Your Questions..answered. Part I

How did I decide to move to England?

I woke up one day, in my Irvine, California apartment..

my golden retriever puppy was snuggled up next to me..
(he now resides with his his amazing adoptive parents btw)

and i wondered if i would ever live a life without stainless steel appliances and granite countertops..

if my life, somehow, could be without my most prized possessions (ie my williams sonoma food processor)

or if every day, for the rest of my life, i would be trying to keep up with the joneses.

And truth be told, I would have stayed in that place.

Unhappy, but comfortable.

If I am being honest I have my ex to thank for the move to England,

because unlike myself,

he no longer could deal with the mundane.

He said to me one day,

"what about getting our masters in England?"

I laughed.
"ya sure why not?"

Chalked it up to another fanciful idea.

Next thing I knew it was less than a year later and we were booking flights for London.

I think my family didn't believe it would actually happen..

and neither did I.

No one thought I would last.

I was too "LA"

I liked my central air and heat

and had never taken public transport in my life.

But here I am, a year and a half later, graduated, and against all odds

and everyone's expectations,

 STILL in the UK.

What was your living situation like when you moved to England? did you live on or off campus?

The first two days we were in Nottingham we lived in a Bed and Breakfast. no joke.

We came with no prospect of housing.

Because, at this time, I wasn't single, housing was more difficult to come by on campus.

Non existent really.

We took the first 48 hours (with high levels of jet lag) to find a place as quickly as possible.

(you cannot reserve a property from out of the country, you have to view it in person in order to secure it)

We went to a bunch of "letting offices" aka renting offices that work on behalf of the landlord,

to help us find a home.

We ideally wanted a place that was furnished, but because our Visas were late,

and term time had already begun,

this proved really difficult.
Especially because we wanted to be walking distance to the university.

We finally found a three bedroom/one bath house close to the Uni,

slightly over our budget,

and partially furnished (it had beds and some dishware..).

cue salvation army.

When my ex and I separated,

I applied for post grad housing on one of the two campuses.

These were dorms JUST for post graduates and had a shared kitchen and en suite bathrooms

(i refuse to share bathrooms with strangers..it's one of my quirks)

Thankfully, at this time, people were moving out and i managed to snatch up one of the available rooms.

Everything was included in my rent (utilities, internet, etc).

I LOVED this place.

It was a place that was just mine.

And if you are studying abroad alone,

i highly recommend living on campus,

its a great way to meet new people and make friends.

Was it difficult to meet people/make friends?

I was really self conscious about being American..

I mean, lets be honest,

we arnt exactly the most loved population of people in Europe..

we are known for being obnoxious, loud, and arrogant.

I never wanted to come off that way..

which i think made me more quiet then i normally am in social situations.

Stephen still says to this day that my family sounds SO much more american than i do..

and i really think its because i was so conscious of my accent and how i came across to people.

I tried to use the words AWESOME and LIKE sparingly.

All that being said, the people in my program could not have been more welcoming.

Because it was so small (15 of us total) it made it easy to make friends.

There were a few i was closer to then others,

but all together the people i worked with were amazing.

And when you are at one of the larger internationally ranked universities,

you are going to have A LOT more international students, so it's easy to find a place to fit in.

What about you? for those who have studied abroad..what was your experience like? good or bad? I

I have heard very few horror stories..

I know for me..

the decision changed my life..

for the better.