I have a really good excuse as to why I haven't written in ages and that is because I have moved to the other side of the world. I'm going to be on exchange for a semester, so as you probably can imagine, that has involved a LOT of organisation and time. So, this beautiful Sunday morning, while eating breakfast, it is the first day that I haven't had something on. The first day that I haven't needed to rush off, so I can take my time and relax for the first time in weeks. And it is lovely because the kitchen/dining area has a window ledge which gets the sun all day since it faces southwards, and I'm taking as much advantage of the sun as possible because I am now living in... England!
I've been wanting to study in England since I was a kid and I've always had the dream to live there. I can't even remember when this dream started, I think it's just been for my entire life and I have been saving up my money since forever to do it. No joke, even when I was seven and was given birthday money, I'd put it in the bank with the intention to save up for England. And now I'm finally here! See, dreams can come true if you work hard and never give up (that's really sappy sounding, sorry about that).
On Wednesday, I moved into my place and even though it's off campus, I'm still living on student accommodation and absolutely loving it! It's the first time I've lived away from home and without my parents, so I'll probably feel homesick now and then, but so far, I am loving the freedom. My parents did accompany me to Europe on the first week, having one final family holiday in Paris (another place I've never been to and have always dreamt about visiting- it was such a beautiful city), but now it's time for complete independence. I'm completely in love with the town I am living in and I just found out that the university I'm now going to was ranked in the top 10 in the world! It is so different from back home in Australia, and I know that I don't want to leave after these five months. Once the weather changes and it becomes freezing and rainy, I will probably complain about it a bit, but it's actually quite embarrassing how much I love living here. Like, I will be talking to someone, see something like a cute cottage and basically jump with joy. Plus, my flat mates are all lovely, which makes the whole experience even the more enjoyable. Everyone I've met is just so friendly and I love being an international student because I get the opportunity to meet so many people from different countries and hear and learn about their culture. Many conversations feature linguistics and language, which is really interesting to hear what different places say for one particular thing. For example:
In Australia we call this a "doona." Meanwhile in England they call it a "duvet" and in the US they call it a "comforter." Just those little things, it is really interesting. But that's enough talk about doonas for now because I think other than that, they aren't the most interesting thing to read about.
On Wednesday, I was the first person in my flat, but by the end of the day there was one other girl, who is from France, who moved to my floor, and downstairs, a guy from the US. Now we have two girls and one guy from England on my floor too and still waiting for a few more people to arrive in the next couple of days, which is so exciting.
Thursday and Friday was the exchange students orientation activities and registration, which was an overload of information that I can't remember very well, but it was wonderful meeting all these new people and start making friends. As I said, every person is friendly, so it's such a nice atmosphere. On the Friday night, we had a Welcome dinner of the British cuisine of Fish and Chips and later, we all went to a club for the rest of the evening.
Saturday, we didn't have commitments to the university, so a group of us from my student estate went down to the town and saw the local market that was set up along one of the main streets. There was such a variety of breads and cheeses and fruits and vegetables, seeing stuff that I haven't heard before. We then bought Cornish pasties and went to the river to eat.
The town I'm at is called Guildford, which if you haven't heard of it before, is stunning. It's so quaint, with the High Street having cobbled roads and old buildings (there is also a small castle dating back to just after William the Conquerer). I also didn't know that Lewis Carroll has strong connections here, owning a house in the town, where his sisters lived and where he would come down to in the Summer. "Alice in Wonderland" was my favourite story as a child (he's the author), so you would probably can imagine how excited I was to discover this and that he finished writing "Alice through the Looking Glass" when he was in Guildford. He also died and was buried here.
But yesterday afternoon, because the weather has been beautiful, a few of us walked up a really lovely hill and had a stunning view of the place and then walked through a miniature forest.
I've been wanting to study in England since I was a kid and I've always had the dream to live there. I can't even remember when this dream started, I think it's just been for my entire life and I have been saving up my money since forever to do it. No joke, even when I was seven and was given birthday money, I'd put it in the bank with the intention to save up for England. And now I'm finally here! See, dreams can come true if you work hard and never give up (that's really sappy sounding, sorry about that).
On Wednesday, I moved into my place and even though it's off campus, I'm still living on student accommodation and absolutely loving it! It's the first time I've lived away from home and without my parents, so I'll probably feel homesick now and then, but so far, I am loving the freedom. My parents did accompany me to Europe on the first week, having one final family holiday in Paris (another place I've never been to and have always dreamt about visiting- it was such a beautiful city), but now it's time for complete independence. I'm completely in love with the town I am living in and I just found out that the university I'm now going to was ranked in the top 10 in the world! It is so different from back home in Australia, and I know that I don't want to leave after these five months. Once the weather changes and it becomes freezing and rainy, I will probably complain about it a bit, but it's actually quite embarrassing how much I love living here. Like, I will be talking to someone, see something like a cute cottage and basically jump with joy. Plus, my flat mates are all lovely, which makes the whole experience even the more enjoyable. Everyone I've met is just so friendly and I love being an international student because I get the opportunity to meet so many people from different countries and hear and learn about their culture. Many conversations feature linguistics and language, which is really interesting to hear what different places say for one particular thing. For example:
 |
| this |
On Wednesday, I was the first person in my flat, but by the end of the day there was one other girl, who is from France, who moved to my floor, and downstairs, a guy from the US. Now we have two girls and one guy from England on my floor too and still waiting for a few more people to arrive in the next couple of days, which is so exciting.
Thursday and Friday was the exchange students orientation activities and registration, which was an overload of information that I can't remember very well, but it was wonderful meeting all these new people and start making friends. As I said, every person is friendly, so it's such a nice atmosphere. On the Friday night, we had a Welcome dinner of the British cuisine of Fish and Chips and later, we all went to a club for the rest of the evening.
Saturday, we didn't have commitments to the university, so a group of us from my student estate went down to the town and saw the local market that was set up along one of the main streets. There was such a variety of breads and cheeses and fruits and vegetables, seeing stuff that I haven't heard before. We then bought Cornish pasties and went to the river to eat.
 |
| The river |
But yesterday afternoon, because the weather has been beautiful, a few of us walked up a really lovely hill and had a stunning view of the place and then walked through a miniature forest.
Because I don't live on the university campus, there are good things and bad things about it (eg. the bad thing is having to take the bus which is the most unreliable system and that means that we are a lot further out from town and the uni). But the good thing is that we have a really good community feel where I live; last night everyone hanging out at one of the flats until 4am (got the opportunity to play 'Cards against Humanity' again, which I won- it's the only card game I'm actually good at).
I love this move so much and it is the best decision, also the biggest decision I've made in my life and I'm really looking forward to the never ending experiences and opportunities over the next five months.
(Sorry for the long post)
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