I studied as an Erasmus student for a year in England. Every European student I knew had an "epiphany" moment where they realised that standard European plugs w

I studied as an Erasmus student for a year in England. Every European student I knew had an "epiphany" moment where they realised that standard European plugs work on UK sockets, if you stick a pen in the ground "hole" to unlock the rest of the socket holes. Converters are a pain to use, they are always flimsy and there always too few available. It is usually not worth getting UK specific plugs for the short-ish duration of the Erasmus period. Safety and the increased fire hazard was, in our student-mindset, a small sacrifice for the convenience we got in return.