Adjusting to Kent life

After a few months of fear, stress, nerve-wracking wait and doubts, here I am, slowly adjusting to my new life in the UK.

When I was studying in France, I always thought that speaking English with native speakers would be extremely embarrassing, and therefore avoided being put in that situation as much as I could. My cousins in Canada tend to be very picky when I try speaking English with them (which always makes me cringe because I never dare making any comment on how they speak French) and I guess it crushed my confidence a little bit.

But as soon as I arrived here, it just came so naturally that now I don’t even notice anymore. Well, I still speak French randomly, and people look at me like “what are you saying, you crazy girl?” (in particular when it’s in the middle of a conversation, I just switch language without reason, very weird!), but overall I don’t have much trouble with English. Which is nice.

The Campus is SO beautiful and the scenery is so lovely, I really feel lucky to be here! Honestly, everything is so nice, and green, and… well, charming. It’s only my third week here, so I suppose I’m still amazed by how beautiful it is. In a few weeks from now, when it will start raining and all, I probably won’t like it as much.

The University is really nice as well. Very, very, VERY different from France. Everything is like the COMPLETE opposite of what I knew. There are plenty of events for international students, the teachers and the staff are really nice and helpful, if I ask a question people are more than happy to answer… Honestly, the change is quite radical, so much that it still feels strange.

As for classes, well, it is very different as well. I mean, back in France I had 20 (or more) hours of classes per week, here I only have SIX. And a loooooot of reading to do. I am a last-minute student. I delay things as much as I can, but here, it probably won’t work that way. I have to be more independent in my studies, which is something I was definitely not prepared for. It’s probably going to be interesting (and very challenging)!

So far I am really glad to be there and intend to make the most out of this year!

Which means that, if you are from the UK and have good ideas of things to visit in Kent, please share! I will be more than happy to discover various places and all!

SPink

Ending uni.

Little Miss Fran taking over the blog again, I did not write often because I did not find inspiration or did not have enough time… I have now since I’m officially on summer holidays! I should be happy, I am but it also means the end of three incredible years at university.

At first I really didn’t know what to expect from it, I loved high school so much I was really scared to enter the student world. I also had a lot of stereotypes about college from what I watched on American TV series… What a disappointment to find out it looks anything like it!

These three years were tough, physically and emotionally. I tried as much as I could to keep my grades up cause that’s just who I am, too nervous about everything… Study hard to suceed became more than a simple motto. Anyway as long as the years went by, university went from ‘it sucks’ to ‘it’s ok’ and there was nothing I could do about it.

I am 20 years old and I still don’t know what I want to do with my life, scary, isn’t it? But I like to think that what’s supposed to happen must happen. It was God’s will to put me through these three years of university and to learn beause I learnt soooo much from it. More important is I made amazing friends over the years and just for that I’m thankful for these years. I know that even if we’re going apart we will always stay in touch.

I’m just going to end this post by quoting my favorite show One Tree Hill “Now is the time for us to shine, the time when our dreams are in reach and possibilities, vast. Now is the time for all of us to become the people we always dreamed of being. This is your world. You’re here. You matter. The world is waiting.” This sums it all.

A new chapter is closing…

After three years, it eventually came to an end. Yesterday at noon, I finished the last exam of my bachelor degree.  The last in three years. Three years of hard work, of tears, of joy, of sadness and of laughs. I cannot believe it is over. I don’t realize it yet.

I still remember the day I discovered I had made it. I freaked out. Like, completely. I kept saying things like “this is a mistake!” or “I don’t want to go there anymore!”. My parents were worried at the time, and I think I must have been a lot of trouble. I have always been that indecisive girl who doesn’t know what to do with her life. It isn’t easy to find enough motivation to study when there is no goal to be reached. I struggled a lot. From the first day, I thought “this is a nightmare!” and “I want to quit!”. I was saying those things without thinking much ahead.

I have never been the hard-working girl people think I am. In fact, I just hate revising, and I always knew it would be a problem at some point. Struggling so much to keep my grades at normal level was probably part of the reason why I considered giving up so many times.

But I did not. And now, looking back, it was the right choice. It took me a lot of time to adjust to that new life. Being an high school student was rather relaxing in comparison. But I learnt many, many things. After three years, I finally got used to this. I now fully understand the importance of studying and how much I benefitted from my classes. I will try to remember all the precious advices my teachers gave me, but to be honest, I will probably forget most of them.

Another great, great thing I owe to my degree is that I met a lot of wonderful people. You know, I have never been the kind of girl who has many friends. But quality is better than quantity, right? And the few friends I made during those three years are the best in the world. I feel so grateful to have them… they are always there for me whenever I need… I never said them that, though. I am not really the expansive type, but I should probably have thanked them properly, right?

From now on, even if our lives are taking different paths, I don’t want separation and distance to hurt our friendship, so let’s work hard to stay in touch, okay?

That’s it. This is over. From now on, I’ll continue to do my best!  But before… I think I’ll just enjoy my holidays as much as I can.

Pink.