The struggles of being Welsh at UEA

Being Welsh at a British uni is hard. It’s time people stopped treating me like an international student who’s moved continents away, rather than halfway across the country.

No, I don’t care about all the people you know that live there

No, really, I don’t. Not the three friends and second cousin of yours who go to Cardiff Uni, or that your Grandma spent her holidays in there – and no, I don’t know your Uncle Dai who lives in Bridgend. I know Wales is small, but it’s not that small.

Sheep shagging jokes are inevitable I know, but can we please spice them up a little?

Asking which one of my parents is a sheep surprisingly doesn’t make you funny. Nor does it encourage me to carry on talking to you.

No sheeps here

You talk about rugby much more than you ever expected to

The England v Wales match never really bothered you before, you just got to read several hundred derogatory Facebook posts about the English rugby team on Facebook a few times a year. At uni however, it’s a whole different story. When you’re suddenly the only Welsh person and everyone’s screaming for an English victory you develop a weird sense of Welsh patriotism that makes you defend every loss and smugly celebrate each win despite not giving two shits about the damn sport at any other time.

Please stop asking me to speak Welsh to you.

It stops being fun after the first few times and even after I move on to insults, you don’t get them anyway – so what’s the point? I’ll end up just listing random words I can pick off the top of my head and that’s just not that fun for either of us.

My face when I call you a haliwr

Having a Welsh name makes introducing yourself to new people a pain in the arse

Imagine repeating yourself a minimum of seven times and finally giving up and calling yourself the most English version of your name you can think of.

Everyone complains about the rain too much

It rains like once a fortnight in Norwich – it’s not that bad. Try spending a month or two in my hometown and you’ll be begging to come back to this wonderfully dry city. People used to wear wellies and waterproofs to school and nobody thought it was weird. Appreciate this weather people.

You don’t have Eisteddfods – which is both a shame, and such a relief

Yes, we did have to wear those ridiculous hats all day

Eisteddfods are essentially a big celebration of Welsh language and culture and pretty much every school holds them – not to mention the national Eisteddfods, which hold as much weight in the lives of the Welsh population as when the Olympics are happenings. Not having to dress like this is kinda nice ngl.

Getting home costs about three hundred pounds and the whole weekend

Your flatmates can pop home for the weekend and be back in time for their Monday lectures without it costing them half of their student loan. Getting home requires three to four trains, a good 8/9 hours of your day and almost £100 (with a rail card).

Yes, I watched Gavin and Stacey. No, I’ve never been to Barry Island.

Anyway, The Valleys is probably a more accurate depiction of South Wales than the serene lives of Gavin and Stacey.

So stop asking me what it’s like to be Welsh at uni because it’s boring explaining my life to you. Any future questions I’ll just redirect here.