This goes out to all foreign students studying in the UK.
You arrive at Heathrow and take the train to go off to a smaller town, somewhere in the UK to study the course you always dreamed of, or the course your parents forced you to study, or the course you think will get you a very well paid job, or the course you happened to get the grades for…

You’re feelings in the train are mixed. You’re tired (since you were up all night) but at the same time excited and eager to arrive. Will I be able to find my way around town? Is the campus far? How on earth am I going to carry all this luggage? Thank God your cousin who is sleeping next to you is here to help you. You must admit, the countryside is magnificent, if only it wasn’t drizzling… An hour and a half later after the lake and beyond the hills, you begin to see the first houses. With your face stuck to the window you gaze outside and realize the train is slowing down. ‘Please be seated until the train has come to a complete stop’. This is it.

After a long time of searching and futile carrying around of suitcases, laptops and boxes, looking around with a bewildered look on your face you finally get to your dorms only to realize that your room is on the fourth floor and there is no lift...bummer… Up there stairs you go, your cousin behind you, holding two big suitcases and a laptop around his neck like a donkey. Room 417, right next to the kitchen, small, dull, smells of Indian food (there was someone cooking in the kitchen). Your disappointment is evident.

Fresher’s week. You’ve settled down, done everything you could to decorate your room so it feels cozy, put up posters, bought scented candles and a lot of other things which you now realize you won’t use since there is no room for them. You have however spent most of your money and now need to make the ‘it’s only been a week and I have no money, England is so expensive’ call to your parents. During fresher’s week, besides pub hopping you sign up for many activities and societies of which you will not even go to half. Extra-curricular activities are very important. Now’s the chance to try everything and continue the one’s you like best. They’re very close to you and very cheap.

The first semester has begun and since your schedule does not look too full you decide to take a language for extra credits. If that’s the case it is a wise decision. Languages are very useful, they look good on your résumé and you get to learn them for free.

A month into your first semester and notes are beginning to pile up, your phone list is getting bigger and so is your jean size. Something must be done before this gets out of hand. You decide to write up and file your notes at the end of each week. This also helps you understand them and when exam time comes you’ll have less work to do and will not stress out as much. You don’t want to have to study out of scraps of paper, trying to make sense out of what you wrote on a Monday morning three months ago. Instead of spending all your money on alcohol and junk food you decide to visit a supermarket and add fruit, vegetables and home-cooked meals to your everyday diet. The friend’s you’ve made are from all sorts of places. You started talking to someone while waiting to go into class, during your jazz class, when trying to find the nurses office, your lab partner, your neighbors at your dorms and that guy from your tutorial who at first you disliked cause he talks too much. You find it is easiest to hang out with people from your course as it is useful to study together, your lunch breaks are at the same time and you can stay out till late on the same days of the week. After spending some time with them you also realize that your English has improved a lot. Never again will you have to ask for three different types of cutlery when all you need is a fork.

Do not spend your time sulking because it’s raining, on planes back and forth from home or watching ‘Friends’ over and over again. This is a once in a lifetime experience. You get to meet people from all over the world, take trips and open your mind so take advantage of it because soon you’ll be working 40 hours a week with 20 days of holidays a year.

Kat 19/09/09