<p>I'm thinking about studying abroad at Lancaster University during this spring semester. I have some questions about the amount of drinking that seems to go on at universities in England. I don't drink but I am in no ways a prude. Both of my best friends from home drink and I frequently accompany them to parties and clubs. Our friendship works because they respect the fact that I don't and I respect the fact that they do. I'm just worried that drinking seems to be the only thing that college students in England do at night to have fun. Is this true? Are there other activities going on a couple nights a week or does every night everyone just go to the nearest club/bar? If other activities do exist, what are they? I would love to do a lot of cultural things while studying abroad. Also, how liberal and open minded are colleges in England? Obviously, England has a reputation for being liberal and open minded in comparison to the United States, but does it live up to its reputation? I go to a fairly liberal and open minded university in the south (UNC), but I would love to go somewhere even more liberal and open minded for a little bit. I've also considered some colleges in Scotland (Glasgow, St. Andrews, Edinburgh) and I was wondering how these compare to Lancaster. Also, if you have any suggestions about schools that may better fit my criteria, I would love your advice. Thanks in advance!</p>
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<p>This is kind of what I’m like. I will have a single alcoholic drink at most. But really it’s fine. No-one is stopping you ordering a coke (I recommend J2O, which is a soft fruit drink very common in the UK). Of course there will be some people who only go out to get smashed. These people are probably not going to be your best friends, but that’s fine. Going to the pub is a very social thing in the UK. It doesn’t mean you have to get drunk or drink any alcohol at all. You will tend to find alcohol at many social events and meals in the UK, but it is not this big taboo like it is the the US. If you don;t want to drink, that’s fine. </p>
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<p>UK students do many of the same types of ECs that US students do, but they tend to be a lot less cut throat competitive and people do them just for fun (they are not part of admissions criteria). Every university has a “freshers fair” in the first week in September/October where you can sign up to join these societies (that is one of the reasons I advise doing study abroad beginning September in the UK). I did LOTS of music. Orchestra, marching band, brass band, etc. (Actually I still do lots of music in my spare time and make a bit of money from it).</p>
<p>There is only one club in Lancaster. I know this because my sister went to Lancaster. The club is called the SugarHouse. If you intend to get all your entertainment there, you will be very bored! Lancaster is a small place in the middle of nowhere really! However, it is on the edge of a beautiful national park called the lake district, so you will find lots of outdoor activities available. I was in the walking (hiking) club at Oxford and through this I got to travel all over the UK at weekends and also made some great friends.</p>
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<p>I suspect all activities will be less cultural than you expect! Lots of Americans seem to expect Europeans to be into things like art appreciation and opera (ie high cultural stuff). I guess some of them are, but so are some Americans. Most young people in Europe like the same things as young people everywhere. They like music, fashion, travel, sports etc. </p>
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I don’t think you’d find anything similar to a conservative US college in the UK! Lancaster is a small rural town like I said, so it’s not particularly ethnically diverse (though nearby Preston is exactly the opposite). But conservative as the US doesn’t really exist.</p>
<p>Also, be aware that Lancaster is one of the wettest places on earth. It rains ALL THE TIME! So you make want to consider taking up some indoor hobbies…</p>
<p>Just one quick comment as to the liberal, open minded question. The casual anti-semitism in the UK can be a real shock. My daughter a non-Jewish dual national who grew up in the UK could not believe the language commonly used by fellow undergraduates at Oxford eg. using the word jew as a verb. She was constantly saying things like hey, thats completely unacceptable, and being teased as a PC humourless American. She was also uncomfortable (and similarly vocal) about a level of anti-Asian sentiment that I believe would simply have not been countenanced at an East Coast US uni (sorry- the only type Im familiar with.) Im talking about silly stuff pulling eyelids up when talking about Japs, for example. Not cool.</p>
<p>“To jew”? I’ve never once heard that. What does it mean?</p>
<p>Wow, your daughter must have had a real bad taste in friends - I have literally never encountered any serious racism anywhere in the UK. </p>
<p>And OP - its the UK, not England - that will start to **** people off.</p>
<p>Saying England is fine as long as you mean England. The OP mentions Scotland in apparent contrast, so the references to England are probably also fine. The problems arise when England is used when the UK or Britain is meant; that certainly ****es off the Scots, Welsh and Irish. This mistake is usually made by Americans or other non-British, but somehow we English still seem to get the blame.</p>
<p>Azarietc - nope, she didn’t have bad taste in friends. My point was: this was pervasive. At Oxford. Amongst the brightest of the brightest. I “encounter” this sort of casual, unthinking racism when I read the Times restaurant review which refers to ‘Chink’ food. Do you live in England? Or the UK?! I don’t think A.A. Gill means to be racist. I do think he gets away with what in the US would be totally objectionable because there is nowhere near the level of awareness here as there is in the US - “PC” here is a totally negative term. Have you not read Antony Julius on the rise of ‘dinner party anti-semitism?’ He means people at civilized dinner parties make anti-Jewish comments and nobody calls them on it. My daughter did. And I do too . I wrote a letter to The Times (it wasn’t printed).</p>
<p>I have never heard the term “to jew” either or encountered any of the stuff samuck is talking about. In fact I’ve only every met about 3 jewish people ever here (and that would be a former housemate and her parents). I don’t think there are very many of them so they are not really commented on as a community like they are in the US (I mean for example at US election time there is discussion of the Jewish vote, the Catholic vote etc. In the UK the Jewish community would not be commented on in such situations as it is pretty very small).</p>
<p>I have heard Indian food referred to as “Indy” and Chinese food referred to as “chinkie”, which are just abbreviations used by teenagers. I think you may be taking offence at nothing there. Two countries divided by a common language and all.</p>
<p>I am sure there is racism in England, but I don’t think it is any more prevalent than the US. I think if all your friends were extremely racist, why were you hanging out with them?</p>
<p>I often hear the word “■■■■■■” in the UK, but it isn’t seen as really offensive here. I don’t like it, but also accept that other cultures are different and the same words have different meanings in different places.</p>
<p>Azarimanka turns any thread which mentions the UK into an aggressive rant on how it is not acceptable to use the word “England” in any circumstances, even when discussing exactly that. I have never met anyone in the UK, including in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, who has any problem with the use of the word England to refer to England. I recommend not feeding the ■■■■■.</p>
<p>I have to agree with Cupcake. I like in Scotland, and I’ve been here for two years so far, and I’ve never seen or heard that kind of casual racism, ever.</p>
<p>Cupcake, its not an agressive rant at all, nor trolling. It is just one of the things I hold dear. The unity of the U
UNITED Kingdom means a lot to me - the country has a name - the UK.</p>
<p>England refers to one of four constituents, and I have literally never heard anyone in England refer to it as England - surely it is better, if people are heading over to the UK that terminological difficulties are sorted out in advance?</p>
<p>Samuck - having lived my entire life in Britain, I can assure you, that that sort of casual racism barely exists. Certainly not amongst intelligent people. My College has a lot of Jewish and Chinese people there, and I cannot think of a single racist incident.</p>
<p>It’s just common courtesy to use the proper name of a country, even if you’re being specific to the southern half of it. England hasn’t been a sovereign state since before the USA was founded, so there’s really no excuse at all for not using its correct name. If British people want to refer to individual parts of the UK with regional names, that’s their choice - but in an international context (like here) you should say Britain or the UK.</p>
<p>“England refers to one of four constituents, and I have literally never heard anyone in England refer to it as England - surely it is better, if people are heading over to the UK that terminological difficulties are sorted out in advance?”</p>
<p>I live in England. I call it England. Problem solved.</p>
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<p>You must be deaf.</p>
<p>My English friends routinely used the word England, to refer both to England (which is fine) and to the UK (which is definitely not fine).</p>
<p>When I was at Cambridge I encountered quite a lot of braying racism. Off the top of my head I can think of remarks that were made about South Asians, Irish people and Arabs. I encounter just as much racism in the US, though, it’s just that the targets are different usually.</p>
<p>Since England and Scotland (and Wales) have different educational systems, albeit very similar ones, referring to England in this context certainly sounds like an ‘international context’ to me.</p>
<p>Samuck is dead right. I very often hear work colleagues making fun of Jews, South Asians, French, Germans and Poles in making jokes and what they think are funny remarks. Also, my son tells me similar things about his school. For example, his classmate whose father is a Polish academic is always asked if his father is a builder, another classmates was being bullied at school called his tormenter “a dirty Jew”, which, of course, he got in trouble for.</p>
<p>Thank you to JackUK and Cupcake both. To JackUK for getting it and Cupcake for so beautifully illustrating my point. I dont intend to get into any discussion of whether England/UK is a racist society. I was simply trying to answer the OPs general question about cultural differences, specifically her question of how liberal and openminded the colleges in England are. So I wanted to give OP a heads up re the use of language/attitudes which can be quite shocking whether it stems from rudeness, ignorance or insularity (knowing only three Jewish people as per post 8). In any case, heres a friendly word of advice for Cupcake trust me, dont use the term chinkie in the US.</p>
<p>I would never, EVER use the word “chink” to describe anything Chinese…I have never heard it done.</p>
<p>haven’t you seen the episode of peep show where they meet the racist guy? you need to get more culturally aware.</p>
<p>Samuck, nobody is claiming that there is no racism. There is probably the same level as in America. However our universities are certainly vastly open minded, and probably considerably more liberal than anything in America. And trust me, in all my experience, probably more than yours, I have NEVER encountered any serious racist problems, and indeed the few times I have encountered a racist, they have generally been shut up or sent away damn quickly.</p>
<p>Just curious, out of these three universities, which would you select and why.</p>
<ol>
<li>University of London, Queen Mary</li>
<li>University of Manchester</li>
<li>Warwick University</li>
</ol>
<p>RamboRambo</p>
<p>Warwick is a top 10 university and Manchester is also excellent, but a notch below. Queen Mary is a notch below Manchester. Also, Warwick is in a small city (actually more of a twon) whereas Manchester and London, or course are major cities with lots to do in each.</p>