First Week in Leicester

As of around 3pm tomorrow afternoon, I will have been in Leicester a whole week! It's gone incredibly quickly, but then again time does fly when you're having fun and I've had a lot of fun this week.

When I moved in on Saturday I quickly met one of my flatmates, Jazmin. She's also 22 and doing a criminology based masters which means we have two modules together this year. However, she's from Idaho! This meant we bonded quickly over the study abroad experience. She loves Harry Potter, and is one of the most liberal Americans I've ever met so she hates Trump; we're definitely getting along just fine. After my parents left, Jazmin and I went to our student accommodation talk, it was pretty standard stuff, but we got a little tour of campus on the way which was very useful.

Leicester's campus isn't that big at all, though I know my opinion is hampered by having come from Keele which is the largest campus in Europe. Like Keele, Leicester is currently redeveloping sections of it's campus, and has a mixture of modern, lovely old, and slightly more age-worn buildings.

I am yet to struggle to find somewhere here, and really appreciate that as it's helped me feel relaxed really quickly. Also, it is only a five/ten minute walk from my accommodation, Opal Court, which is going to make those 9ams that bit easier.

My other flatmates are all 26 and come from China, Taiwan and Mexico - all far more interesting and exotic than me! They all seem to pretty much do their own thing and aren't on courses like Jazmin and mine's, but they're also very lovely and smiley whenever I see them in the corridor or kitchen. I think it's going to be a really chill place to live, which is exactly what I wanted and ideal for a masters year methinks. I'm also really up for learning about other cultures, and can't wait to hear what my accent turns into.

From 9am until 4pm, then 9am until 7pm on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively, we had induction days for our courses. Tuesday delivered us a lot of information so Jazmin, and two other people on our course, Charlie (the only other English friend I have thus far) and Lisa (from the Netherlands), treated ourselves to two lots of free pizza.

It was such a good decision and we thoroughly deserved it. Tuesday night was an early night, because we're old people now, and Charlie and Jazmin and I had a rather elongated pub night on Sunday. It was very fun! But I struggled a bit through my ten hour street team shift on Monday so still needed all of the sleep.

On Wednesday, we made another friend called Bri who is from Washington state. She, like Jazmin, is also really liberal so I have had some hope in America restored, and we've all enjoyed bemoaning Trump's existence. I'm finding it rather odd that all of my friends, bar Charlie, are international. It's really interesting, and means there's always some sort of conversation going which is great, but lots of the welcome events are for freshers or internationals, so sometimes Charlie and I just have to entertain ourselves. That's completely fine, he and I get on really well, and the city centre is about 10 minutes walk away so there's always somewhere to be, but it's very different to how I started Keele. That seems like a really silly and obvious thing to say, because duhhh Keele was a very different place and time in my life, but hey ho, I can't help but make the comparison.

I'm not going to say one experience is better than the other, because that just seems ineffective and unnecessary. They're different experiences so I'm just being patient with myself, noticing what I notice, feeling what I feel, and embracing every opportunity I'm given.

Even though this week has flown by in happiness, 7 days really isn't a long time, it's going to take a couple more weeks to properly settle in. I have my place in Leicester, in this world, I just need to sit back, relax and see where that it. And relaxing begins, with going to see Alex today and staying with him until tomorrow evening! I'm really excited to settle into my 'new normal', with new friends, in a new place, studying a new course, with a new job, but still with time for all those I already know and care for. Onwards and upwards!

Late Night Thinking of Leicester

Tomorrow I travel to Leicester for the day for an interview for a part job at the O2 Academy there, and then on Saturday I will move there to officially begin my masters in Terrorism, Security and Policing. It's all coming around quite quickly now, and I'm still rather chill yet excited about the whole thing.

HOWEVER, (there's always an however isn't there?)

I'm now starting to panic and get all nervous. As I plan packing and organise weekends I'll next be around to see people during, the next stage of reality is beginning to hit, and I'm noticing all of the uncertainty in the things that I had been focusing on to relax me. As I will now explain in the hope that I'm not the only one, and also, as I've said before I find writing like this quite cathartic. I'm fully aware that a lot of what I'm feeling is a bit over dramatic, so I've added in sense to each point despite not feeling very sensible right now.

It's certain that I'm going to be in Leicester for the next year studying a Masters. That's about the only certainty I have, though in this state I'm also starting to think what if it all goes over my head and I fail? And what if I do fail? My dream job doesn't even require an undergraduate degree, never mind a masters. The most important thing is that I try my damn hardest, and I definitely will. Also, considering I have a 2:1 undergrad, it's highly unlikely I'll fail completely. 

It's certain I'll make friends, 'everyone makes friends at uni'. Is it though? I've found two of my four flatmates-to-be and they're both second year boys, so they'll probably have their own friends to go about and do freshers' week with. That means I foresee a very lonely weekend ahead of me. However, I still have two other flatmates to meet, and they could be my age without friends in Leicester so are therefore ready to befriend me. Also, it's unfair to write off the two guys I've come across, they could be really welcoming and up for letting me go on nights out throughout the week with them. Most importantly, I long ago made the informed decision not to buy a freshers events band as I am a bit old for that now so only really fancy a few nights of dancing, and more nights of pubbing and chatting. My coursemates are likely to be on this path too, so I should be able to buddy up with them. 

It's certain I have friends outside of Leicester university that I can keep in touch who will fill any friend void. Do I though?! This gets me the most I think, because how I know how busy I let myself get and how I let weeks just run away with me and BOOM, I haven't spoken to one person or another for a month. What if everyone gets sick of me saying 'sorry it's been a few weeks, how are you?' and ditches me. For whatever reason I can't shake this feeling, but seriously I keep repeatedly getting proven wrong about this. I'm not the only busy person in the world, all of those close to me are off doing amazing things constantly, and we're still close. This bit really will be ok. 

I think the stylising and point of all this is perfectly summed up by this quote I found today, 

Troubles, worries, negative feelings can and should be recognised enough to be written down, but write them down and know that they aren't going to last. To paraphrase wise old Albus Dumbledore, 'It does not do well to dwell on [negativity] and forget to live'. Personally, I'm a fixer so even if the worst happens and I don't get either job I want in Leicester, my course is horrendously difficult, I can't make new friends, and I lose old relationships, I'll make the best of it. Even if the best is that I finally lose those last 10 pounds cos I'm stuck in the gym outside of lectures, and that I save enough money to travel next summer for a bit because I spend so little on going out as I have no friends for a social life then so be it. Ultimately, I'm a young woman who's alive and receiving an education, in terms of the world, I'm one of the very blessed few.

Let's do this!