Moving to Liverpool for university? Whether you’re arriving from another part of the UK or moving to the city for the first time, your first few weeks can feel like a lot. There’s a new university, a new neighbourhood, new people to meet and a whole new city to figure out.
The good news? Liverpool is a relatively easy city to get to know. Once you’ve worked out your route to university, found your nearest supermarket and discovered a few favourite places to eat, study and socialise, it won’t take long before the city starts to feel like home.
This Liverpool student guide covers some of the practical things worth knowing when you’re living in Liverpool as a student, as well as some helpful tips for freshers.
1. Get to Know Your New Neighbourhood
Before you try to explore the whole of Liverpool, start with the area on your doorstep.
Spend your first few days getting familiar with the streets around your home. Find your nearest supermarket, pharmacy, cash machine, bus stop and places where you can grab a coffee or something to eat.
It’s also worth taking a walk around your neighbourhood during the day so you can get your bearings without relying entirely on Google Maps.
Liverpool has lots of popular student areas, each with its own character. Whether you’re living on campus, in the city centre around Smithdown Road or in Kensington, getting to know what’s nearby can make settling in much easier.You might even discover your new favourite local café, takeaway or park within your first week.
2. Work Out How You’re Getting Around Liverpool
One of the first things to know as a student in Liverpool is how you’re going to get from A to B.
Liverpool has several public transport options, including buses and trains, and many parts of the city centre are easy to reach on foot.
Before your first week of lectures, work out:
- How you’ll get from your accommodation to university
- Which bus or train routes you may need
- Where your nearest bus stop or station is
- How long your journey actually takes at different times of day
- How you’ll get home if you’re staying late on campus
- Which transport apps or journey planners you’ll find useful
Don’t just check the route once. If possible, do a practice journey before your first day so you know where you’re going and don’t have to work it out while rushing to an 9am lecture.
And remember that the quickest route isn’t always the easiest. A slightly longer walk might mean a more reliable bus, while walking across the city centre could sometimes be quicker than waiting for transport.
3. Find Affordable Places to Shop
Student life can get expensive quickly, so knowing where to shop can make a real difference to your weekly budget.
Liverpool has plenty of supermarkets, corner shops and larger stores, so have a look at what’s available around your accommodation before automatically relying on the nearest shop.
For a bigger food shop, supermarkets outside the city centre can often offer more choice than convenience stores, while local shops can be useful when you’ve forgotten one or two essentials.
Don’t forget about the other things you’ll need when moving into a new home, either. Your first few weeks might involve buying everything from washing-up liquid and laundry detergent to storage boxes, kitchen equipment and toiletries.
Top tip: don’t buy everything at once. See what your accommodation already has, speak to your housemates and make a list of what you actually need before blowing your budget at B & M.
4. Register With a GP
This is one of those jobs that’s easy to put off when you’re busy settling in, but it’s worth sorting early.
Look for a GP surgery that accepts patients in your new area and check what you need to do to register. You can also make sure you know where your nearest pharmacy, dentist and other healthcare services are.
Take our word for it, you don’t want to wait until you’re suffering from Freshers Flu to have to figure this out.
Having these details sorted means you’ll know where to go if you do need medical advice later in the year.
5. Check Your University Timetable and Buildings
Your first week of university can involve a surprising amount of getting lost.
Universities often have multiple buildings and campuses, and your timetable might not always have you in the same place.
Before teaching starts, check:
- Your full timetable
- The location of each class
- Which university buildings you’ll need to visit
- How long it takes to walk between buildings
- Where your department or school is based
- Where the library and other important facilities are
If you’re unfamiliar with the campus, give yourself extra time during your first few days. There’s nothing wrong with arriving ten minutes early while you’re still learning where everything is.
6. Find Your Favourite Study Spots
Your university library isn’t the only place you can study, although Liverpool’s universities have some state of the art libraries.
Once you’ve settled in, try out a few different study spaces and see what works for you. You might prefer a quiet library desk when you need to concentrate, a café for lighter work or places like the Student Union/Guild when you’re working with friends.
It’s useful to have a few options rather than relying on one place, particularly around busy periods when university libraries can become much harder to find a seat in.
Liverpool also has plenty of independent cafés and public spaces that can make a change from studying in your bedroom.
7. Join a Club or Society
One of the easiest ways to meet people when you’re moving to Liverpool for university is to get involved with something you already enjoy.
Universities have societies covering everything from sport and music to gaming, performing arts, volunteering, politics, languages and hobbies you’ve probably never considered before.
You don’t have to join ten societies during Freshers’ Week. Pick one or two that genuinely interest you and give them a try.
And don’t worry if you don’t immediately find your group. University is full of people in exactly the same position, and friendships don’t always happen in the first few days.
8. Don’t Just Stay in the City Centre
Liverpool city centre has plenty to keep you busy, but there’s much more to the city than Liverpool ONE, the Baltic Triangle and the waterfront.
Once you’ve settled in, explore some of Liverpool’s different neighbourhoods.
Visit local parks, independent cafés, markets, galleries and restaurants. Check out some great lunch spots on Lark Lane. Explore the Georgian Quarter. Spend an afternoon around Sefton Park. Try somewhere you’ve never been before.
One of the best parts of living in Liverpool as a student is having an entire city to explore outside of your university campus.
You don’t need to spend a fortune either. Some of the best ways to get to know Liverpool are completely free.
9. Sort Out the Practical Admin
There are a few boring jobs that are much easier to forget when you’re busy meeting new people and starting university.
During your first few weeks, make time to:
- Update your postal address where necessary
- Make sure your bank and other important accounts have your new address
- Check your university email regularly
- Download any university apps you need
- Save important university contacts
- Collect your Student ID
- Familiarise yourself with your rent and tenancy information
- Make sure you know who to contact if something goes wrong in your accommodation
It might not be the most exciting part of moving to university, but getting these things out of the way means you can concentrate on enjoying your new city.
10. Give Yourself Time to Settle In
Perhaps the most important thing to remember when moving to a new city is that you don’t have to figure everything out immediately.
You might get lost on the way to your first lecture. You might take the wrong bus. You might spend too much money in your first week. You might not immediately find your friendship group. That’s all part of settling in.
Give yourself time to work out what you like about your neighbourhood, find your favourite places and build a routine that works for you.
Before long, you’ll stop checking Google Maps every five minutes and start giving directions to tourists instead.
Your Local Liverpool Student Support
Moving to Liverpool for university is a big change, but having the right support around you can make settling in much easier.
At Address Properties, we’ve been helping students find their perfect home in Liverpool for more than 10 years. As a local student lettings and property management company, we know the city and the areas students choose to live in, as well as the practical questions that can come up during a tenancy.
Whether you’re looking for your next student home, have a question about your current property or simply need to know who to contact when something goes wrong, our team is here to help.
So, if you’re new to the city, our biggest piece of advice is take some time to explore, get involved and make the city your own. Before you know it, Liverpool won’t feel like somewhere you’ve moved to for university. It’ll feel like home.