There was a young man who dreamed of flying to the blue horizons of a hundred countries, experiencing amazing things and studying overseas and living in a Saxon architecture building. He studied hard and always nurtured his dream. Everyone around him thought it was a distant dream, until one day his efforts paid off. he got in, much to the amazement of everyone around him, especially the naysayers, the ones who said he daydreamed for too long.
It might seem that getting in is the hardest part, but it is even more difficult for an 18-year-old Vietnamese teenager to integrate into another country. That teen was me. Let me share my story
I thought I was well prepared before the plane took off, but I was overwhelmed with the scenery of this country, it was way better than the pictures, so I thought everything would be easy. And I would soon integrate into the new living environment. But no! That idea was extinguished when I always faced difficulties despite being very well welcomed by everyone, but still I felt lost because everything was so new and weird and many things needed to be learned
The first day when I entered the college's gate, in front of my eyes like a castle in a fairy tale. With top tier quality of education, libraries which showcase large collections of golden covered books and research labs full of state of the art equipment and machinery, it is enough to understand why this is the school that have trained great minds and outstanding researchers for several centuries.
The people around me are very friendly and open, but I can sense they were uncomfortable when talking to me, which is probably due to the language barrier. The first few months here, I couldn't express my full meaning to my friends. I thought I was well prepared by passing the IElTS with a 7.5, but gosh I was damned wrong. I struggled with slangs & idioms which native speakers use often. If I didn't hear clearly, I would ask again and sometimes even ask the other person to speak slowly to make it easier for me to understand. Thinking about it now, how embarrassing and annoying. Therefore, for people who want to study abroad or come to another country, it's important to understand more about their people and culture, and it is even more important to be fluent in the daily life language of native speakers, not used in academic books, not in lecture halls.
The weather in the UK is a bit erratic, combined with the different time zones of Vietnam, so it was difficult at first when I had to adapt to the climate and time changes which we often call "jet lag". Sometimes I caught a cold, at those times I missed my mother's caring hand dearly. I missed my family, even more, when I had to celebrate Tet ( Lunar New Year) away from home, I missed the trays of rice gathered with my family, craving the feeling of being comfortable eating and drinking, using chopsticks, squatting when eating.
Most of Vietnamese high schoolers would not attend any single upper-class ball. And I was one of them. When participating in balls, I can't take my eyes off the glitz and glamour. Everything is spectacular, along with the well-fashioned clothing of my friends. I felt embarrassed when I looked at my clumsy appearance, and since then I learned about how to dress more appropriately for each event and paid more attention to event's dress code.
To most Asians, UK is not known for its cuisines and dishes. To be honest, my most favorite English food is English breakfast.
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That's it. I remembered I lost 3 kg in the first week because the food is a bit strange compared to the taste of Vietnamese people. It took about 3 months for me to get used to the food here. And I started learning to cook for myself. Not as good as mom's food but still good enough to make me happy.
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