Arrival Shock

So, after all the drama in the airport, we were finally on the way to where we will be studying.  The sense of reality is now settling in me while I was looking out the windows.

When the taxi driver told us we were here, I was in shock and speechless about where I am…

Emm... how should I explain myself… 

 

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As a city girl, my life involves living, studying and working in modern buildings. I like the landscape of a city and I like everything about it: neon lights, street food, the smell, the noise, faceless people walking passed one another etc. 

When I was a teenage, my dream was to see the world. Because I studied in business and worked in the finance sector, the definition of world means big cities, like New York, Hong Kong and Tokyo, where money are created and circulated. 

I have been to other cities in the US and Canada (i.e. San Francisco, Vancouver, Ottawa and Toronto) – although they are big, busy cities, there are always some quieter corners in the back streets to explore and to live, especially in the university area. 

I always remembered how fascinated I was about the area when I visited friends in UCLA, and now looking back, I think that’s when I have decided to study abroad. So, you know what the dream of studying abroad means to me.

I know UK has a longer history than all these places I have been and lived, and in my expectation of the 9^th biggest city in the UK, there will be some old buildings and some new buildings. How wrong can it be!!

BUT, 

what the hell is this building???? 

why does this university look like a factory!!!

... and it has started to rain .....

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Perhaps, I should have had chosen to study elsewhere in the US or Canada, not here… 


AA xxx

Hello UK!

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‘why do you want to see my luggage??’

‘what do you think I am going to smuggle in??’

‘why would I do that anyway, I am coming to a masters, a very expensive master course!!’

I really wanted to shout at the man who asked me to unpack the luggage for further examination in the custom desk. 

Seeing him going through my underwear, stationary, clothes… I was very angry, annoyed, nervous and also felt embarrassed. 

What did I do to deserve such bad treatment when I came to your country with money to contribute to your economy!!  I understand about the terrorism threat and all that stuff, of course. But you guys could be nicer and more friendly about what you are asking me to do, and perhaps provide more privacy as to where to do so.  Instead, a man is going through my personal things in public, it is just like being asked to take off clothes layer by layer in public! (well, I am perhaps a little over exaggerate here.)  And honestly, I don’t know what you expected to find.

Now the examination (and humiliation) is over, I have a whole other beast to deal with: stuffing everything back!!  If there is anything less annoying than being asked to open a luggage for examination, it’s putting/stuffing everything back as soon as it can be done.

Bearing in mind, when you travel from thousands of miles away and prepare to stay for a year, you would pack some unusual things, i.e. bowls, chopsticks, Chinese (chopping) knife, diaries and notebooks in different sizes, many pads for different stages/times of the period (*blush*), cloth for four seasons, underwear in different designs/patterns (*blush*) etc.  It was a huge job to pack them all in at home and is an even huge, Huge, HUGE deal in public in last than 5 minutes.    

What a great start! I hate you UK, even before I arrive at my final destination.  

AA (not feeling 'xxx' today....)

Transfer in Amsterdam airport

After a long journey, we arrived in Amsterdam airport.  The flight was delayed, which means we had less time to find where we needed to be for our transfer flight to Leeds-Bradford.

And that’s us, four Taiwanese girls, with heavy (hand-)luggage, staring at the big screen with the flight details, nervously trying to find which gate to go, well, RUN.

Nearly there, we said to each other, when we rushed to the transfer gate. The airport seems so huge and long and busy, and we had to fight to pass through people.   We got to the gate a minute before the last boarding announcement was broadcast, and we were all very sweaty indeed!! 

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AA xxx

Where it starts...

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So, here I am, waving goodbye to my family in the airport. 

This is not the first time I travel on my own to a unfamiliar country. So, it’s not a big deal really.

And, technically, I am not 'on my own' as I am with Elaine, Tracy and Fiona who will be my classmates of this coming year and who I have met once just few weeks ago.  Apart from each other’s name and what the course they will be studying next year, I know nothing about them. And yet, we arranged to book on the same flight to Bradford as it is safer to travel together since we are just four young girls.

I am quite nervous and excited about the journey, to be honest. It’s going to be a new start, and it will be great. I will be a different person once I finish my MBA course in a year time.  I will have a masters, speak fluent English, meet new friends and I will get a better job. 

Yes, it is going to be great.