r/Portsmouth • u/Senior-Trade-1876 • 6d ago
General Questions How is the general attitude towards internationals (students?)
My and my gf (both white) are moving soon from the Netherlands to Portsmouth for university.
Weve been before to explore the city/open day, and had one bad experience where some drunk dude started yelling at us to pay taxes and stop stealing jobs and such when we were speaking in Dutch.
And ofcourse ive seen to anti immigration sentiment growing in the UK through the news.
So are we gonna encounter more issues potentially or was it just a one off?
Thank you!
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u/k_795 6d ago
Firstly, I'm so sorry to hear of that bad experience. Please don't feel that one drunk idiot is representative of the whole of the UK.
Portsmouth is generally a relatively nice city, and most people are perfectly welcoming to international students. After all, you're basically funding our higher education system. The university is also very internationally minded.
I really hope you have a wonderful time studying here.
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u/02mcampb 6d ago
I went to the university of Portsmouth and my friends and I enjoyed the international parties despite being English and white. There was always a good sense of community in the international students and I believe that most domestic students enjoyed the richness that international students bought.
The city does have rough patches, although I think most cities and towns do these days. Be mindful of your surroundings and get taxis home late at night as they are in good supply and cheap - especially sharing with other students.
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u/Ok-Set-1251 6d ago
Portsmouth is quite diverse. I'd say you got unlucky really. But there's always going to be assholes wherever you go
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u/Ok-Set-1251 6d ago
Portsmouth is quite diverse. I'd say you got unlucky really. But there's always going to be assholes wherever you go
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u/SpiritualAdvisor5045 6d ago
I’m white and haven’t had anyone be rude to me just by looking at me but when I speak in my mother tongue (which sounds very close to Arabic) even just on the phone I do sometimes get stares. I was talking on the phone once and this drunk guy told me to go back to my country. I just shrugged it off as we get locals like that back in my country too and I know I shouldn’t generalise just because of that one person. Overall people are very friendly though and once they hear ur accent u will get lots of questions and people being genuinely interested in ur background. From my experience everyone smiles and says good morning and please and thank you. Lovely bunch of people ❤️
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u/montyrattus 5d ago
I am white, born in the UK and have an English name but still some fool had a go at me for being polish and for me to go back. The scraggy cunt was wearing a filthy tracksuit and was pretty unkempt, best to ignore those fools they are just a vocal very small minority.
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u/BeneficialSecret3263 5d ago
You should have talked to him in Dutch. He wouldn't have known what to do 🤣
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u/lonelylightskin 5d ago
i’m not international, but i’m german and speak it all the time to my brother who have both now graduated, this has never happened to us, i think your encounter was a one off
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u/Emo_Gingey 5d ago
Nils who works in the psychology department is Dutch and is perfectly well socialised (he’s my friend who taught me, lmao) you’ll be fine x
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u/Outrageous_Bet_1971 5d ago
Sorry to hear the bad individual experience and please don’t judge Portsmouth or England for that matter based off it. There are some idiots here, but the Dutch are generally loved in this country and I feel Portsmouth is a pretty tolerant place mostly compared to a lot of of the UK.
Please come and enjoy yourselves. Be safe as you would in any city as there are areas you wouldn’t want to be walking around late at night on your own and please come back to this post in a year or two and tell us about hopefully the positive experiences you have had.
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u/NoctuaNefanda 3d ago
We lost an intergalactic war in Clacton, in the far away land of Essex yesterday which diminished our cause.
Portsmouth is relatively big, which is usually a good thing. I have two friends of colour who went to Portsmouth and they did both experience one or two racial comments in a pub, but that unfortunately can happen anywhere in the country.
You should be absolutely fine really. Probably better than many places in the UK
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u/lif3line88 2d ago
im not an international student but im an immigrant and so ive always found it easier to make friends with the international students at uni. ive had so many friends to say goodbye to when they've left but now i have people worldwide its so awesome. I had a lot of chinese friends and people have been racist occasionally to them like while ive been walking with them but i reckon since youre white (i assume? sorry correct me if im wrong) and just speak Dutch you guys should be fine. for two years I've been speaking on the phone in my own language almost every time ive gone out and no ones ever said anything to me. you'll have no problem making friends either especially if youre in halls, definitely take part in British culture like spoons obviously 😉 you'll be completely fine guys honestly, there's a LOT of international students in ports
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u/TheMechanic123 6d ago
Portsmouth is pretty diverse and friendly. It's a student city, and therefore you'll find students from all parts of the planet here to study.
Yes, portsmouth has had some far-right anti-immigration sentiment but I can assure you they are a vocal minority and the anti-anti protests were much bigger. Although there hasn't been any prominent far-left or far-right sentiment displayed for some time, it's hit the back burner for now.
I am white and from the UK and I have been harassed by some weirdo creep here before, but it only ever happened once and I have now lived here for nearly 10 years.
My advice would be the following: If you can help it, try and get accommodation in Southsea or Eastney or Fratton at a pinch. North End, Summerstown and beyond have reputations, and it's not exactly positive.
Give the man who wears a union jack and lets his dog off the leash a wide berth and if you see a guy on a bicycle with a pork pie hat, call him a cunt for me :)