I remember the first day I came to England, everyone saw England as a very, very village, but me? I didn’t seem to have such an impression, my view of England was colourful, with low houses, vast grasslands and blue skies.
Usually when I walk and take the bus, my eyes are filled with a lot of anticipation for England and the city of York. I remember when I first arrived in the UK, my eyes were sparkling with hair ✨ and I was curious about everything ….. Even on the bus ride, I was eyeing the world outside the window .
I can’t help but take photos wherever I go…
So, for a year, I had over 9,000 photos on my phone. I have deleted more than 2000 photos due to lack of memory (heartbreaking, can’t let go ….) Even though I still have a lot of photos, I can’t let go of these memories.
Accommodation.
The two types of accommodation I have experienced are the school dormitory and off-campus rented accommodation. One of the reasons I chose this way was to save money, and the other was to experience two different ways of accommodation abroad.
Second-hand.
In York, I will never forget hauling my own 29″ suitcase and taking the bus to get a second hand. Nor will I ever forget the smug look on my face at being able to get so much cheaper second hand. Of course, the final picture was this: I needed 8 suitcases when I moved myself.
I still remember how I felt during the first month.
When I saw the previous records, I remembered that when I first came to the UK, I could not help but convert pounds to RMB. When it came to buying something, I would always hesitate to think whether I needed to buy it or not, and then I couldn’t help but let out the feeling: it’s so expensive, forget it, I won’t buy it ….
Later on, I don’t know when my classmates and I stopped thinking that prices were expensive. Instead, we got used to the level of consumption in the UK and started to use every holiday to travel to other countries and cities around the UK.
Societies.
At York, I joined many societies with a few good friends and I will never forget the start of the school season in September when a few friends and I went through all the societies one by one and then signed up for each one …. In this way, during my year at York, I have participated in many club activities, such as hiking, concerts, yoga, attending lectures, becoming friends with Japanese students, etc. …. Some of my classmates used to say that wherever there was an event, there was one for us.
Sometimes we joked with each other that we had attended 100 club activities in a year, so when you think about it, it was worth the tuition fee.
When I think about it now, it did take us a lot of time, but I found it very rewarding. It was a great way to meet people from different countries, to learn about the culture and to practice speaking …. Of course, it also enriches my study life.
Staying up late.
I remember staying up late in the library the night before New Year’s Eve in London, staying up late at McDonald’s in London when I came back from Iceland, staying up late on countless days writing my dissertation, etc. ….. Of course, I won’t forget the countless days and nights walking home alone from the library across the prairie to the meadow, and now that I think about myself, I would really admire myself for being brave. Thank you to the one who used to send me home over the phone when I was walking at night.
Travel.
In a year and a half, I stayed in nine countries, Iceland, France, Belgium, Holland, Spain, Portugal, Monaco, England and Poland. I visited 70+ cities and 20+ universities in the UK with Mr Jiang. I’m still a little proud of myself when I think about it, but I always feel like I’ve visited too many cities, and now, when I look back at the cities I’ve visited and the experiences I’ve had afterwards, I’m forgetting a lot of them. …..
It’s been a year and a half, a year and a half of seeing the world, if you will~
Friendships.
I met the best foreign friends and the best Chinese friends in the UK, traveling together, eating together and studying together. A lot of people say that Chinese people pile up badly. Yes, I agree that this is common and not particularly good, but then later on, when I realised that if such bunching can contribute to your growth and learning, why not? Thank you to those who often called me up to watch football matches with them, urged me to read books and newspapers, shared their knowledge with me, took me to concerts and travelled with me, if it wasn’t for you, I really don’t know what kind of changes this year would have been like?
New city life.
When finishing my dissertation, I moved to the city I had lived in for a long time, to a city I didn’t really like – Manchester. My initial impression of Manchester was of very modern tall houses, a mix of races and different qualities, but it gave me a slight sense of depression. Then later on, seeing the blue sky on the way to the supermarket again plus going to a very quiet library made me start to fall in love with the city a little and get used to living in this place.
During my time in Manchester, I didn’t have too many friends and on weekdays, it was either two places or three, home ~ library ~ work place ~ (weekend trips). My dad always encouraged me to use my time to travel, but I said, “First you have to be bitter, then you have to save up enough money, then you can travel.
I enjoyed the quiet time in Manchester, I developed the habit of reading books, learnt to take notes and updated my WeChat articles on a regular basis to understand the feelings and mood of local Chinese in the UK …..
It was a quiet time, but a very fulfilling one for me.
Part-time job.
For the first 12 months in the UK, I never thought about working part-time, I mainly wanted to focus all my attention on my studies. But when I moved to another city, I started looking for a part-time job – cashier. It was a job that I didn’t like and was always aggravated by, often being told by the boss’s wife that I had no work experience. I remember when I first started working part-time, I didn’t like it, not because I didn’t like the job, but because I didn’t like the way the boss’s wife treated me. Later on, I started to get used to the job and got better and better at it. In the end, after three months of hard work, I saved up a sum of money to pay my rent, went on a trip to countries around the UK and also saved up a sum of money for a trip to Poland and the surrounding public. I used to dislike the job, but always marvelled at how lucky I was to have found it at a time when I needed it most.
…
Now that 18 months in the UK is over, I’m happy inside, really happy. I can say that I have experienced what I wanted to experience and gained what I wanted to gain, so I am happy to leave. There is no hard feelings towards the UK because I believe the future will be better and I am grateful for the time I spent in the UK.
