Well I didnít like how it changed my life like itís a bit like different, but I think
if we compare to like the first day when we got here, and we
were completely lost, I donít know if like youíve
changed my life but at least itís changed my way of like looking at things. And Iím
absolutely like definitely more open to people and you
know ok I was social at the beginning, but now
weíre like over social because you start yeah exactly like all of us weíre talking
to anyone like just see like friend, thatís how we started it.
Well yeah and before I had studied abroad I had never left the United States, so coming
here, besides Canada but I hadnít ever really been
international. So it was like an entirely new
experience and I think itís really cool that when youíre an international student, you
have the opportunity to meet native people that are
British here, and then you know people who are like
from Hong Kong like New Zealand, like from all over. And youíre worlds apart but youíre
in your going through the same experiences, and
you know you make a connection thatíll you can
you know talk over Facebook.
Itís fascinating and I have a similar experience you do, as I have never leave home over the
past 20 years. This is the very first time I step
outside Hong Kong and arrive in a foreign countries.
And you are everyone was trying to be nice, and now we are over social.
Exactly, I think one thing that we definitely have learned as well is like how to meet other
cultures, and because like all of us come from different backgrounds, and like Scandinavians
that I know that weíre quite cold people. We donít
really say thank you or just a thing that people
holds up the door for you when you walk in through the canteen or whatever. Itís like
oh my god that is so nice. Coz home theyíd probably
slam it in your face. And itís like I just those
things little things.
I think um when you get to respect other peoples. So that thatís another comrade spin to me.
Like it changed my life, you have to respect from someone who believes yeah so you get
to talk to people you bond with and all that so. That
was like I mean before you just use words anyhow,
but when I go here there are some certain kind of words you donít use, yeah cross words
and all.
Against other peopleís ideas and cultures as far as their behaviour goes against humanity.
Well thatís the thing I guess like all of us at home have read about like human rights
and ok like the expression the freedom of expression and
freedom of religion and all of that. And when you
come here that all comes so clear for you, because you meet it every day. Coz at home
you wouldnít have your own like social comfort.
But when youíre here you have to think about that
every day. It just comes clear, at least for me it does.
I think for me it does of opportunities that people are more willing to take than they
are back home. Like yeah I mean here for example its
like we have 3 weeks off Uni to travel and instead
of maybe staying in a comfort group of friends, you might want to travel with other people
or go places or like even just take every day opportunities
in your classrooms and doing outside opportunities. Whereas back home you might
have been like I have homework. You want the full experience and so by maybe doing something
you hadnít planned on, it ends up being a really good memory and you end up making friends
and you know itís like you want to take the best out of things, your trip, and in doing
so your creating like you know friendships and
memories youíll have for a while.
Yeah for all first itís like an adventure here and we should make the most of it out
of this stay. So Iím going to a lot of countries.
I think Kingston University when you get here you get your travel, so you donít have to
actually go to this particular country. I mean I can
see Iím going to India because I ate Indian food, the
first time I go to London, Chinese food. I mean America yeah yeah I mean when I talk
to like one of my best friends whilst I was in America.
So he tells me a lot about New Jersey and all
that so, I donít really have to be there. Yeah you know so.
If you have a friend there and you know you have connections all over the world.
Weíre talking to different countries. You know this thing by itself is fascinating enough.
Itís like youíd impress me because I study in
creative rewriting. And your aspersion is to write
something that can influence the people in your country to find something besides money
seeking perspective. So I think this is really impressive
to me.
Iím trying my best you know. When I wake up in the morning, go to, I take my walk round
the river Thames, from Surbiton to go out, have
a little thinking about how I could go, or take my
laptop to do it outside. I just wanted to goÖ
Thatís the thing about Kingston because itís got everything in a small area, you can walk
everywhere and like you can take a bus everywhere, and then like London just 20 minutes away
with a train, and that is just amazing. And doing like we did, going to museums and like
you know restaurants, cafes.
It I so convenient, if there is no delay on the train and bus, we can go to.
And definitely no snow.
Itís definitely like um coz I live with a lodger so I didnít take a room with a family.
And my location is actually only 15 or 20 minutes
from here. So for me itís nice because I can walk to
Uni and then like maybe go out with friends at night or something at a pub and just hang
out and not have to worry like about not knowing how
to get home or something. Itís so close you know.
You can almost get home you know never have to worry about that.
Exactly so these busses and trains and everythingís very close so itís not like if you want to
go out with friends you wouldnít have to call
it like an early night because you have a long walk,
like its reasonable.
Like one thing all of us international students, I feel like weíve become like a big happy
family. And everyone like really takes care of each
other because like going home from pub sand clubs
like late night is like text me when you get home, or you have like someone living in the
neighbourhood that you can like take a bus with. That is I think that is one thing that
I really like about this city because you you feel safe.
One time I was really , how would you say, I was down missing home. Yeah so. It was crazy.
This guy I was I was I was I donít know I had this couple of friends some friends who
always check me check on me like every day. That
really made me feel welcome.
Yeah coz I mean everyoneís going to go through their stages of missing home and the mentality
Iíve tried to keep while being here is homesickness is inevitable. Is that you wonít be here
for that long like youíre going to go home eventually
even if youíre here for a year semester. And
time will go really fast, we got here in January, it and its already you know weíve only got
less than 2 months left here. And so. So itís
like like while I miss home you youíre going to be going
home soon, and so try and enjoy the time that you have here. And just remember that like.
When your home you might miss out you know you might say I wish I had gone out that night
instead of staying at home and being upset, because if your homesick itís usually because
youíre not keeping busy and meeting friends and going
out. So like yeah I had a friend that was kind
of homesick and I was like you know letís go out letís have a good time and you know
and then itís gone its passed and just enjoy the time
that youíre here coz you wonít be here that long.
Well I think that most people Iíve spoken with they like to isolate themselves also
within their own particular group, so that was when the
problem comes in.
Them both, their concerns especially when theyíre friends from the same country.
I was talking to this friend from Jordan and he was like he doesnít like talking to other
people coz he doesnít feel confident enough, coz
they wonít understand his English so he feels shy or
something.
We do have that the language barrier, and at the same time we are all foreigners in
the same country so an we all will stumble on our words
and have like bad English or donít know what word to use, use the wrong word it means a
completely different thing. And it just messes up
the situation.
Iíd rather ask someone what it means and maybe look silly, but know actually what it
means coz like I am a drama student and so weíre all
very close knit, and sometimes theyíll talk so fast, or
theyíll use a word that I donít understand. And Iíll just say like what is what exactly
does that mean. And if they laugh Iím like ok, but
at least now I know what it means and I donít have to
be like a ha every, because.
Itís like in my English as foreigners I am.
Yeah your English has become so much better since we came here.
Oh thank goodness for that.
Itís like the first day when I talked to you I was like, and now exactly itís like
we all learn and like even though like some of us, you have
English like from the beginning. But at the same time
you have different words.
Itís different variations because English the dialect is different. Like one of my best
friends that Iíve met here is British, and sometimes heíll
be talking and Iím like slow down what are you
saying and yeah the accent but then its almost funny coz you have that moment when you kind
of like laugh together then theyíre like this is what it means here, what does it mean
there, and then you like kind of laugh at how its funny
that you both speak the same language but itís so
different. But.
And thatís the thing we can all laugh about it. We we thatís weíre all safe in that
weíre all in the same environment, and it doesnít like mean
anything if we say something wrong. We can just
laugh about it and learn from it and thatís why weíre here thatís why weíre here isnít
it.
Thereís no point being embarrassed, improve and learn something as well and you know.
Why did you choose to come all the way from America to study here?
In London? Um in Kingston well the well because Iím drama, and the one place to go is London,
the acting and.
The culture.
Yeah the culture but um at the university I go to, Grand Valley, the Kingston is one
of the like very talked about programs in the theatre
department, because its London and thereís only really
2 options, Kingston is kind of the better of the two because itís for a semester and
you can really get in depth with like the drama courses and
things like that. Like when Iím over here Iíve got 3
drama modules and then 1 international course and so itís very like hands on. Youíre working
with the students and.
Intensively.
And the thing about Drama is itís very interactive so but itís only as interactive as you make
it. Like I read off the back, started talking
to people, and itís you canít be shy when you study
abroad, you just have to like grasp the situation and really take advantage of it and so I did
that because I knew if I didnít Iíd regret it.
And so like now some of my very best friends are British
and they live here. And you know Iím trying to spend as much time with them because Iím
going to be going home soon, so itís you know Iím studying drama but Iím also making
great friends and having a good time. And.
To me itís like in general theyíre friendly, and theyíre helpful, theyíre cheerful, they
show you how you go at a particular pace if you get
lost.
Theyíre very good at directing people. Go there.
And the thing I really like noticed is just like people holding the door up or saying
thank you and like greeting each other and like just those
smaller things that like people are well mannered. And thatís the thing um and like I Iíve
been offered on the contrary side quite a lot um working
with the horses and riding and that sort of environment, everyone out there is so well
mannered.
What do you guys feel about the food?
I like it.
Itís just like chips. They have chips with everything and itís like why, come on eat
a salad.
And I found Iíll go like to because in America like ketchup is a really big deal. Like every
meal you have ketchup with it. And so like I come
here and you know I get a burger, a burger like a
burger and like chips and Iím like whereís the ketchup and theyíre like oh they give
me 2 packets and Iíll be like, I need about you know 9
more. Thatís not even enough. So then theyíll give me
you know a bunch of packets or whatever and Iím like Iím American. But like you know
for the most part I donít see like a huge difference
in the food you know.
My home sickness purely originally from the food here. Because after Iím living here,
for the first 2 weeks I have frozen pizza for breakfast
lunch and dinner because I was running out of
money.
Sometimes it just comes down to money Iíll go to like Tesco or Sainsburyís and Iíll
get like 3 coz you get 3 pizzaís for £5. Itís a good deal.
Itís like when Iím broke and the cheapest one I can get here is French fries and fried
chicken which is very unhealthy, you know itís bad
for an Asian guy. Coz we have rich.
Iím not like I mean I enjoy going out to eat with friends, but I would rather spend
my money on going out and sightseeing in London, you know
doing things like the London eye or doing you
know museums or travelling. But.
The transportation here, one thing I really donít like about Britain is the transportation
system is terribly expensive.
I object to that itís not, like from where Iím coming from we have like no community
service like you know be able to to travel by bus, train,
anything that is like for almost free that I think it is
over here. Coz at home if you wanted to do it itís bloody expensive, sorry for my expression.
And you donít get where you want to go anyway, so you still have to take a cab like for the
last 2 miles.
Itís so different because um everything works perfectly well, you want to go central London,
I mean for someone who like comes from my background,
if you donít have your own private means, then youíre stuck. Yeah so.
Itís the same at home, if you donít have a car you canít go anywhere. But here you
will survive on on public service.
And thatís especially Kingston because I know like one of my friends is like from Essex,
and you know yeah you can catch a bus but itís going
to cost you a lot of money. Right so it like depends
on where you are, which is like another reason why I really like Kingston because itís you
can get around easily. Like if youíre going to get
a flight from Gatwick or Heathrow, you can get there
by bus or train. Or if youíre going to London, you just take a train. And so like you know
everythingís very easy to get around in this area, and back home I drive a car and you
know youíre constantly buying gas and thatís
very expensive. So itís kind of nice that you can pick
and choose when you want to travel and how much money.
Like if I would drive as much as I take the bus or train it would be at least 3 times
the cost. And that is just gas.
I think thatís the difference between your country and mine, because in Hong Kong people
seldom have a car, especially for teenagers. Teenagers in the state or in Felan they usually
have a car.
Right coz thatís the only way to get around.
In Hong Kong we use a lot of public transport. In Japan in Trainve, itís much more reliable
than the kind of bus here. Coz what I found out
here, this train the underground system, they have a
lot of delays and they have suspensions and itís like I donít find the transportation
here quite reliable.
I guess thatís the difference because Iím Iím from Michigan and we donít have like
if youíre from New York then youíre used to public
transportation but Iím not. So to me this is great
because itís you know ok thereís a delay, its exactly like itís a delay but itís what
half hour, so I I can wait because I donít need to get somewhere.
If it was like a job then that might be a problem, but because Iím just a tourist and
Iím kind of going with the flow, itís really not a big
deal.
You have plenty of time.
Right and so like even if itís a delay your kind of like ok well you know weíll sit here
and talk, whatever, maybe we can go somewhere else.
If there was a delay you will still be able to find something else that you can do. I
mean that might just be the one memory youíll remember
in most.