Looking for a house away from home

Zhang Le (second from right) enjoys a meal with her family and friends at her rented house in the United States. She is a music education doctoral student at Pennsylvania State University. [Photo provided to China Daily]

As more young people head abroad to study, the demand for student accommodation is growing rapidly.

"I was not feeling good in the house. My roommate and landlord were not easy to get along with so I moved one month after I arrived in Britain," says Liu Tianyi, a 26-year-old master's student from Durham University.

In 2015, Liu, a native of Zhuzhou in Hunan province, went to the United Kingdom to study international social work and community development. Before leaving China, she found a house through her friend on Sina Weibo, a Chinese micro blog.

Liu knew nothing about the house until she arrived in the UK.

"The house was on a hill and very far away from downtown Durham. And my landlord was not friendly," says Liu.

"I also had lots of fights with my roommate since he always reported me to the landlord for not sorting the garbage, which I did."

For Liu, life abroad was different from what she had imagined－she was not prepared for the problems.

Today, there are many students like Liu who struggle to find suitable accommodation abroad.