How Time Flies

This week it’s been 2 years since I started at the University of Leicester, so I took this as an opportunity to look back and reflect on how much my life has changed over this time. Throughout my time at university so far I’ve had so many fantastic opportunities to learn new things, visit new places and meet new people. It’s crazy how fast the last 2 years have gone and how much my life has changed over this time.

The biggest change is definitely that I’m now living over 11000 miles away from home, not something I thought I’d be doing when I was packing all my belongings into my parents’ car for the 3 hour drive to Leicester. It seemed like a very long journey at the time, but it was nothing compared to the 30 hour flight across the world to get to New Zealand at the start of this year.

I’d always had the idea of studying abroad in the back of my mind from when I was visiting universities before applying, but at the time it seemed like such a long way off in the future and I never thought I would actually do it. Before I knew it first year was over and second year came around. I started thinking more about studying abroad for my third year and I was tempted by the opportunity to go to New Zealand, a country which I’d always wanted to visit. In November an email was send to second years advertising study abroad opportunities and I decided to go along to the information meeting about it. The meeting helped me to make up my mind that I wanted to study in New Zealand but at this time third year still seemed far off in the future. Even in February when I found out that I’d been accepted July still felt like a long way away, but the next few months seemed to rush by. In April when I got my visa and booked my flights I still hadn’t quite come to terms with the fact that in less than 3 months I’d be going to New Zealand, but the whole thing definitely felt a lot more real when the money for the flights left my bank account! The next few weeks and months were gone in a flash and before I knew it the day I’d been excitedly and nervously waiting for came round. Suddenly the whole experience felt a lot more real to me than it had over the last few months which had gone so quickly. As I was on the plane I started to come to terms with the fact that I was actually going to the other side of the world.

I’m so glad that I decided to study abroad, it’s definitely been a good decision! I’ve really enjoyed my time in New Zealand so far and I’m looking forward to the rest of my year here. I’ve seen a few of my fellow bloggers posting tips for new students who are just starting their first year. I have one main tip for them and anyone else who’s at university or will be in the future, make the most of every opportunity you get whilst you’re a student because you never know where you might end up!

Sunset over Christchurch, the city that is my home for the year