Hi :nice:

 

I've known I was moving to England for school for quite a while now, but now that I'm leaving in about three weeks (:freak:), I've begun to think about things like "where can I buy towels?" and mundane things like that. A while ago, Mich suggested that I start a thread in the Lounge to ask my random little questions for Brit Coldplayers to answer if they can, and I thought that was a brilliant idea :D. I bet I'll be asking questions in here all year when I think of them and can't figure things out for myself. It's nicer to ask people that actually live there than to just do sometimes-fruitless Google searches.

 

For the first month, I'm going to be living in London, and then I'm moving up to Norwich for university, and I pretty much have to buy everything I'm going to need besides the clothes I'm bringing with me. Being American, whenever I need pretty much anything, I just go over to Target and they almost always have it, but I don't think huge stores that sell EVERYTHING at good prices exist over there in the same way they do over here.

 

So. My first mundane questions:

 

1. Is there a UK chain of stores that sells linens at student-friendly prices? I need sheets, towels, pillows, blankets, bedspreads, everything. In America, I would just go to Target and get cheap ones, or go to Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

 

2. Same question for basic, cheap kitchen essentials. I have to do all my own cooking, which scares the crap out of me, but I hear that's a pretty standard thing in British universities? I might have some stuff shipped to me from my parents, but I assume I'll have to supplement some things.

 

For those questions, I'll take anything that anyone knows of that happens to be in Norwich, or just big chain sorts of stores that probably have a location near Norwich.

 

And my third question:

 

3. I love IKEA, and they have good prices. However, I'm not so good with town names in the UK, and it's not always easy to determine exactly how far places are from each other on the internet. These are the IKEA locations in the UK, and I'm wondering if anyone knows if any of these places are reasonably close to Norwich (obviously I know where London, Glasgow, Birmingham, Southampton, and Edinburgh are :P):

 

Belfast

Cardiff

Croydon (London)

Edmonton (London)

Glasgow

Leeds

Milton Keynes (Bletchley)

Southampton

Wednesbury (Birmingham)

Bristol

Coventry

Edinburgh

Gateshead (Newcastle)

Lakeside (London)

Manchester (Ashton-Under-Lyne)

Nottingham

Warrington

Wembley (London)

 

 

Thanks for putting up with me :P. I'll be back with more, probably in the few days before I'm leaving and once I get there and have no idea what I'm doing.

good luck chelsea :blush: I can't help with any of that lol... just don't drive on the right side of the road

Thanks :nice:. And I'm pretty sure it's illegal for me to drive over there anyway! I could have driven in Holland when I lived there for up to three months, and I moved the car down the block once and almost killed three cyclists in the process :lol:.

good luck chelsea, i guess you are doing a students exchange for the whole year, right? :nice:

 

i can't help you with your current questions, sorry.

Year abroad for the whole year, yes, but since I've never been happy with my home university and I think several of the things I don't like about it will change at my British university, if I decide I really like it there, I think I'm going to try to transfer there for my last year :P. That's counting my chickens before they hatch, though.

oh, awesome! Strange no brits have shown up yet... :thinking:

well I was in England for a bit and I guess you could try "tesco"

(hope it helped a little) :D:D:D:D

 

Good luck. England is lovely!! :D:D:D

Oops, I thought of more questions :P.

 

OK, this is more for curiosity's sake than necessity, since I obviously could find comparable products from other brands, but I was wondering if these things exist in England:

 

 

I'm espeicailly curious about the Special K...I have some dietary restrictions, for lack of a better term, and I basically live on Special K bars :P.

 

I also have heard microwave popcorn isn't as commonplace in Europe...? Is this true?

I also have heard microwave popcorn isn't as commonplace in Europe...? Is this true?

 

You're shitting me...

I also have heard microwave popcorn isn't as commonplace in Europe...? Is this true?

 

No.

I wish I could help you, but I can't! Good luck! :)

^^Ooh, good to hear :dance:. I don't know where I've heard that, but I don't think they had it in France when I was there, either, so I got worried :P.

That's a relief...

I can't help you but I wish you will have lots of fun :P

That's a relief...

Why, are you moving to Europe?

^^Ooh, good to hear :dance:. I don't know where I've heard that, but I don't think they had it in France when I was there, either, so I got worried :P.

:nice: I wish you good luck!

Yea maja I'm moving to Sweden with you! :sneaky:

I'm relatively certain that there is no Ikea anywhere near Norwich. I have two good friends who're from nearby. It's supposedly quite a nice place, though. You'll find that our big supermarkets (Tesco, ASDA etc) are just like your Walmarts. If not with a bit less available. But you'll be fine. England's an easy place to live, just keep an eye on your money. You don't wanna be stuck with nothing.

I'm relatively certain that there is no Ikea anywhere near Norwich. I have two good friends who're from nearby. It's supposedly quite a nice place, though. You'll find that our big supermarkets (Tesco, ASDA etc) are just like your Walmarts. If not with a bit less available. But you'll be fine. England's an easy place to live, just keep an eye on your money. You don't wanna be stuck with nothing.

 

Lol who're.

Thanks, Jack! :dance:

 

I know I'll be able to find everything I need and more, I guess it's just weird to not know anywhere off the top of my head to buy the most basic things in :P.

 

Question, though: Aren't Tesco/ASDA etc just supermarkets, or do they sell things like towels and other home goods as well? I've never been really clear on that, whether they're more just for food or actually like a scaled-back Target or whatever.

You're lucky, I want to live in England.

Nick, lol, you're just begging for more government to contend with? And plus you'd have to worry about the chavs.

 

Go to New Zealand like all the cool kids.

Mayflower II baby...

Yea maja I'm moving to Sweden with you! :sneaky:

 

:stunned: ...Hurray...

Charvs are so 2006

I don't understand why you hate me Maja...