Hi all! I didn’t see any Top 10 posts come up for Lancaster when I searched it, so I figured a “here are my favorite things about Lancaster in general” post might be useful for those who are looking into the program or actively planning to go. I’ve also added a photo of a double-decker bus, taken at the underpass bus stop on campus because who doesn’t like double-decker buses?

1. Public transit

I don’t know about the U.K. more broadly, but in Lancaster at least, there are so many buses to so many places that if you need to go shopping, out on Friday night, to the train station, to a lot of the attractions like the castle, etc., you can basically just turn up at the bus stop on campus and are guaranteed to be on your way within 20 minutes at most. As someone who avoids driving and likes being able to get places without carefully researching how close the bus runs to it, it is AMAZING.

And it’s not just buses, either — it’s common for people to travel longer distances via train, instead of driving or flying.

2. City amenities

Alongside having an easy way to get to town, there are a ton of things to do IN town. One of the primary bus stops is in the middle of Marketgate: a huge, occasionally-semi-indoor shopping center from which about everything is walkable. The list of “everything” includes Primark and other clothes shops, cafes, Wilko (a home supply store popular with students) and other supply-type stores, a million pubs and bars and two clubs, Lancaster castle, cinemas, Aldi and other places to get groceries, a dozen or more charity shops, the train station and every other service under the sun. Maybe it’s just because buildings/locations in the U.K. tend to be more compact and walkable than U.S. layouts, but it’s more exciting to me than trying to get to places in CoMo.

3. Less work

In all fairness, this is partly due to the nature of study abroad as much as Lancaster itself, but since it all falls under the study abroad experience, it seems applicable enough. The homework load is lighter in that we only have a long essay or two and an exam in classes instead of a ton of discussion posts and little assignments. (I’m an English major, for context.) I can’t legally have a job, and I’m not paying much attention to my student orgs back home if/when responsibilities can be handed to other officers. For the first time in my college career, I actually have time to both hang out with people on a regular basis AND work on my writing, without having to pick between the two, and I’m not heading for burn-out. It’s pretty great.