Two years ago by this time most of my Swedish friends were starting to freak out. It was time for them to choose university, college or think about maybe taking a year of and do someone else. For me my plans where already decided. I had a couple of months earlier decided that I was ready to try something new and explorer the world a bit and therefore applied to university in England. Being a Swedish person applying to university in England isn't an easy process even though we are both members of EU. I had to take an English test, go through the UCAS process as everyone else and to make it even more complicated I didn't really have the possibility to have a look at the different univeristies. Going through UCAS might seem easy if you are from England but the truth is that writing a personal statement and getting letters of recommendation is different from the application process we have in Sweden.
My decision to study in England didn't surprise my parents since two of my siblings also made that decision when they chose university. Personally I wanted to get new friends and leave a place where everybody knew me already so I made the decision to go to a different city than my sisters. I later figured out that when being jewish you will always meet someone that you have mutual friends with. I ended up living with people that knew my friends from my gap year, having several dinners at the rabbis with a guy that lived with my sister and meeting my mums childhood friend's daughter many times. This however didn't make me dislike the place, it rather made me feel more at home and that where ever I go I will have things in common with people.
Sometimes I do find it difficult being away from home and not being able to go back during weekends as many of my friends do. When I have a hard time and need to escape I can't really do anything except for fighting it and keep on going with my life. It teaches me to be independent and grown up.
If anyone asked me if I would recommend studying abroad I would say yes without a doubt. By doing something different than all my friends and going through a process of moving somewhere else where I don't have the possibility to go home I dare to do so many other things than I did before. I am not scared to go to a new place or being put with a group of people I don't know. There are times when I get nervous but my nervosity hasn't stopped me from doing it and in the end I realise that I've gained so much from it.
I might be a long way from home but I have learnt that what I used to call home is just a house. My real home is where my friends and family are and by moving to a different place I've now got two homes.
My decision to study in England didn't surprise my parents since two of my siblings also made that decision when they chose university. Personally I wanted to get new friends and leave a place where everybody knew me already so I made the decision to go to a different city than my sisters. I later figured out that when being jewish you will always meet someone that you have mutual friends with. I ended up living with people that knew my friends from my gap year, having several dinners at the rabbis with a guy that lived with my sister and meeting my mums childhood friend's daughter many times. This however didn't make me dislike the place, it rather made me feel more at home and that where ever I go I will have things in common with people.
Sometimes I do find it difficult being away from home and not being able to go back during weekends as many of my friends do. When I have a hard time and need to escape I can't really do anything except for fighting it and keep on going with my life. It teaches me to be independent and grown up.
If anyone asked me if I would recommend studying abroad I would say yes without a doubt. By doing something different than all my friends and going through a process of moving somewhere else where I don't have the possibility to go home I dare to do so many other things than I did before. I am not scared to go to a new place or being put with a group of people I don't know. There are times when I get nervous but my nervosity hasn't stopped me from doing it and in the end I realise that I've gained so much from it.
I might be a long way from home but I have learnt that what I used to call home is just a house. My real home is where my friends and family are and by moving to a different place I've now got two homes.
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