Bridget's Exchange to Aberystwyth University | Wales
Summing
up the best six months of your life is so hard so I’ll try and do my exchange
some justice without missing it too much:
My
whole life I have dreamt of a life in the UK, travelling back to where my
ancestors came from and living like so many BBC dramas that I have grown up
watching. Wales was a country that was never on my radar though; a place where
funny accents, weird place names, lots of sheep and dragons exist. Who knew in
a short space of time I would grow to love it and call it my second home!
My
whole experience can be best described as ‘spontaneous’, starting off with my
plane tickets being bought 5 days before departing Melbourne, and continuing
through the many trips taken on the spur of the moment. Travel to Wales took 23
hours of flying, followed by a 4 hour train trip and then a 10 minute
taxi ride to my new home in the rural seaside town Aberystwyth. I can’t
begin to describe my awe of my house ‘Balmoral’, a very old traditional
seafront home which included a huge bay window in the kitchen overlooking
Cardigan bay and the Irish sea. My British adventure was already everything I
ever wanted.
Joining
the Erasmus and European languages society was the best decision I ever made
and led to the many lifelong friendships I made in Wales. Our first social
event was a pub crawl – being in a University town with a population of 10,000
and having 53 bars and pubs this was sure to be an adventure! Over the course
of the next few weeks I formed a tight friendship group with six others who
originated from Canada, France, Germany and the Netherlands. Across he six
months we learned from each other; mainly that I (and therefore any aussies)
couldn’t pronounce “O” properly and therefore completely mangled some of their
names, that Germans always sound angry, that French girls love to respond in
English when they’re drunk and we ask if they’re okay, that Canadians really
are too polite, and that the Dutch have weird names like ‘Wessel’ which was not
Russel like we called him for a few days.
Together we learnt some words in the hilarious
Welsh language laughing hysterically the first time we heard someone say "diolch yn fawr”
and taught each other phrases from our home countries. We complained about
some of the weird British food combinations; having plain green peas with every
single pub meal, vinegar on chips (where the hell was my chicken salt) and the
bizarre brown sauce. Not going to lie we also fell in love with some of the
food – one pub in Cardiff does possibly the best cheesy garlic bread on
this planet and Haggis isn’t actually that bad!
Our adventures together took us through many a
castle, cathedral and old street, mine and my Canadian mate Rachel’s amazement
grew at every old building – to the horror of the German boy Timo who was
constantly saying “it’s just another church! Not that exciting”. Our travels
took us throughout Great Britain together, whether it be to a tiny Welsh town
with two of us or up to Edinburgh, Liverpool and Manchester in a group of six.
So many memories were made both embarrassing, fun and hilarious and we still
bring them up every day we see a relatable meme on Facebook. Of course I often
went off on solo travels, meeting random people on my way and creating
adventures for myself to Loch Ness, Stone Henge and Harry Potter’s parents’
house to name a few.
Obviously
with a University exchange comes study, I had been warned by British Expats
that studying there was a whole lot harder than Australia’s relaxed way. One
struggle was having to swipe my student card into every lecture and have more
than 60% attendance across the semester, made especially hard when society
nights were on a Tuesday and sports club nights on a Wednesday. Study wasn’t
harder though, if anything it was easier – 40% for a pass and relatively easy
assignments even though I study forensics and was doing history and
agricultural science units! The experience of studying WWI from a perspective
other than Australia and Gallipoli was fascinating and I highly recommend
choosing a unit you have learnt here to gain a new perspective in another country.
If
you ever have the opportunity to undertake a University Exchange jump
on it! I have no regrets except that I didn’t do it sooner and didn’t stay for
longer – if I could still be in Aberystwyth I would be. Take risks, go on that
trip, study that weird subject, learn as much as you can from people from other
countries. I now have lifelong friends who I saw everyday for six
months and still message me at least once a week. We are already planning our
next reunion and all very greatly miss the life we had on exchange!
I
still haven’t been able to sum up entirely what it’s like to be on exchange you
really do need to do it yourself and then you will understand! I have so many
tales to tell now and forever will of the best experience of my life.
- Bridget studied abroad at Aberystwyth University in Wales, United Kingdom
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