By Romina Treviño, Third Year, Liberal Arts
I had never set foot in the UK or lived outside of Mexico before I decided to pack my entire life into two suitcases, say goodbye to my dog, and board the 12 hour flight to a distant island where I didn’t know a single soul.
My first few days in the UK were filled with embarrassing questions (what is Tesco?), embarrassing statements (no, I don’t know who Jason Donervan is), and a whole lot of tears (I miss my bed). When I moved to Bristol in September 2023, it had been a week since they found some weird alien things back home in Mexico. It felt cosmically hilarious to walk into Tesco for the first time and be met with a headline asking, ‘Is that you, ET?’. In all truth, I felt I had more of a connection with my fellow Mexican alien than with anyone else in the entire country.
The first few weeks of university move fast. You’ll be spoiled for choice with Freshers’ Week activities that are sure to keep your thoughts away from home. Arrishta Shernaya, a second year Law student, notes the importance of loitering in your accommodation’s common areas in order to fight these feelings.
‘If I hadn’t met everyone in the kitchen, I wouldn’t have immersed myself completely into doing all the Freshers’ Week activities with everyone and probably would've ended up really homesick.’
When things do start to slow down and you find yourself a stranger in a strange land, it’s very likely you will want to go home. Even the whiff of a familiar scent or the passing memory of a once-loved song is enough to bring on an overwhelming sense of homesickness. I remember feeling silly and childish for missing my bed and wanting to go home. However, once you realise how common these feelings are, they become a lot less terrifying. A manageable symptom rather than a life threatening illness. If you accept that nostalgic tug from home as a part of the experience rather than a sign of weakness, soon it begins to fade into the background.
It’s a logical instinct to want to make the tiny, damp cellar provided to you by the university feel like home. During Freshers’ Week, my mum and I went to IKEA and bought anything and everything. We bought more plates a single person could ever use, a shoe rack, and enough plants to rival the University of Bristol Botanic Garden. By the end of the year all the plates but one had been lost, broken or stolen. All the plants had died. The shoe rack did prove to be quite useful, but I had nowhere to put it over the summer.
It’s important to remember that everything you buy is going to have to go in a box or suitcase during summer, so be picky. You will also acquire an unimaginable amount of trinkets throughout the year, so don’t fret if your room looks a bit bare at first. It will become a home the longer you live there. Oh, and buy some posters! They’re cheap and easy to store over the summer.
Something that quickly became clear to me is that being a complete outsider is actually a really fun way to make friends. People love comparing stories from childhood and hearing about your biggest culture shocks. Instead of being embarrassed about not knowing certain things about British culture, use it as an opportunity to ask. Some of my closest friendships began with a question as simple and stupid as ‘What is Strictly Come Dancing?’. Friendships grow from the gaps of what one person knows and the other doesn't. The shame surrounding not knowing certain things might keep possible friends at an arms length. Curiosity can only open you up to new people.
Often, I found myself too shy or scared to go up to new people or join events where I didn’t know anyone. Malcolm Kazimil, a second year Electrical and Electronic Engineering student, explains the importance of showing up for events, socials and study sessions as well as joining societies that align with your interests in order to find a community at Bristol. Malcolm points out how ‘Bristol has a way of opening doors once you take the first step. Don’t shy away from saying the first hello.’
Jess Cohen
Isabelle McIntyre
My kinship with that alien ended pretty soon. I realised that most people at university are living far away from home for the first time too and struggle with the same homesickness I did as an international student. The friends I have made in the UK might not have grown up speaking the same language or eating the same food as me, but my friendship with them goes much deeper than any of those superficial qualities. People are people everywhere, and you can find your people anywhere. I think I got lucky with the people I found.
I’m still not sure what possessed me to leave behind everything I’d ever known and take a chance on a country I knew almost nothing about, without fully knowing if it would be a good fit. This summer, as I laid on my bed at my mum’s house, the same bed I missed so much, I realised I felt homesick for Bristol. Trying to make a strange, far-away place into home takes time and it doesn’t happen at once. You’ll often feel embarrassed, confused and lonely. But soon, you’ll realise that without even trying, your feet have memorised the steep Bristol streets and all those unknown faces are now plastered onto your walls in the form of pictures and countless memories. You’ll be back for the summer in the place you grew up in and find yourself thinking ‘I can’t wait to go home.’
Featured Image: Epigram / Maya Tailor
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