Firts Post

This is the first post of my blog, where I go through my experiences as an exchange student in Leeds Beckett University, United Kingdom. In Finland I'm studying hotel and restaurant management in Laurea University of Applied Sciences, Espoo. Here in Leeds my studies are focused on Public Relations and Event Management. Have been in England for 3 weeks already, so I'll try my best to go through all that time on todays post. Hope you'll enjoy reading about my adventures in here and hopefully these texts will inspire someone else to take this chance one day!

18.9.2014

This was the day my journey began. I already knew I wanted to take part of our schools exchange program when I applied to Laurea. Living abroad has always been a dream for me and even though I see my self quite social and easily to approachable person I had my concerns. I've always lived in a same city in Finland, went to my local pre-, primary-, junior high- and high school and basically more than half of my current friends are from those times, some I've met even younger. So no matter how social I am, this would be the first time in a totally new environment with new people, without the possibility to just call and meet up with someone close. Of course I was also stressed about all the practical things like, is my accommodation situation as it should be, have they certainly added me to the right classes and would my luggages also make it to Leeds with me. 

My mom, dad, sister, grandmother and grandfather escorted me to the airport. My feelings weren't as stressed or nervous as I thought they would be. I felt joy of finally doing the thing I had been dreaming for many years. The moment I started to feel sad was when my baby sister (ok erm, she's 19...) who I'm really close with, started to cry because that was probably the moment she really realized I wouldn't be just around the corner for the next 4-5 months. Even when I'm writing this post I feel bad when I think of that moment. I miss her too, she's my sister and also best friend even though we still sometimes fight like little kids! I know it was probably just as hard for my parents as their first child was about to go abroad by herself, even if the child is 22 years old. They seemed brave, but in my heart I know the amount of worry they had then and have now in their hearts.

At the airport I did the usual, went to buy couple books for flights and then went to a cafe for some breakfast. Apparently I stayed in my thoughts a little too long because at some point I realized my name was announced and that the gate was about to close. WHAT?! So I started to run with my small suitcase, laptop bag, purse and takeaway coffee towards the gate. As all my friends might know, I was totally freaking out and had to leave my cup to the floor (sorry for all the cleaners in there!) to get there on time. By the way I also bypassed a Finnish rap-artist Elastinen on my way, haha. So in the end I arrived just on time and made it to the flight, thank God! 

My flight to London Heathrow took about 2,5h and then I had to wait 3h for the next one. The second one was only 1h so not bad at all! Luckily my bigger luggage had arrived too and then I headed towards city center. I arrived on Thursday and we were supposed to get our keys to the student accommodation on Weekend so I stayed at a hotel for few nights. I spent the first two days just by myself, exploring the city. I felt this was a good start for my self, because I like to get to know where I'm staying and learn to remember the right streets and places. The first night I went to bed quite early, because I had woken up at 5am and felt super tired after travelling. 

19.9.2014

Day 2. After waking up, I went to see Headingley Campus where I would have all my classes. AMAZING. Old beautiful campus area, that was built as a college but also served as a war hospital during WW2. I just walked around there and compared it to my home campus in Finland. Just a little bit different, if I may say... During the next week we also had a guided tour at the campus to see the classrooms, library and they also showed all the sports fields inside and out. Headingley is a very active campus, and it's where most of the Leeds Becketts sports clubs are mainly located in. 

Later that evening a few of us international student agreed on our Facebook group to meet up and get to know each other. We went to a pub tour and saw a little what Leeds night life has to offer! Also another Laurea student Anna from Finland arrived that evening, she's also my flatmate now. 

20.9.2014

Saturday was our moving in day. So me and Anna took a taxi from hotel to Sugarwell Court which is our accommodation for these 4 months. I must say that my first feelings of the apartment were BAD. It was a ground floor flat, dirty and old. Nothing any of us expected after the photos we had seen beforehand. Have to admit that the first thing I did in my room was that I just sat on top of my suitcase and started to make plans for a different apartment. We went to Sugarwell reception and said that this is NOT what we should get after paying 95£ per week. They came to see the flat and agreed that the previous residents had left it in a bad shape. But after it was cleaned and we got a new vacuum cleaner everything started to look much better. During the next week me and my flatmates started to decorate our own rooms and hanged posters etc. to the hallway and kitchen walls. On that day I couldn't even imagine that now it would be a place that I call home. Of course it's not a "real home" but it's still my home for this autum so why not call it that. Here are few photos of my little room. 

My lovely flatmates

 Anna from Finland, also studies in Laurea but her campus is in a different city. 

Kristin, Germany

Malin, Sweden

Maria, USA

Funny girls, I love them<3  And I think we are all in the same page when it comes to living, so we are lucky.

After settling in, we also got to know other residents in our building. One flat held a party where everyone met before heading to a club. Nice evening, we went to a place called Halo, an old chapel which had been turned into a huge nightclub.

22-28.9.2014

During this week we just got to know different things. We had a campus tour in Headingley, which I already told about, but also a small tour in the City Campus as well. Us ERASMUS students had a seminar, where we were informed how to use the schools web programme MyBeckett (similar to Laureas Optima&SoleOps), what to do if we need health care or who to contact in different situations. I think this was a good preparation for us before the real lectures strated. 

This week I also bought a bus card to First buses. This was 120£, which is a lot but it lasts until the of December and you can use it any time of the day/week. Otherwise a single ticket is 1,2£-2,5£ and a day ticket  3,90£. There are two different bus companies in Leeds. First buses are the so called public ones and they do almost every routes. I can use number 51 and 52 from Sugarwell to the city center or to Meanwood. The other company is called Tiger buses and those (92 and 93) go only from Monday to Friday and their purpose is to do routes between both campuses and all the student accommodations. Yes they are cheaper, but those buses are NEVER on time and they don't go that late so I don't trust them that much. Usually when going to Headingley and back, I just walk the 30min route rather than wait forever for the bus to arrive. 

On Wednesday we went to a Freshers Fair, which was kinda like exhibition of all the activities you can do in Leeds Beckett Uni. There were loads of different clubs to join, from football and lacrosse to scuba diving, skiing and hiking. Almost any hobby you can come up with: they were there. The fair also gave a lot of free stuff, like booklets and kitchen towels etc. Such a fun event! I gave my email to scuba diving, snowboarding and carting groups among other things. Afterwards I skipped the snowboard club because I can do it enough in Finland for more decent price if I wanted to and I felt that the scuba diving actually wouldn't be my thing. So now I'm planning on joining the next car racing event when it is the time! I also bought a gym card for our schools gym, it was ~70£ for one semester. That way I can go there when ever I want and I can fit it better to my schedule. 

And naturally during this week we got to know the city well and went out a LOT. Also almost everyone has had the flu here, because of all the people from different places with their own bacterial strain gathering into one building, spend the week drinking, eating badly and all of this with almost no sleep. Malin told that students in a new environment are the second group for prone most to diseases, after the 3 year old in day care. 

Gabriella, Anna & Mitchell

A boat bar on dry land

Nation Of Shopkeepers

Internationaaaaaals

So that was a little opening for my future posts! Tomorrow I'll tell more of my interesting courses and my last weeks adventures. Bye loves!