I’ve been in Leeds for five days now and so much has happened.
I’m not going to lie, some of it has been rough. My day of traveling lasted much longer than I expected. My flight from D.C. to London was fine (I even got some very British meals), but I had a very short layover to get on my connecting flight. I had to go through customs and border control, and by the time I got through security, all of the signs said my flight was closing.
I ended up making it, after running through the airport with my shoes untied (Yeah, that did actually happen).
And then… that flight ended up getting cancelled. While we were approaching the runway.
So then I had to wait another five hours in the airport, but luckily I had three other students who had also been on the flight with me. We wandered around and got food and found a place to sit for a while until it was time for our flight at 1:00 pm.
And then… that flight got delayed! Of course.
Finally, around 2:30 pm, we were able to board the plane (and stay on this time).
By the time I actually got to my accommodation at Leeds, it was around 5:30 pm. I hadn’t slept in over 24 hours, and the day had been exhausting. One of the first things I did when I got into my room was try to charge my phone, and I couldn’t get my adapter to work. So with nothing to do, I fell asleep.
That first night was hard. I ended up waking up around 2:30 am, freaking out. I didn’t have a charged phone or laptop to contact my family, I barely had any belongings, and I didn’t know any of the people that were living around me. All I could do was lay in bed and try to calm down until I fell back to sleep (which took about an hour).
The next day, I had a meeting with the School of Media and Communication to introduce the study abroad students to the people running our department. One of the other girls and I ended up getting lunch together, and I had my first friend – and also my first legal drink!
So that was four days ago now, and there are a few people I would consider my friends. I won’t bore you with the details of every single day since, but I will mention my first funny English encounter.
Three of my friends and I went down to a bar that’s on campus to hang out and get something to eat, and it just so happened to be Trivia Night at the bar. Next to us, there was a group of guys getting ready to play. Out of nowhere, one of them put a stool at our table and said, “We’re going to win, right?!”
He ended up being hilarious, claiming he was from Mexico, when really he was an American citizen with a British accent (he’s lived in England for a long time). It took us a while to get him to say anything that was true, but he ended up being a cool guy. We even got a picture taken with him, because it was our first real night in England and he made it memorable… in a weird way.
If I’ve learned anything in the five days I’ve been here, it’s to keep a positive outlook. The first night was hard, I missed my family, everything was unfamiliar to me, but it almost immediately got better. There were a lot of doubts and silly thoughts in my mind, like “I want to go home,” and “I shouldn’t have come here,” but I’m already so happy I’m here, and it’s only been five days.
For anyone thinking about studying abroad that isn’t sure if they can do it, I would say to take the chance. I’m close with my family, and I’ve never really been away from home before. I had a lot of doubts going into this, but there was always the constant thought pushing me towards it anyway. Now I’m here, experiencing things I never would have otherwise and meeting people from all around the world.
Of course, I do miss my family, and my friends, and my hometown. In five months, I’m sure I’ll be more than ready to go back home. I don’t think it’ll take long for me to want to come back, though. Or maybe go somewhere else. Who knows?
Well, now I’m off to study a bit before classes start tomorrow. Cheers!
Adventures of Lyndsi 