8 - Leaving

“I like knowing that I could figure out a way to live anywhere.“ — Madonna

Since I (reluctantly) left Leeds, I had some time to reflect on the wonderful year I spent here.

I knew from the start I wanted to study in the UK, because I was so in love with its culture and was able to speak English. But I really underestimated Leeds until I arrived here.

The docks in the south of Leeds during one of my first days in Leeds.

I wasn’t used to having a campus at all in Paris, so you can imagine my shock when discovering Leeds Uni!
A maze of brand new buildings coexisting with historic ones, plenty of activities and societies to choose from, the possibility of going a daytrip every weekend, professors and personnel always present to answer your queries and make you progress, and the Brotherton library which contained almost all the books I will ever need in my academic studies as an historian.

It was really interesting to compare the difference of teaching between my home country (France) and England. Here it is much more about your personal comprehension and readings, which I love. You don’t have to learn by heart a pile of pages. The courses are limited and really specific, which for a third-year student like me is really interesting. For example, I was able to study the ‘Arab-Israeli conflict’, ‘Men and Masculinities in Britain’, or ‘Introduction to Race and Ethnicity’, and other fascinating subjects.

And talk about the city! Being a student city, Leeds is one of the liveliest cities of the UK: bars, shops, museums, concerts, festivals, sports, a wild nightlife — you will discover that the English sometimes have a tendency to party…too hard. In short, there is always something to do here.

I personally chose to travel. I went to Jerusalem and Israel/Palestine for an academic trip about the Arab-Israeli Conflict in February: I learned so much while meeting such brilliant people, and engraved in my mind visions of the sunset on the Old City and the Haram al-Sharif, the hotness of the hike to the fortress of the Masada Desert, and the strange feeling of swimming in the slimy and salty Dead Sea. I did a magical roadtrip across Scotland with my boyfriend. I stayed in Edinburgh with a French friend doing her Erasmus there (hi Bettina), and in London with another (hi Zaïnabe). I visited Stonehenge, Bath, Conwy and Snowdonia in Wales, Keswick and the Lake District with CityLife and met some wonderful people thanks to these excursions. I went to York, Kirkstall, Manchester, Liverpool and Whitby with friends, family, and boyfriend. Finally, I organised a last-minute trip to Dublin and the Irish countryside with some friends, literally buying the (very cheap) plane tickets and youth hostel beds less than a day before leaving.

Generally speaking, I did not wait for anybody to come with me when I wanted to traveI; but still always met someone on the way. That is one thing I would definitely recommend: do your own things, and never wait for people. Stop worrying, and let yourself go. You are going to run into some incredible human beings by doing so. For example, it was because I did not have any friends ready to do an ‘escape room’ with me that joined a Facebook group seeking to form teams to play. I met such great people there, less than four months before leaving.

At the same time, I realised that what you get out from your experiences in life in general is all (or at 99%) about the people your surround yourself with.

I wished I had talked more to people during the first few months, even though I tried. I should have forced myself more maybe, and joined the right societies — some of them are more inclusive than others.

Every experience abroad is going to be different. But my advices in order to enjoy yourself as much as you can would be to:

1. Make the most of your learning availabilities: read, listen, discuss, go to conferences and academic trips if you can;
2. Stay focus on your scholarly or work-related goals so not to feel disappointed or overwhelmed by responsibilities at the last minute;
3. Try new activities and go on trips — by yourself if you have to: it’s also a way to socialise in any case;
4. Meet as many people as you can: talk to them even if your accent isn’t perfect (international people can be more forgiving, I noticed), join some societies, accept that invitation to this party even if you feel like staying at home tonight;
5. And know how to say goodbye to those people you encountered: enjoy your remaining time together by doing everything you wished you had done earlier in the year; and try to stay in touch and plan to visit one another. Imagine how cool it would be to go visit your international friends or to welcome them in your country later on!

Apart from these insights, what I gained from this year is evidently that my English, both written and spoken, improved dramatically.

But more importantly, I learned that you only need yourself to start a new life somewhere else. It’s not that hard, especially as a student. This is a strange but profound realisation to think that I could pretty much live anywhere in the world.

One of my last trips, to the Lake District last April.

© This article was originally published on the UniBound blog of the University of Leeds, June 2018; by Lucie Léquier.

FR version (Medium): https://medium.com/@lucielquier/8-partir-c7129365b02f

The article on the UniBound blog (with a few mistakes): https://leedsunibound.wordpress.com/2018/06/20/lucies-study-abroad-experience-top-tips-for-studying-in-leeds/