And so it begins

I’ve been in Hove (a couple of kilometres away from Brighton) for three days now and it’s been quite the journey so far. I’m staying in a wonderful student house with twelve other international students from Italy, Spain, Switzerland and France. I’m still adjusting to the student life as this is the first time I’m living on my own, thankfully it’s nice to be surrounded by people who are in the same boat as I am.

I started school here last Monday, I’m doing a part-time advanced English course from 9:00 – 12:00 from Monday to Friday to keep up my level of English and (hopefully) improve it as well. I was quite nervous to go to school after one and a half days of being in the UK but there was no need to be. When I first arrived at the beautiful Victorian looking building I was welcomed by the staff immediately and I had to take a short speaking and writing level ‘test’ straight away to confirm the level I claimed to have when I was still at home (luckily the school thought my English was fine as they immediately asked me what on earth I was doing there).

I also told the course coordinator of BSC (British Study Centres, the school I’m going to) about the research I’ll be doing during my stay about the differences between British and Dutch cuisine. The coordinator, Linda, was very enthusiastic as she loves cooking and foreign foods as much as I do. She immediately wrote down my research topic and reassured me that whenever I needed some help or advice about British cuisine I could always knock on the door of the teacher’s lounge, which is very lovely of them. I felt very welcome right away.

After the introduction I went to my class ‘AM Advanced’ in Room A13 with Dan Atherton as the teacher. I curiously walked up the 4 flights of stairs to find my classroom at the top floor of the building, the class had already started because the introduction took quite long (nice start of the first day, ahem). However, there was no need to worry. My teacher, Dan, was very welcoming and gave me and the class a moment to get me up to speed.

Being the stereotypical Dutch student I am, I immediately knew that I wasn’t going to walk everywhere and that taking the bus every day would be too expensive. That’s why I started looking for a bike and found one after two days already. And so I cycled from Hove to Brighton today and did some sightseeing, took some pictures and thought about my next blogpost already (stay tuned, it’ll be up very soon!).

I thought it would be nice to give you a little update about what I’ve been up to so far before I start posting all the more serious and educational posts.

Lots of love,

Esmee