Almost a Month Back in Essex

I really shouldn't be writing this now.

I have to read more than 60 pages of Le passager de la pluie, a story about a woman who got raped in a southern France small holiday resort in autumn. I think I am on page 24. Also I have to do two French listening exercises, prepare a Spanish essay test for next week, and finish the German model particles (or whatever it is) exercises. In short, I have A LOT to do.

Last year, being a first year Modern Languages student, I kinda slacked a lot. My modules were not particularly difficult, they weren't demanding and I didn't really have to do a lot to be able to cope up with my lessons - I even got a first in the finals and got into the Dean's List. I spent a lot of my time doing (voluntarily) work for Model UN society, where I was the fundraising and volunteering officer.

But it all has changed completely. This year I am challenging myself so I took tests and jumped a level in German and two levels in Spanish, doing all three languages in Advanced level. I leave every class with more than 20 vocabularies that I should have memorised in the evening of every day but so far I have successfully memorised 0 words. I'm also starting my frontrunner placement at the Communications department next Monday while preparing to start a new society. Therefore I can safely assume that I will be very busy all year long this year. However I am enjoying the huge load of work on me. It feels good when you put in a lot of effort into organising every day and really feel that you are actually learning things throughout the week. This degree is not for nothing.

Tomorrow will mark the one-month period since I came back to Essex. A lot has happened. I went to Paris for Yunni's wedding, became friends with new people, became acquaintances with old friends and also started trying out new societies, even sports clubs!

The only thing that I still don't get very used to is the fact that we now live in the Quays which is 15 minutes away from central campus with a very unreliable bus service. But there's a silver lining - I know someone almost on every floor of my building, everyone just sort of lives in House 5. Other than that I have fully pulled myself back together, attending all classes (14 hours a week) and cooking (pasta and some other easy food) and even started jogging (when I feel like doing).

To second year!

Two Months in a Nutshell

As hard as I've been trying to remember what I have been doing for the past (nearly) two months since I got here, I still couldn't remember every bit of it. I am trying my best to tell you as much as I could remember.

On 29th September, I arrived in Heathrow after my horribly long flight at around 7.30am, went through the immigration customs and got my luggage at 8.30am, rushed to another terminal to catch the coach to the university which was supposed to leave at 9am but delayed (for almost 2 hours...)
And there started my new life.

EY411 from KUL to AUH, the very beginning of my journey

We arrived at the campus after almost three hours on the coach. But there was a problem. My accommodation is in the south of the campus, but we were dropped off at the north entrance of the campus. So that was a pretty good walk through all those steps with my lovely luggage, couldn't really say I like my first impression of the campus!

The campus! We walked from the entrance north of the four towers to the big circle down south

I went to London on the third weekend to visit Dahlia, an old friend from last year whom I haven't met for almost a year. It's been quite a while since I leave London, and couldn't really tell how much I have missed Metropolitan Line, Tottenham Court Road, or even Pret a manger. We went to a lot of places, had a lot of fun and I will definitely go visit her again (and again!)  

I missed London and my old friend so much we had an awesome day in the capital

I've also joined some of the societies in the university, the one I like the most being the Model United Nations where basically a bunch of people represent different countries to discuss different topics about global issues every week. Quite a lot of people have asked me about this, I will probably write about this in details soon. I so far have enjoyed the debate and thought that it is fun and interesting to be able to represent a country and argue (or fight) with other countries. (Looking at you, Democratic People's Republic of Korea!) 

 

This was the Mini-MUNEX conference where we discussed about international food security

With the Model United Nations Society I also went to Oxford for the Oxford International Model United Nations conference organised by the University of Oxford, where I represented El Salvador in the committee of Organization of American States. We had a lot of interesting intensive and exciting discussions about drug trafficking and sex trade in Latin America. That was my first MUN conference and I would say I learned a lot of things, gained some valuable experience and also made some friends!

The wonderful committee of Organization of American States

I am really happy that I have luckily made some friends here already and we spent time together doing silly stuff, talk about languages and shit. Sometimes we do have some quality wonderful activities, like we managed to have a hot pot night successfully (after some one-month of prep time) and invited people from all over the world. (exaggeration intended) I'm proud of ourselves, and I say we are actually quite awesome.

The hot pot night with the guys

There's still so much more I want to write about and so many more photos I want to share but I think I will just stop here for this time. Stay tuned if you're interested in my upcoming posts! See you soon.

I'm Back

Don't ask me what I have been doing for the past 10 months, believe me, you don't want to know. But here I am, blogging on my laptop in my uni dorm room, far away in Essex, England, trying to tell you what's going on in my life.

Yes, I first came to England last September, studying at a university in London. However it turned out to be a wrong decision, so I struggled through it, went back home for a couple of months, and came back to England again. And yeah, now a proud Modern Languages student at the University of Essex.

So how is it? Do I like it here? Will this turn out to be a wrong decision (again)?
It is amazing! Yes I like it here and no, I am pretty sure that this is not a wrong decision.

Some of my friends know what I have been through throughout this year and they told me I was crazy. Or worse, I was called a liar once. But now that I've moved on, I know exactly what I am expected of and what I should do, how I should behave.

The decision to come back to England was a tough one to make and I kind of hated myself for being unrealistic. I was so depressed, I didn't want to look like a fool to everyone else and I knew people would talk about me like a joke or even judge and criticise me so I had to be very careful. The moment when I waved goodbye to my family when I was at the airport, I was actually scared. I didn't know what would be waiting for me except for a 17-hour flight. I spent the 17 hours thinking about my decision, my life until then, what I should do, how I could cope with my new life etc. I would not lie, I was lost when I landed in Heathrow. Will I regret my choice? Will I make any friends? Will I enjoy the course? the campus? the town? Will I miss home? Will I be able to take care of my own meals? What should I eat? What should I wear? .. And then the next thing I knew, it's been more than a month since I came here.

Ask me anything about my life now, I will say I really really like it. The other day we had this "what would you do if you won the lottery" essay in our French class, and I said I wouldn't change anything significantly, except for paying my own tuition and maintenance fees to support myself financially, because I love my life now. Even I was surprised by my answer.

I started participating in extra-curricular activities again, just like what I used to do back in high school. I still clearly remember how busy I was when I was 17 years old and how much I enjoyed being busy. I am not completely sure about that now, it is still the beginning but I think I will still have the same kind of energy and spirit.

So that's what I want to tell you! I will try to be more detailed the next time I see you. Have a nice day.

From London With Love

I have decided to start a new blog so that I can keep on writing some silly and stupid stuff from time to time. I have come to London for uni all the way from home that's why I decided to write a blog.

I have always loved writing and used to write a lot back in high school. I even kept a blog before but it didn't last long until I got bored. Now that I have started a new life thousands of miles away from home, I finally decided to write something whenever I am in the mood.

OK it's been a month since I came to London. I have never expected it to be so fast. Everything is fine, and so far so good to me. I have been trying really hard to adapt to everything new here and I am pretty sure although I still can't fit in flawlessly, I am gradually sorting things out.

Uni is okay. It might be true that I really didn't expect a lot before I came, so I am happily accepting everything about the school.

The only thing that I had worried before I came (my meals and living conditions) is okay as well. I now can cook (some really simple food) and do shopping and stuff myself. Hopefully I am turning into an independent individual slowly. LOL.

London is a big city. But it's not that stressful or crowded like New York or Tokyo. This is why I actually quite like living here. Public transport is very convenient (though not very efficient), people are nice and well-mannered (considering it's a huge city).

If you're still reading, that means you are really interested, aren't you? This is the first post in the blog. An acceptable prologue, I guess? I will keep on writing and if you are interested, stay tuned! :)