I'm here at the University of Cambridge, my alma mater, to tell you more about costs, accommodation and student life.

And of course you'll hear directly from some current international students about their experiences studying here.

The United Kingdom is the most popular country in Europe for international students.

In 2022, it had over 600,000 international students enrolled in higher education.

And at Cambridge, 33% of undergraduates and postgraduates are from outside of the UK.

Firstly, getting into Cambridge isn't easy.

You're expected to have top grades and go through a rigorous application process, including interviews and tests.

Secondly, Cambridge doesn't have a traditional campus structure.

The university is made up of 31 individual colleges, which means that when you apply to study at Cambridge, you apply to a college.

Today I'm here at Christ College Cambridge.

It's where Charles Darwin studied and it's one of the many colleges where students live, eat, study and meet with their academic advisors.

Each college has its own library, accommodation, dining halls and social events.

The UK is generally ranked as one of the most expensive destinations for international students, and at Cambridge, fees for non-UK students generally fall between 25 and 40,000 pounds per year.

That's around 30,000 to 48,000 euros per year.

And with medicine costing just north of 67,000 pounds per year.

Tuition fees for a one year master's programme are between 30,000 and 40,000 pounds.

The university recommends around 14,000 pounds per year for living expenses too.

Today I'm meeting Dora, a first year mathematics student, to talk about money.

I guess the fees kind of differ per subject.

For maths specifically, I think it's around 25,000 pounds a year.

We also have to pay college a fee to study as international students, and that comes down to approximately 10,000 pounds a year.

So together that would come down to 40,000 a year, roughly.

I do have a scholarship from Price College, specifically for international students, which gives me 10,000 pounds per year.

So in Cambridge, it's actually not allowed for you to do a part time job during term time, because the university thinks that it might impede your learning process in the university.

But you are allowed to do jobs during the vacations, definitely yes.

Just because of, one, the excellent learning environment they have here and excellent teaching.

You also just get to see so much more of the world, meet so many cool people from different countries.

I would say that is perhaps even more valuable.

And what about housing?

So one great thing about Cambridge is that colleges can generally house all undergraduates and many postgraduates, at least in term time.

So this means that you'll theoretically spend less time looking for accommodation than in other cities.

Andreas, a first year geography student, gives us the lowdown on what it's like to live here.

So we're really lucky because the colleges here, at least my experience with Price, was that you're guaranteed accommodation for three years that you're here.

You get sent out a form stating your preferences, and then basically the college will allocate you a room.

What was your experience of finding accommodation at Cambridge?

It certainly gives you some peace of mind that you have somewhere to stay.

But I think one problem with a lot of rooms allocated to international students is that during every break, at least I had to move out of my room because that room was being used during the break.

All of us see each other every day.

I really like that personally.

I know for some people it can get quite claustrophobic.

But I think in terms of adapting and integrating to university life, I think it's one of the best things that can happen.

The workload at Cambridge is notoriously high, so the Cambridge students actually have time for extracurriculars and socialising.

Welcome Neha, who's going to tell me some more?

So my name is Neha, I'm from Australia.

I think at Christ, a lot of fun is just hanging out with your friends.

But aside from that, there's so many societies that you can join.

A lot of people are also new to a lot of the different things and a lot of different societies.

And everyone makes a really concerted effort.

You know, you have your sport, so you have things like hockey.

One of my friends is really involved in the university hockey teams.

And Maple is probably best described as an all-night party that is probably more like a festival fair.

The beauty of it is you just get to walk around and try different food and try different drinks.

And you get to see people and everyone thinks a lot about what they're going to wear.

And people say that Cambridge is all about work.

I think it misconstrues.

One, because you're at Cambridge, you have so many opportunities to do things and meet people from academics, from world-class backgrounds who are top of their field.

But you also have the opportunity to meet people like leaders in their fields as well through things organised by the university, things organised by student societies.

I think the fact that we live together also really helps with managing your study and your social life.

Okay, so we've got to talk about culture shocks because coming to the UK and to Cambridge as an international is probably quite special.

Next, Tim, an economics student, tells us about what surprised him.

I want to avoid being reductionist about specific cultural adjustments here.

I think everyone's going to have their specific, unique experiences here.

One big thing was food.

And this sounds stereotypical, but it's true.

You have potatoes, you have chicken, you have fish and chips, which is very exciting for a while.

But when you're tired and it's getting dark at four, you really just want comfort food from home.

I brought a rice cooker from home.

I think that's homely.

I think the second thing is making new friends.

It can sometimes prove difficult for some students to make friends of new and unfamiliar cultures because you lack that convenient factor to draw upon when relating to common shared experiences.

I really recommend trying to meet as many friends from different backgrounds as possible because it's that diversity of experience and that diversity of thought that aside from academics, you really benefit from within the university experience.

And here's my pro tip.

If you're going to get a bike, make sure you get a good lock because two of my bikes were stolen when I lived here.

Sorry, mum and dad.

So how does studying in Cambridge sound to you?

Are you drafting your application as we speak?

Anyway, let us know in the comments which of the university cities you'd like us to visit next.

Bye!