop. I've never seen a Lego shop in my life. It's bizarre. I spent too much money at the Lego shop. But like, just the Bullring alone, it's unbelievable. [00:07:41] Speaker 1 There's so much to do from like, you know, I dunno, spending your, your life savings on Lego or you can just go out and scran a cheeky Nando's as well. [00:07:53] Speaker 2 Ooh, a cheeky Nando's or Maccies on the ramp as well. I love a Maccies. [00:07:56] Speaker 1 24-hour Maccies on the ramp. And what's even better is there's a 24-hour Maccies just around the corner from that one. Yeah, so if that one's too packed then you just, it's a godsend. [00:08:06] Speaker 2 It is a godsend. And there's also loads of stuff to do for nightlife as well. Like where I'm from, there's like three clubs and they're all awful. I can't lie to you. I'd rather sit and do nothing all day. But here when I came out, especially Gay Village as well, I love all the clubs round there we go to Missing Bar for karaoke, that was good. And then we go to Nightingales. [00:08:28] Speaker 1 Then there's also the other clubs like in Chinese Quarter, like 101 Nightclub or Glamourous. [00:08:33] Speaker 2 Ooh, I've never been there. [00:08:34] Speaker 1 Um. [00:08:35] Speaker 2 There's Snobs as well, which is more... [00:08:37] Speaker 1 Yeah, but then you've also got like Broad Street as well which has PRYZM, Popworld. [00:08:41] Speaker 2 Broad Street's always open. And all the Spoons as well. You've got Soloman Cutler, the Figure of Eight all of those. [00:08:49] Speaker 1 It's ridiculous, there's like 20 in Birmingham and they're all like a minute from each other. [00:08:53] Speaker 2 Oh yeah, It's great. To be fair I feel like, even just a place to eat as well, the Wetherspoons, you can't go a two minute walk without a Wetherspoons. [00:09:01] Speaker 1 A lot of coffee shops as well. [00:09:02] Speaker 2 Yes, there's loads of coffee shops here. Very independent artisan ones as well not like big brands like Starbucks. You have a few Starbucks, but there's many smaller branded and more independent businesses. [00:09:15] Speaker 1 We've even got a Tim Horton's. [00:09:15] Speaker 2 I've never been there. Can we go there one day? We'll go there after this. I've not actually been to Tim Hortons it's meant to be really nice. [00:09:21] Speaker 1 Yeah, it's Canadian I think. They've only started popping up in England like recently and they're only in like really big cities. Like Birmingham, Manchester, London. [00:09:29] Speaker 2 Yeah. [00:09:30] Speaker 1 They're not really anywhere else. [00:09:30] Speaker 2 That's what I like as well. It's like a major city, so it's like you're going to get all the nice stuff. [00:09:35] Speaker 1 Yeah you get everything. [00:09:36] Speaker 2 It's so good, because obviously considering we're from places a bit smaller than Birmingham. Me, I am from a city, you're from, where are you from? Like a town? [00:09:44] Speaker 1 Yeah, it's a village kind of. [00:09:46] Speaker 2 A village, kind of, but yeah, like, you don't have as much, but you have like a high street and stuff. But we have a city centre, but we don't have... [00:09:53] Speaker 1 Okay, but do you have a Castle? [00:09:54] Speaker 2 No, we don't have a castle, thank you, no I don't I'm not from Windsor. But like, you know what I mean, they have like so much more stuff and I love it because I'm like oh, I went here today. My family are like, "What?" I'm like "yeah, we did this, we did this" it's so good. [00:10:08] Speaker 1 No, definitely there's like a lot of activities that you can do. And just being slap in the city centre just makes it even better. [00:10:16] Speaker 2 Yeah, exactly. And also because we live here, even though obviously we're moving now because it's like the last, the last part of the first year now. So we have to move. I still feel like I'm quite close to all of the stuff, because obviously Birmingham is not just like one area of Birmingham that's got everything. You could go to any part and there'd be something to do. Like we always go over to Star City, which is like just, you know, a bit further out of Birmingham. But there's always so much stuff to do there. [00:10:43] Speaker 1 There's also a Costco right next to Star City. [00:10:45] Speaker 2 There is, it's massive. Oh, my God, I want to go so bad. And then, but obviously where I'm moving, I'm moving towards Edgbaston side now. I'm actually closer to Brindley Place and Broad Street, both of which I know, it's still a very nice place to go. You've got all the canals, you've got the Sea Life Centre, which is pretty cool. And then you've also got all of like Broad Street and stuff like that. So, you've got all the clubs and all the bars. If you want to have a nightlife, that's great. But also if you want to have a nice time, you can actually just do both, which is which I find really nice. [00:11:16] Speaker 1 In Birmingham, there's like a lot of things to do. Especially at the uni, because then you've also got the, in 2024 I believe, BCU are partnering with Alexander Stadium... [00:11:26] Speaker 2 Okay, I haven't heard of this. [00:11:27] Speaker 1 ...to teach some of their courses over there. Which is obviously like, you know, it ties into like more stuff of great facilities that BCU have and what they can do. So obviously like we said that we have our studios. The sports people will now have their like playing grounds that they can go practice on. [00:11:44] Speaker 2 Well that's good. Yeah exactly. Yeah. Facility-wise it's like much better for them. Um, and it's kind of cool how it's spread across the whole city as well, rather than just like, just in the campus and just in the uni, you know? [00:11:56] Speaker 1 I also feel like obviously, as we said, that Birmingham is like growing and growing and going places. It's like the BBC are moving out of the Mailbox and moving into Digbeth I think that's happening in 2025. [00:12:09] Speaker 2 They're quite, they're quite near, it's not very far away then. [00:12:11] Speaker 1 Exactly. And then obviously we have the Digbeth Locks. [00:12:15] Speaker 2 Yeah. We went, we went to there didn't we. [00:12:17] Speaker 1 Which is the studio made by the Peaky Blinders people. [00:12:19] Speaker 2 I believe so. [00:12:20] Speaker 1 And then we also saw the Joe Lycett Show the other week. [00:12:22] Speaker 2 We did. We got tickets. [00:12:24] Speaker 1 Yeah, we were on TV. [00:12:25] Speaker 2 We were on TV. [00:12:26] Speaker 1 But yeah, um, but then also, obviously we have all this stuff like near and around us. [00:12:34] Speaker 2 It's like on our doorstep. [00:12:35] Speaker 1 Exactly. Because all the accommodations in Birmingham are literally in Birmingham like they're directly next to everything. [00:12:42] Speaker 2 Yeah. Like 15-minute walk max from the campus as well. Like our campus. [00:12:46] Speaker 1 Yeah. What from like the campus to Onyx. [00:12:49] Speaker 2 Yeah, Onyx, it's like that kind of place. [00:12:51] Speaker 1 So the furthest accommodation would be like a 15-minute walk, which isn't even that long. It's only long because that's how long it is. [00:12:59] Speaker 2 If you're City South obviously it's a bit different, but you'd probably get accommodation close to that in second year. But like for first years in the main campus, the majority of students, the accommodation placement is actually quite perfect, especially our accommodation. We are the only on campus accommodation. Yeah, we are, we're at University Locks, which is like top choice. [00:13:17] Speaker 1 It's the only one owned by the uni as well. There's also another accommodation called Jennens Court which is like directly next to the Campus as well. [00:13:24] Speaker 2 Yes. Right next to it. It's got the Subway below it hasn't it. [00:13:26] It has a Subway below. So it's like all the accommodations they're fairly near the campus. Also they've all got en-suites in them. [00:13:36] Speaker 2 We love an en-suite. [00:13:37] Speaker 1 Cause, like they're all new accommodation. [00:13:38] Speaker 2 You can have the shared in, in the apartments in Locks but that's if you get a two-bedroom apartment. But yeah, I do like the fact that everything, you know, the accommodations, they're all really close to all the city centre, like it takes 15, 20 minutes to walk to even Bullring and stuff like that. Um, and it's also like they're all quite modern, you know, there's not much maintenance needs to be done and for our one, actually for our accommodation, I don't know about others, but I'm pretty sure it's same we've literally got, we've got 24-hour security and we've also got maintenance on on hand and it's like free, free of charge. It's included in our price. [00:14:11] Speaker 1 Exactly. Don't forget about freebie Fridays. [00:14:13] And freebie Fridays. I remember we'd go to our, our lectures and we'd pick up a freebie Friday beforehand. [00:14:22] Speaker 1 Exactly, our accommodation we'd be getting shampoo, conditioner, sweets. [00:14:25] Speaker 2 You get stuff for Chinese New Year as well, St Patrick's Day, St David's Day. [00:14:30] Speaker 1 They were giving out like notebooks the other week as well. [00:14:32] Speaker 2 What did they give out the other day? They gave out Coronation cupcakes or even like Pimm's and stuff. They were like come and have a party with us. [00:14:37] Speaker 1 They gave out Pimm's, who wouldn't love that? [00:14:38] Speaker 2 Every week, they do a freebie thing. And also we get a lot of emails about certain days, national this day, national whatever days, I think it's currently National Walking Month at the minute so they're doing a lot of stuff with that at our accommodation I know they they send us the most random days. I don't know how they find them but like they do something for every single national day, which I really like because it's like they involve you in it and then you walk in and you're talking to the, oh they did the Easter egg hunt as well, you're talking to the receptionist and they're like "Hey, do you want to come do this? Come guess how many sweets?" And it's really, like it's really nice. It doesn't feel like you're just staying somewhere, like a hotel. It's like they're really including you. And it's really nice, like, for our accommodation. Anyway, I'm not. The other ones are probably more inclusive but ours it's literally just first year BCU students. [00:15:21] Speaker 1 They're also like, even though there is security, they're very chilled. Because it's like the amount of like, you know, mishaps and stuff that's gone on in that accommodation. [00:15:30] Speaker 2 Yeah, they're on it, though. [00:15:32] Speaker 1 Not well not bad mishaps, but just like, funny mishaps. Where it's like, um, I don't know us belting out Abba at the top of our lungs at like, three in the morning. [00:15:45] Speaker 2 Mamma mia. [00:15:45] Speaker 1 "Gimme, gimme, gimme" like you know. [00:15:47] Speaker 2 In the lifts. [00:15:48] Speaker 1 Exactly like we love it. Um. And then there's also, you know, other stuff where it's, like, say, wasn't there about, like, your cardboard cut-out scared...? [00:15:59] Speaker 2 Oh, yeah. So when they do our like, checks of the fire stuff and that, you know, they come check the rooms, make sure everything's okay. When you walk into our room, there is a mirror on the left so it like it reflects back to where the wardrobe is. And as you open my door, my cardboard cut-outs are all perfectly placed to be staring at you in the mirror. So I've got my David Attenborough, my Liz Truss and my Billie Eilish. I didn't buy Liz Truss, by the way. But um, so whenever the maintenance man Craig comes in, he literally like has a mini heart attack. And I remember when we were bringing Liz in he was like, Please, like no more, no more. I can't deal with it. Like they're terrifying. And I feel like just a little prank on Craig all the time. It's just, it makes my week, you know? But yeah, like, I feel like there's a lot of, I feel like people who work at the accommodations as well are really fun. Like, the receptionists are so nice. Yeah, and you're always like "Hi", you know, they're really like nice. There's no one horrible there either, which is always nice because you feel welcome, you're like aw you know it's actually quite nice. Um, but yeah, I'd definitely say ours is, I mean because it's on campus as well, obviously it's more well highlighted than the other ones. I only, I only picked Uni Locks but I picked Uni Locks the shared one, when you looked at the thing I really wanted to be there and now I got it. I really liked it. So I'm glad I did cause I feel like it'd be a whole different uni experience if I didn't live where I live now because I wouldn't be so close to you. My little darling, Ethan. [00:17:21] Speaker 1 And then next year I'm going back into accommodation, actually, because I just thought, you know, well like, we booked out a flat with all my friends, I know that Libby's doing something else though. [00:17:30] Speaker 2 I am moving to a house with my friends. I'm moving over to Edgbaston I know a six-bed. I'm on top floor, so I'm way more important than everyone else. [00:17:37] Speaker 1 It's because she stinks so no one wants to be near her. [00:17:39] Speaker 2 Yeah, exactly. It's because I'm that hot, if the heat started rising in, you know. [00:17:45] Speaker 1 I'm sure. [00:17:45] Speaker 2 No, but we've got a really nice house near the reservoir, and I thought it's just better for us because most of us drive and for second year, you know, having our cars doing it. It's just more practical for us because we were thinking about moving back into Locks and then we were like, You know what? I'd like to have a house kind of situation. I like playing house, so it feels more adult, it feels more second year and I'd rather do it. And yes, we've all sorted that out and we're moving in July, so that's quite fun. So we get that a few months before uni as well. You know, and it's not like it's much different to accommodation, whereas you know, you have to book in visitors and stuff like that. Here, I can just be like guys come back, it's more, it's more adult, it's more chill. But then moving back into accommodation is not like a bad thing even for you because you're moving to a different accommodation aren't you? [00:18:29] Speaker 1 Yeah. [00:18:30] Speaker 2 Which one are you moving to? Jennens Court? [00:18:32] Speaker 1 Yeah, Jennens Court for everyone that wants to come see. [00:18:34] Speaker 2 Everyone who wants to come to a party at Ethan's place. He's moving to Jennens Court. [00:18:39] Speaker 1 But yeah, so that one's. You know, we just booked out like, a flat with all my friends. Just a very chilled kind of thing, because technically it's also kind of like living in a house because you've got our shared kitchen area. But then we've also got our own rooms and bathrooms. [00:18:55] Speaker 2 And bathrooms, the only thing I'm a bit jealous about. But I feel like it's really good that you get to choose who you live with as well for the second year because obviously first year it's scary but now that you've, now that you know who you like and who you're friends with, I feel like it's going to be so much fun for second year. Like living with your friends, living with our friends. It's going to be like so fun. And also I'm going to be over at yours all the time anyway. Yeah, it might be good for us to have some space for once, You know, you live too close to me. You're always at my flat. [00:19:23] Speaker 1 Oh, right. [00:19:26] Speaker 2 We've actually also got some questions here. If you want to go into some questions about living in Birmingham. [00:19:31] Speaker 1 Oh really? [00:19:33] Speaker 2 So one of the first questions that I've seen here, it says I'm stuck between two unis as one is more academic and has higher rankings. But the other one I love the campus and the city really appeals to me. Which would you pick? [00:19:46] Speaker 1 I wouldn't say to choose your uni over the rankings, because at the end of the day, if you're so good at the subject, then you're going to get the same grade at either place really aren't you. [00:20:00] Speaker 2 I feel like, yeah, people are worried about, Oh well, just because you got the same grade, but it's from Oxford or it's from, you know, I mean, yeah, that's great. But at the same time you still have the same skill, you've still got the same amount of skill as the other person. Would you rather spend your time being all "You know, well, I'm prestigious I'm from here" or would you rather have a good experience? You know, you're living in this place for three years, maybe more, you know, average three years. You're living here, you're doing all your work here. This is your life now. Would you rather spend it knowing that, oh, I made the right decision I'm having the best of my life here. I might actually stay here forever. It's my new home. [00:20:35] Speaker 1 This is also going to shape your life as well. [00:20:37] Speaker 2 Or would you rather it be like, Oh, I really regret going here. I wish I went somewhere else. You know, you don't want to sit and regret it. You go with your gut 100%, go with your gut. [00:20:47] Speaker 1 You just wanna enter the place and just know that it's right for you. [00:20:48] Speaker 2 I love this place. I'm I as soon as I saw this place when I went to the next open days I was like I don't even want to be here, I know I want to be at Birmingham. Which sounds really weird to me because it's like I wouldn't ever think I'd know what I want because I'm a very indecisive person. But as soon as I came here, I was like, No, I just I feel like I need to be here for some reason. [00:21:05] Speaker 1 I also feel like though even if they say, do prefer the uni that might not have as much stuff around it... [00:21:13] Speaker 2 Mhmm. [00:21:14] Speaker 1 Like, just go for that one because if that's the one you prefer you shouldn't be, you just need to pick on the whole what's right for you. Yeah. You can't like you know do, yeah, you can have your lists of pros and cons but whatever one has more pros than cons should probably be the one you need to go to. [00:21:31] Speaker 2 Well, exactly. [00:21:32] Speaker 1 Than just say choosing it because it's got, like, a nice scenery. Yeah. Or choosing it because it's seen as a better uni or something. [00:21:40] Speaker 2 Yeah, I feel like the rankings and stuff don't really matter. I think from all that I've seen from my friends, you get to different unis. It doesn't matter where you go, it matters about the life that you're making there because obviously I have friends over in Cardiff, down in Norwich, in Brighton and some in like Oxford, and it's like, well, we're all having a great time because we've all chosen what we want, not what, not what uni is the best, it's what's best for everyone. Exactly. [00:22:03] Speaker 1 Exactly. Like you don't want to be living a life that, you're not even living. [00:22:08] Speaker 2 No exactly, like you don't wanna, you know, focus all your life on education. You wanna have some fun like you've gotta have the uni life. You know, you never hear a bad story about uni, you know. When all the old people like, yeah, "I remember my time in uni" you never hear them going, "Oh, I wish I went here" because everyone picked where they felt best, it's the gut feeling. [00:22:22] Speaker 1 No, definitely. [00:22:23] Speaker 2 I have another question here. Can you still have a good social life at uni when you live at home? Do commuter students at BCU still go out and get involved in uni life? [00:22:32] Speaker 1 We talked about this in our last episode. [00:22:34] Speaker 2 We did. [00:22:34] Speaker 1 Yeah. So, um, it's definitely like you can have such a good, great accommodation - no what? - a great experience as a commuter as well because it's like you're nearby all of your friends as well anyway. [00:22:51] Speaker 2 Yeah, well, it depends where you commute from, but yeah, you wouldn't be too far out if you were commuting. But I feel like, if you're a commuter student at BCU, you're obviously willing to make the trek to go to uni anyway and you want to put yourself out there and Birmingham's like, obviously we've just said how amazing Birmingham is, what's to do here, like, you know, all the experiences that you're going to have. So I definitely say go for it. You know, put yourself out there and go to all the stuff with your friends. We have a few friends who don't live here. They live in like the outskirts, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, you know, all those places. But they still come out and they still have great times because also stuff like gigs that are always here. [00:23:29] Speaker 1 Exactly. [00:23:30] Speaker 2 Like we go out with them. Yeah, Sunflower Lounge, we've got the ICC, all those kind of stuff. But I feel like with being a commuter student, you can still go and experience all that stuff because obviously you've also got the trains and so it's not hard to get here. [00:23:44] Speaker 1 We've got trains, buses, trams, uber. [00:23:46] Speaker 2 Got trams. [00:23:47] Speaker 2 We've got an airport in case you're flying in from somewhere. Exactly. But no, I feel like with a good social life, definitely. I mean, it's not, it's not who, it's what you're doing, isn't it? It's not like where you live because you can always travel somewhere and do it. It's where you're going and what you're doing and who you're doing it with. And also, at the end of the night, if your friends all live, like we live on campus, our friends usually come and stay with us don't they. We book them in they're staying as a guest. There you go. So it's not like, there's not hassle. There can be hassle, but there's never usually hassle if you just plan ahead and you know, you end up having really good nights out. Most of the time we go out with our friends half of them are commuting aren't they. There's there's us from the campus, but then we've also got our friends over from Birmingham and that so. [00:24:27] Speaker 1 And it's like, you've also got your friends in like say different accommodation that come out with you. So it's like even though they're not necessarily commuting, they're not. [00:24:37] Speaker 2 They're not with the rest because most of us are from the same bit so we know we're all going home. [00:24:40] Speaker 1 So it's like with all the other accommodations in and around Birmingham, it's very easy to make connections through with them. [00:24:48] Speaker 2 Yeah exactly. [00:24:49] Speaker 1 You know just on the whole just all kind of collaborate together and go out and do something. [00:24:55] Speaker 2 Yeah. The next question I have just seen is it says, is Birmingham a safe place to live? I'm nervous about safety as I'm coming from a small place to a big city. Now you come from a small place, so let us know about your thoughts. [00:25:09] Speaker 1 I do think it's a safe city, actually. Like,I feel like a lot of the city is very well lit up. Mhm. Um, it's you know got a lot of it is like uni campuses as well. Yeah. It's very safe those. Um obviously you're going to have, you know, your fair share of like... [00:25:27] Speaker 2 Dodgy areas, dodgy people. Yeah. [00:25:29] Speaker 1 But it's like that's normal with any city. Yeah. You can't really look at it in a way that like oh Birmingham's this, Birmingham's that. [00:25:37] Speaker 2 I feel safer here at like 3 a.m. than I do at home in the middle of the day. For us, like walking back, say we've walk back after an hour or we're going somewhere, I don't feel unsafe at all. [00:25:47] Speaker 1 I love it. You know, just a nice brief... [00:25:50] Speaker 2 Just strolling back. [00:25:50] Speaker 1 walk to Maccies on the ramp. [00:25:51] Speaker 2 Maccies on the ramp walking back. You just feel so safe. [00:25:54] Speaker 1 Exactly. [00:25:56] Speaker 2 It is well lit like you said, like I feel there's no, there's nowhere where it's like, Oh, God, that's scary. I'm not going to go that way. I've never not gone down a route because it's always well-lit and it's always, and the street's always clean, so you know, like everywhere's always being monitored and looked after. They've got street cleaners all the time. [00:26:11] Speaker 1 When I think about it. [00:26:13] Speaker 2 They're always. [00:26:14] Speaker 1 This is so unrelated. I don't know why I just came into my brain. Well, we've got loads of Greggs. Like who doesn't love a good Greggs? [00:26:21] Speaker 2 Oh, well, how is that relevant to being safe? We're safe. Greggs are protecting us guys. Don't worry, you're not about to be robbed, we've got a Greggs, ok. [00:26:29] Speaker 1 You know, if you're just like hungry midday, you can just go scran a sausage roll, like who doesn't love a Greggs? [00:26:35] Speaker 2 You know what, I'm gonna now judge the safety of cities by how many Greggs they have. [00:26:40] Speaker 1 Well Yeah we've got like 12 I bet. [00:26:41] Speaker 2 There's like four just in the high street. Yeah well that's really irrelevant to the question, but yeah, yeah. Okay. But yeah, I feel like it's definitely much safer than people make out to be. Mhm. I feel really safe here and it's weird, you know, not even walking in big groups. We walk home together, just the two of us. I mean, you're not much of a threat, you know? So I walking home with you is like walking home with a toddler. Oh, so like, you know, even just walking with you, I feel safe. [00:27:08] Speaker 1 Nice. [00:27:09] Speaker 2 You know, sometimes, you're like, I wanna be in a big group to feel safe, I don't need to. You feel, I mean, to be fair we probably scare them away when we scream our Abba songs, you know, all night. [00:27:19] Speaker 1 Oh my gosh, do love a bit of Abba though. [00:27:20] Speaker 2 But yeah I feel like it's much safer than it's made out to be. Which is a really good point for a university. You know, you're young, you don't want to be constantly scared of going places and you don't want to have to waste loads of money on Ubers when it's just a short walk. You don't want to have to feel that unsafe. [00:27:35] Speaker 1 Exactly like we're all students. [00:27:35] Speaker 2 and that scared. [00:27:38] Speaker 1 We all want to save our money. [00:27:38] Speaker 2 Save our money. Spend it on better things like Lego. But no, the final question here is what was your highlight of Freshers and living in Birmingham for the first time? [00:27:50] Speaker 1 My highlight of Freshers. I don't really know, to be honest. I think just the whole week, was like a fever dream. Yeah, It was just like, this is so unreal, but I love it so much. [00:28:02] Speaker 2 It was like going on a school trip. But there was no rules. [00:28:05] Speaker 1 It was like you could be as mental as you wanted to be. You could also be as conservative as you wanted to be. [00:28:09] Speaker 2 You could just sit down and do nothing. Exactly. There was no rules and it was so weird. [00:28:13] Speaker 1 There's no one telling you what to do. Yeah. How to do it. Yeah. It's just you show up if you want to. [00:28:20] Speaker 2 You leave if you want to. [00:28:21] Speaker 1 If you want to. And you just show everyone what you got. [00:28:27] Speaker 2 Show 'em what you're made of. You tell 'em. I feel like my my highlight of Freshers week was definitely the last day I, we went to this bingo. It was like a Bongo's Bingo. And I remember we were playing and I was, oh, I think it was like a house or two lines. And I was like, yeah, yeah. And I, won on my, my lucky number, my lucky number 13. And I'd only gone and won a life-size cut-out of David Attenborough, and it was the best thing ever. And I brought him home that night and I was like, I am never living this down. He is amazing. And now he sits, and he sits in my room and he's just, Oh, it's just my favourite little thing. And every time I look at him, I'm like I had a great Freshers week, I won him. It's just, Oh. [00:29:05] Speaker 1 At uni. You definitely have to find self-motivation to do stuff. 100%. [00:29:08] Speaker 2 But then we do it together. [00:29:10] Speaker 1 Yeah. I feel like if you have a buddy then it's like you can egg each other on, to like convince yourself to do something. [00:29:15] Speaker 2 It's like we did our wash the other day didn't we, put our washes in together, then went and cooked together. We've been really doing everything, it's been a two-man job lately. [00:29:22] Speaker 1 Whereas otherwise if Libby wasn't here I'd probably just be sat in my bed. [00:29:25] Speaker 2 Eating your meal deals. [00:29:27] Speaker 1 Yeah like chomping on a Tesco meal deal and then falling asleep, at probably three in the afternoon. [00:29:32] Speaker 2 Yeah, but because I'm here, I keep you in shape. I'm like your little mum, I'm your uni mum. [00:29:35] Speaker 1 So I only go to bed at four in the afternoon. [00:29:41] Speaker 1 Well, I believe that's all we've got time for today. But if you guys do have any questions that you'd like to ask us, next episode, you can send them in to us on our social media platforms. Yeah. Yeah. [00:29:53] Speaker 2 And if you have any practical tips or guides that you'd like to look at, we do have a section on our BCU website called the Get Ready for Uni section, and all of our podcast episodes will be there alongside any of the guides and tips. [00:30:04] Speaker 1 So yeah, lovely. Thank you. See you next episode.