The prospect of leaving the comfort of one’s home and venturing out into the world — one that is unlikely to offer any of the privileges that a lot of us have grown accustomed to — is understandably daunting. Inevitably, it comes with its fair share of challenges. From managing finances to taking up part-time work and learning how to balance household chores with academics, the adaptation period is steep to say the least. The list of things one has to get used to appears to be never-ending.
The life-altering changes can feel seismic. Through it all, however, there is one integral aspect that students can hope to offer some semblance of stability and refuge from the relentlessness: the space one lives in. This is especially true in a foreign land where the risks of alienation are more pronounced. To be able to return to a space of one’s own is certainly a gift. Yet, for a lot of international students, the very experience of looking for accommodation poses a number of issues.
Maleeha Muniyat, a third-year student at the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom (UK), lived in the university’s dormitory for the first two years of her degree, after which she moved to an off-campus accommodation.
She explains how she began looking for a place, “There are popular websites like Rightmove and OnTheMarket that I used to look around for houses. The websites have a filter system that allows you to look for accommodation based on what you want. This can include criteria such as the number of rooms and the kind of area you want to live in. After you make your choice, you call the agent or the landlord and wait for them to respond. From there, you visit for a viewing, based on which you make a decision.”