Homestay
Many international students enjoy homestay more than any other option simply because it makes life very easy – you’ll be staying with a family in the city you’re studying in, and if you’re lucky you’ll have your meals cooked for you and will be treated as a guest of the house. Homestay hosts usually go through a vetting process with their university to ensure the correct environment is in place for a visiting student, which reduces any chance that you could end up in the middle of a dysfunctional household – not what you want when you’re trying to study.
If you have any dietary requirements then you should let your university administrator know before they start planning a place for you to stay – vegetarianism in the west, for example, is nowhere near as common as it is in countries like India. This is important – make sure that someone knows or you’ll end up having to pass the meals that are prepared for you.
One problem with homestay is that you’ll have less interaction with the people on your course and others who may be otherwise interested in getting to know you. Something most international students worry about before they study abroad is getting to know their peers at university, and a homestay may deny you of some of the opportunities you could have to get to know other students.
Apart from this, though, staying with a family in their home can be a great experience, with a lot of time to study and to talk to people in their native language – and the more experience you get in learning their language, the better – it’ll make university and socialising a lot easier for the next year.
Apartment Living/Private Accommodation
Living in your own rented apartment or room can be a good option if you feel confident enough to do your own cooking, laundry, and everything else that needs to be done in a house. You could live with other students in a shared apartment, or you could rent a single bedroom apartment for just yourself to live in. Generally, this is a more expensive option than homestay or staying in student dorms, especially if you choose to live just on your own. Remember that in private accommodation you might also be expected to cover household bills such as utilities like your electricity and gas supply.
Your university will usually be able to help you to find private accommodation and may have a list of recommended landlords in the local area. It is possible to look for your own but this might increase the risk of choosing an unsuitable place to live. Unless you are in the position to visit before your studies, you won’t be able to have a good look around until you begin your studies so be very careful with your choice.
Living in an apartment with other students can be a really great experience and a great opportunity to fit in with the locals and make some great friends. Again, you’ll have the opportunity to practise the native language and perfect your conversational skills, and the more people you get to know at university, the better – you’ll know a lot of people for a very long time after you graduate, and living in a shared apartment is a great way to start that.
Student Dorms/Student Accommodation
Living in a student dormitory is what most native students choose to do when they go to university, at least for the first year. Here, there will be loads of first-year students all in the same boat as you, looking to make friends and get to know everyone. It’ll be busy, messy and exciting, and a great opportunity to get to meet lots and lots of people, to practise your language skills, and generally to fit in as a ‘normal’ student. People will happily talk to you and you’ll get to know a lot about everyone, whether you like it or not.
As an international student, you may have the option of living in dorms for overseas students, where you’ll have the opportunity to get to know a load of students from all over the world. This is a great opportunity to share your stories and culture with each other, and you’ll all be in more or less exactly the same situation with regards to getting to know people and being in a foreign country – it’s a great chance to make some long-lasting and strong friendships.
Whether you join a dorm with local students or with foreign students, the set up will be the same: you’ll have a decent amount of independence, will be expected to do your own laundry, and may be expected to also do your own cooking. The university may have a canteen, but often they won’t – it just depends on your university; check before you start studying and see what you want. Bills tend to be inclusive so you do not need to worry about your internet, heating and electricity to the extent that you might in private accommodation.
Student dorms, particularly the local ones, can be a messy, loud and very busy place to live in. There may be a lot of alcohol consumed on the premises, and there’s every chance you could be kept up late by people having a good time. If you’re social, don’t mind a night away from your studies every now and again, and have a good command of the native language, then this shouldn’t be too much of a problem. If that doesn’t sound like your kind of thing though, then the local dorms for domestic students are perhaps best avoided.
