Last week in Leicester

I’ve been in the UK for four years now as a student but this is by far the longest I’ve stayed here during summer. Usually I’ll be packing and going straight to the airport after my finals in June, simply because summer is my favorite season and specifically, summer in Cyprus (my home country) is the best. This year I took the brave decision to stay in the UK until the end of July so that I will be going regularly to the library and working on my Master’s dissertation. The problem with having to write a dissertation during summer and going back to Cyprus is that I will definitely not be able to concentrate on anything apart from going to the beach, drinking smoothies and chilling with my friends. So now that I stayed here I had the opportunity to do much more work than I would do back home, of course I’m not done yet but I’m surely doing really well. I’m leaving Leicester in a week and my emotions are mixed. I can’t believe this is an end of an era that begun four years ago when I was only 17 and I had just graduated from high school. I remember arriving at the UK and feeling so confused and lost, it took me up to three months until I finally got used to the way of living here and the change from going to school every day to going to university. Soon, three years passed and I was already an English Language graduate and I was sending applications to different other universities in the UK for my Master’s. As soon as I got the offer from Leicester University I booked my accommodation and moved here in September. It was one of the greatest decisions I’ve ever made, and I somehow regret that I didn’t do my first degree here as well. I met so many people from different countries, I ate soooooo much good food, I visited so many pubs, partied almost every weekend, studied a lot, got great marks at my essays and now I’m ready to begin a new chapter in my life.

Going back in Cyprus now means that I will start looking for a job, and hopefully buy my own car. I will still be living with my parents until I have enough money in my account to rent an apartment cause everything is so expensive there. I talk with my family on the phone regularly and they keep telling me how excited they are to finally have me back home. If there’s one thing I will never regret in my life is the decision I took when I was only 16 to study abroad. I left my home country when I was only 17 and I’m going back now completely changed at the age of 21. Surely, this experience of living and studying abroad makes you miss home and the people that live there, but it also made me independent, I improved my English, I learnt how to adapt in new situations, how to deal with my own problems, how to handle my money, how to work independently, how to be responsible and mature and also gave me some memorable experiences with people I wouldn’t have the opportunity to meet if I stayed in Cyprus for my studies.

Now that I’m familiar with living in the UK, I will keep it in mind and I may return for a better job here after I gain some experience in teaching back in Cyprus. I’m excited to go home and get tanned, go swimming and enjoy the sun but I’m also excited to finally finish my dissertation and submit it so that I will only have my final results to wait for.

I hope everyone’s enjoining their summer and I will catch you again with an update on how I’m doing with my dissertation but from Cyprus this time. See ya! x