A Fresher Abroad

 Amalissa is studying at Brookes for three years and lives in Hong Kong whilst Elissa spent four months of her degree in Canada.

Having lived in Hong Kong my whole life, it’s safe to say that coming over to the UK for university was rather daunting. I come from very international surroundings, so I was bracing myself for quite the culture shock. Having been in England for 3 months now, I’ve overcome the ‘whiteness’ of it all and have identified a few differences with living here compared to back home:

1.  Going out: over in Hong Kong we have two main places called LKF and Wan Chai; streets upon streets of clubs and bars all next to each other which you can enter without having to line up or pay an entrance fee. Bouncers there are fairly relaxed about ID and I was able to get into clubs under-age with some 15-year-old brazen confidence and a good push up bra. I still hadn’t turned 18 when I arrived here so was armed with my friend’s sister’s ID and my fingers crossed that I’d get in (Purple Turtle was the only club that straight-up said no).

2. A lack of Asian restaurants. Big no in my book. Wagamamas, Itsu and the authentic Thai place will sustain me for now, but I can’t wait for proper Chinese ‘dai pai dongs’ (food stalls) where you can’t actually read the menu and just guess at what to order.

3. No rice cookers here. What’s the deal with that?

4. Why does it get dark at half 4, that is fucking obscene. It is also cold as shit. I live in a tropical climate so I don’t really ‘do’ cold and dark.

5. Boys, hello. That is all I will say.

Despite all these differences, I’ve really started to warm (excuse the pun) to England, and am quite looking forward to living here for the next few years. I’ll always miss hom, but England isn’t such a bad place to be for now.

I wasn’t technically a fresher when I made the long journey to the Canadian wilderness but it still felt it like once I’d arrived. I knew about three people and was completely lost. Over the space of four months I spent countless hours working out how many layers was too many and lost weight from all the shivering.

1. Canadian’s have a different attitude to partying. While at Brookes you could go out any night of the week but their weekend started Thursday night and ended on Saturday. Anything else was seen as a little odd. No one ever goes out without a coat so the cloakrooms do a roaring trade each night.

2. I got used to the snow that started in early October and left way after I did. The first big snow fall arrived when I had three exams in 6 hours. Instead of them all being cancelled as you would expect in UK, everything carried on as normal and those who were late were given an extra 15 minutes.

3. The University of Calgary was all based on one campus which meant that you could get everything you needed within its grounds. Canadian food is pretty similar to what we were used too. Hershey’s Bars so aren’t worth the hype but Reese’s Pieces are. Food in catered halls was the worst.

4. They really are all friendly. Even if the drunk ones can be slightly too friendly. You can’t walk into a shop without several people asking if you need help.

5. Everyone always wants to where you’re from. They all think you’re from Australia. Sometimes it’s fun to play along.

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