As of around 3pm tomorrow afternoon, I will have been in Leicester a whole week! It's gone incredibly quickly, but then again time does fly when you're having fun and I've had a lot of fun this week.
When I moved in on Saturday I quickly met one of my flatmates, Jazmin. She's also 22 and doing a criminology based masters which means we have two modules together this year. However, she's from Idaho! This meant we bonded quickly over the study abroad experience. She loves Harry Potter, and is one of the most liberal Americans I've ever met so she hates Trump; we're definitely getting along just fine. After my parents left, Jazmin and I went to our student accommodation talk, it was pretty standard stuff, but we got a little tour of campus on the way which was very useful.
Leicester's campus isn't that big at all, though I know my opinion is hampered by having come from Keele which is the largest campus in Europe. Like Keele, Leicester is currently redeveloping sections of it's campus, and has a mixture of modern, lovely old, and slightly more age-worn buildings.
I am yet to struggle to find somewhere here, and really appreciate that as it's helped me feel relaxed really quickly. Also, it is only a five/ten minute walk from my accommodation, Opal Court, which is going to make those 9ams that bit easier.
My other flatmates are all 26 and come from China, Taiwan and Mexico - all far more interesting and exotic than me! They all seem to pretty much do their own thing and aren't on courses like Jazmin and mine's, but they're also very lovely and smiley whenever I see them in the corridor or kitchen. I think it's going to be a really chill place to live, which is exactly what I wanted and ideal for a masters year methinks. I'm also really up for learning about other cultures, and can't wait to hear what my accent turns into.
From 9am until 4pm, then 9am until 7pm on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively, we had induction days for our courses. Tuesday delivered us a lot of information so Jazmin, and two other people on our course, Charlie (the only other English friend I have thus far) and Lisa (from the Netherlands), treated ourselves to two lots of free pizza.
It was such a good decision and we thoroughly deserved it. Tuesday night was an early night, because we're old people now, and Charlie and Jazmin and I had a rather elongated pub night on Sunday. It was very fun! But I struggled a bit through my ten hour street team shift on Monday so still needed all of the sleep.
On Wednesday, we made another friend called Bri who is from Washington state. She, like Jazmin, is also really liberal so I have had some hope in America restored, and we've all enjoyed bemoaning Trump's existence. I'm finding it rather odd that all of my friends, bar Charlie, are international. It's really interesting, and means there's always some sort of conversation going which is great, but lots of the welcome events are for freshers or internationals, so sometimes Charlie and I just have to entertain ourselves. That's completely fine, he and I get on really well, and the city centre is about 10 minutes walk away so there's always somewhere to be, but it's very different to how I started Keele. That seems like a really silly and obvious thing to say, because duhhh Keele was a very different place and time in my life, but hey ho, I can't help but make the comparison.
I'm not going to say one experience is better than the other, because that just seems ineffective and unnecessary. They're different experiences so I'm just being patient with myself, noticing what I notice, feeling what I feel, and embracing every opportunity I'm given.
Even though this week has flown by in happiness, 7 days really isn't a long time, it's going to take a couple more weeks to properly settle in. I have my place in Leicester, in this world, I just need to sit back, relax and see where that it. And relaxing begins, with going to see Alex today and staying with him until tomorrow evening! I'm really excited to settle into my 'new normal', with new friends, in a new place, studying a new course, with a new job, but still with time for all those I already know and care for. Onwards and upwards!
When I moved in on Saturday I quickly met one of my flatmates, Jazmin. She's also 22 and doing a criminology based masters which means we have two modules together this year. However, she's from Idaho! This meant we bonded quickly over the study abroad experience. She loves Harry Potter, and is one of the most liberal Americans I've ever met so she hates Trump; we're definitely getting along just fine. After my parents left, Jazmin and I went to our student accommodation talk, it was pretty standard stuff, but we got a little tour of campus on the way which was very useful.
Leicester's campus isn't that big at all, though I know my opinion is hampered by having come from Keele which is the largest campus in Europe. Like Keele, Leicester is currently redeveloping sections of it's campus, and has a mixture of modern, lovely old, and slightly more age-worn buildings.
My other flatmates are all 26 and come from China, Taiwan and Mexico - all far more interesting and exotic than me! They all seem to pretty much do their own thing and aren't on courses like Jazmin and mine's, but they're also very lovely and smiley whenever I see them in the corridor or kitchen. I think it's going to be a really chill place to live, which is exactly what I wanted and ideal for a masters year methinks. I'm also really up for learning about other cultures, and can't wait to hear what my accent turns into.
From 9am until 4pm, then 9am until 7pm on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively, we had induction days for our courses. Tuesday delivered us a lot of information so Jazmin, and two other people on our course, Charlie (the only other English friend I have thus far) and Lisa (from the Netherlands), treated ourselves to two lots of free pizza.
On Wednesday, we made another friend called Bri who is from Washington state. She, like Jazmin, is also really liberal so I have had some hope in America restored, and we've all enjoyed bemoaning Trump's existence. I'm finding it rather odd that all of my friends, bar Charlie, are international. It's really interesting, and means there's always some sort of conversation going which is great, but lots of the welcome events are for freshers or internationals, so sometimes Charlie and I just have to entertain ourselves. That's completely fine, he and I get on really well, and the city centre is about 10 minutes walk away so there's always somewhere to be, but it's very different to how I started Keele. That seems like a really silly and obvious thing to say, because duhhh Keele was a very different place and time in my life, but hey ho, I can't help but make the comparison.
I'm not going to say one experience is better than the other, because that just seems ineffective and unnecessary. They're different experiences so I'm just being patient with myself, noticing what I notice, feeling what I feel, and embracing every opportunity I'm given.
No comments:
Post a Comment