Last time we talked about making a priority list when choosing a hostel. Now, we’ll go into things to consider when choosing one. I hope that this list, and my experiences, will help you with finding the perfect hostel for you in the future.

• 厂丑辞飞别谤蝉:听
  • I knew I’d want to take a shower when I arrived at my hostel because of my lengthy travel getting there. So, I realized how important it was to consider what I needed to be comfortable in the hostel showers. For me, I didn鈥檛 care if the shower was hot or cold, or whether it had shampoo for guests, but what was big for me was whether the stalls themselves were individual. Luckily, this wasn’t an issue in Bath, but I struggled with the fact that I brought the wrong towel. I had one of those microfiber towels which saves room, but I wished that I’d just brought a regular towel because of how long I had to wait in the stall for my body to dry off.聽

• What if I am a light sleeper?:聽
  • If you鈥檙e a light sleeper, make sure you bring ear plugs and eye masks. This wasn鈥檛 an immense problem for me, but there were people inside of the room who would wake up in the middle of the night and turn on their flashlight as they sorted through their things. This woke up the person who slept on the bunk bed beside me, but I was completely fine. Mostly, people are very considerate throughout normal sleeping hours and won鈥檛 be screaming or playing loud music inside of the room when they know that people are sleeping. (The sleep mask also works wonders when you’re on the bus and the lights are on but you’re exhausted from sightseeing all day).聽

• Padlocks will keep you safe:聽
  • Make sure you bring a padlock. A lot of hostels will have lockers for you to put your precious belongings in. This is important for people who are afraid of their passports being stolen. But, not every hostel will supply the lock for the locker, so if you plan on using one, make sure that you bring a lock.聽

• Sticky notes are an invention from God:聽
  • Hostels oftentimes have kitchens that you can put food in while you stay. And like everything else on this list, they rarely provide the most important part of storing your food: sticky notes. Which, right? Sticky notes are important? Sticky notes are important because they help people label their food so others won’t eat it. It’s also a good way to label expiry dates, ensuring that anything left behind gets thrown away.聽

• Pillowcases in hostels can be a nightmare:聽
  • If you have sensitive skin like me, the pillowcases for beds will be the worst thing ever. But if you鈥檙e unlike me, you鈥檒l actually care about taking care of your skin. It might be useful to bring a small pillowcase that you can pull over the pillow. So that your skin doesn鈥檛 cry itself to sleep as you slam into bed exhausted at the end of the night.聽

• Should you wear more layers at a hostel?:聽
  • You need the basics for your outfits, when it comes to hostels you鈥檒l be saving money on your travels but you don鈥檛 want to make up that difference by having to pay overcharge fees for oversized luggage (ALWAYS, and I mean it, look at the luggage dimensions for whatever form of transportation you take because they will charge you if it鈥檚 too big). Also, because of taking cheaper transportation, it鈥檚 not always super clean, so what鈥檚 the use of wearing expensive clothes when it鈥檒l be in a bag placed on a dirty bus floor? I always brought three shirts, two pairs of pants, and the basic toiletries. (Of course you can have more than that, but I鈥檒l add the bare necessity list at the bottom of this article). When you bring so little clothing, you鈥檒l probably need to bring your stuff to a laundromat for a longer stay. Yet, it鈥檚 totally worth it when you pay for dirt cheap tickets for the bus or train or airport.聽

• Do I need a water bottle?:聽
  • You need a water bottle. You don鈥檛 want to pay money every single time you want water. They don鈥檛 have free refills anywhere.聽

• Policy on Shower Shoes:聽
  • Bring shower shoes. That鈥檚 it.聽

• Bare Necessities:聽
  • 3 shirts 
  • 2-3 pants聽
  • Underwear
  • Passport 
  • What toiletries you need and are under 100 mL 
  • Small hand towel (for after the shower) 
  • Flip-flops for the shower聽
  • Water bottle 
  • Any medicine / doctor’s notes聽
  • Small umbrella (like actually small OR raincoat OR wear a coat that doubles as raincoat (would be better)聽
  • Plastic bag
  • Padlock
  • Sticky notes

Note: the less you bring the more you can buy -> wouldn鈥檛 suggest banking on buying clothes as they鈥檙e expensive, but you鈥檒l have more room for trinkets, etc.

– Evan Carter (Norwich, England) English Major

There are a lot of horror stories with hostels. There’s even a movie franchise dedicated to depicting them as horrendous places, just waiting for na茂ve travelers. However, they’re also one of the best ways to travel cheaply abroad. I鈥檓 sure it鈥檚 not just me that has heard of how expensive it can be to study abroad AND travel at the same time. This article will delve into the bare essentials for hostel stays and their significance. But, it will be most useful for those who have already researched and want more niche suggestions.

Topics Reviewed in this article: 

• How to Choose a Hostel? 
• Showers in Hostels
• What if You are a Light Sleeper?
• Padlocks Will Keep You Safe 
• Why Sticky Notes Matter
• Should You Wear More Layers at a Hostels? 
• Do I need a water bottle?
• Policy on Shower Shoes

At the bottom of this article will be a bare necessities list of what to bring to a hostel. 

How to Choose a Hostel?: 

Unless there鈥檚 an enormous concern with how much it鈥檒l cost you鈥揳lways make sure that your hostel is within walking distance of a bus stop or train station that is relevant towards your projected travels for the following days. Okay, so I know this might sound like I am trying to get you to go to whatever hostel is closest to the train station, but I鈥檓 not. Especially if said hostel has bad reviews.聽

My point is: why stay at a hostel that’s ten miles away from your bus stop if it’s only going to save you five dollars? You don鈥檛 want to travel for two hours by bus, on a route that you don鈥檛 know, especially if the money you save by going there won鈥檛 even cover your bus ticket.聽

So, if it鈥檚 hard to choose which hostel, make a pros and cons list. Well, no one likes making those. So maybe just do what I did and open every tab and have a list of priorities, which automatically disqualify a hostel for you.聽

• How do you make that priority list? 

I wish I could tell you everything that you should care about. But not everyone cares about the same things. It鈥檚 annoying.

So, let鈥檚 say that you find six different hostels that each have different prices but all of them fall into a good $10-$30 range. How do you pick the best one? This happened to me more often than I would鈥檝e liked. I was on a trip to Norway and this was the situation for Oslo and I wanted to ask ChatGPT to just tell me what to do. Don鈥檛 do that. Just consider these things:聽

• What is next on your list? Does one of your plans have you waking up at 6am in order to get to a train at a specific station? Look at how far away each of your hostel options are and cross off any that have too many transfers between buses, trams, and trains (these transfers can be delayed and you don’t want to walk an hour because of a train system shutting down when you only have thirty minutes to get there)
• What are the reviews? Do you care about what people are complaining about? Honestly, I didn鈥檛 really mind when people complained about cleanliness because I knew that my other priorities would probably knock any super unclean hostels off the list. However, you might care about whether there’s always toilet paper and if they clean the couches regularly.
• What are people saying about management? If people complain about long response times, then that means if you have a situation where you鈥檙e stuck in a train and can鈥檛 get to the hostel before your allotted time, it鈥檒l be difficult to get into contact with someone at the front desk to let them know of your late arrival.聽
• Are people able to get refunds if they had an awful time? Was the hostel open and honest about their policy before other people stayed there? 
• Did the hostel quickly remove guests who were being disruptive?聽

What kinds of complaints make you uncomfortable? (I was uncomfortable if a complaint had to do with inappropriate advances from staff towards women travelers).

Read part 2 for things to consider when choosing a hostel!

– Evan Carter (Norwich, England) English Major

I studied abroad at Griffith University in Gold Coast Australia. It was an amazing experience that I look back on fondly; thinking back on the time now, however, I realize that the time abroad impacted me through the differences in the university structure compared 91福利鈥檚.

I pretty much assumed that, because I was attending a university in an English-speaking country, most things would be the same whether it was classes or attending clubs. There were definitely similarities like attending lectures and doing readings for my courses; however, unlike what I took at 91福利, the courses in Australia had a few big assignments that made up the entire grade. For example, I only had a midterm and a final that weighed on my final grade. In comparison, 91福利 is very different with assignments that are usually due throughout the week. This is something to be prepared for if you鈥檙e planning on going abroad to Australia as you might not have an assignment due every week. It鈥檚 a much more independent and individualized learning approach where the students are expected to either spend their time studying for upcoming exams or working on papers. This allowed me to learn more about myself and my learning capabilities. I found my time management skills increasing alongside my ability to adapt to my curriculum setting. The impact on my academic and personal life wasn鈥檛 noticeable while in the country but it鈥檚 certainly something I notice, and am grateful for, now.

A second difference I noticed was that courses had regular weekly meetings with the main professor but, on top of these meetings, students were expected to attend additional tutorial sessions hosted by the professor鈥檚 TA. These lectures were based on the traditional lecture-style we鈥檝e come to know in the US; meanwhile, the tutorial sessions were discussion-based and a place where the student could bring up any questions they may have had. This style of learning opened my eyes to the needed skill of engaging and debating with my fellow classmates in a way that I didn鈥檛 find myself part of while a student at 91福利. While my classes at my home university did occasionally offer debate sessions, especially within my major, these tutorial sessions hosted by the TA offered a space that had a better and more accepting atmosphere for such debates.

The third thing to keep in mind is that credits transfer over differently between countries and universities. One course at Griffith university in Australia equaled four credits at my home university. This means that I only would have had to take three courses in Australia to meet my minimum requirement of 12 credits. I had much more time free to be able to enjoy and explore my host country. That鈥檚 not to say that students looking to study abroad should take that to mean they can slack off. One should always keep in mind the difficulty level of the courses in the host country because, while you may only be required to take three or four classes, the content may be more dense and complicated. 

Finally, the grading is completely different in other areas of the world. America tends to grade pretty hard in comparison to some place. One of those places just so happens to be Australia, so keep this in mind as you apply for your program abroad. In Australia, grades are given on a scale from 1-7. For letter grades, this goes from failure to high distinction. To get a 4, or a pass you, need a 50-64%. Taking a look at the requirements from the University of Maine, this is a lower score than one would normally need just to get a C! However, from personally experience, I also found that my professors in Australia graded a lot more harshly than at my home university. Maybe it was simply luck of the draw, or maybe the differences actually do balance out!

— Alex McKay (Gold Coast, Australia), Peer Advisor

Hello everyone, my name is Alex and I went abroad in the spring of 2020. I chose to go abroad with a recommended program called USAC (University Studies Abroad Consortium) and I studied at Griffith University in Gold Coast, Australia. I’ll be one of the writers for the blog so I’m here to tell you a little about me.

I chose Australia because it was always somewhere I wanted to go/explore and being so far away I wasn鈥檛 sure if I鈥檇 ever get the chance to study there. Thankfully, my university had connections with USAC. I grabbed hold of the opportunity presented to me and everything seemed to fall into place from there.

I鈥檓 someone who has always loved to travel and I really wanted to experience living in a new country. Australia鈥檚 breathtaking landscape helped me make my decision. On top of this, I’ve always loved the ocean so having the chance to study near some of the best beaches in the world was something I couldn鈥檛 pass up.

Side Note: Everything was made more incredible when I found out the childhood tv show I grew up on, H20, had been filmed in the area I’d be staying.

 Another reason I chose Australia, specifically Griffith University, was the courses they offered in my major. One of my favorite courses had been on global security. It’s what pushed me to decide to pursue a Master鈥檚 degree in international relations.

Some of my fondest memories of Australia are due to the friendships I was able to make along the way. Whether that was going to a traditional Indian festival called Holi with some Indian friends or trying vegemite while rooted on by my Australian friend Pippa, I can’t stop smiling whenever I think back on my time there. Even up to this year (2022) I was able to visit my best friend, Anthony, in Scotland who was my downstairs neighbor when I lived in Australia.

 My experience studying abroad in Australia was definitely once in a lifetime and something I want others to be able to share. To help others in their abroad experience I became a peer advisor at my university’s Study Abroad Office this past fall.

— Alex MacKay (Gold Coast, Australia), Peer Advisor