August 8, 2014, by International students

Coming to Nottingham? Excited or nervous? Apprehensive or overwhelmed?

I know these words aren’t able to fully describe how you are really feeling. How do I know this? Because exactly a year ago, I had been there and had done it all! I know how these next 40 or so days might seem for all the prospective students waiting to board their planes and to come to an entirely different world where you’ll be as independent as you want and you have to act as responsible as you should! But I know if we all are strong enough to come abroad and study, we are patient enough to wait for the right time for the things to unfold! So do not worry if your visa application is getting late, it will all get done!

Leaving your home country and coming here is not easy especially when some of you might be stepping out of your homes for the first time like me. For me, Nottingham was what I had seen on the internet. I had no idea how this place would look and feel like but now I can say it feels like home as well! How this year passed by with fond memories, examinations, coursework does make all the effort to come here worth it.

If you are worried, it’s fine, it’s how you’re supposed to feel. I won’t say that you will not wish your family was there (so be prepared to miss your family more at the airport, I wasn’t prepared because I was too excited to come to Nottingham!) but you will make so many friends, and not to mention they’re also away from home so you will end up being there for each other from the very first day! From strangers to friends in seconds! So, don’t worry about meeting and making new friends, you’ll meet lots of people and you will make lots of good friends!

The tiredness from the flight will make you fall asleep and if not so you will get the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful motorway view in the bus ride back from London to Nottingham but once you enter Nottingham, the fun starts! For a week, you’ll be taken care of like you are back in kindergarten. You will not even realise how many friends you will make at the dinner table itself when all the international students sit to eat together at the catered halls. I assure you, you will all look forward for the next day because it will all look so new and refreshed to you!

If you see the sunshine outside your window the next morning, embrace it because in the afternoon, it might end up raining and leaving you all drenched, saying “Welcome to the English weather!” Be prepared! 😀

Then moving ahead, you’ll have lecture sessions telling you about the University, the academics and all the things that will help you through the year round!

And then, for the whole week there will be something special to look forward to during the evenings. What will that be I leave that for you to discover it because something’s are best left unsaid! I had no clue and I was happy to get surprises offered by the University in the evenings to us! The pictures exactly show how my Welcome Programme was and so you need not worry.

Nottingham is a student-friendly city and everything is available here and eventually you will learn all the bus routes and the buses to take so just don’t worry. There will be someone to help you or get lost with you but you will find your way! Because it’s not going to be hard, staying here is going to be worth it and you will enjoy your student life in the amazing campus and amazing environment!

But it all just gets better, I still don’t remember complaining about anything during the first week and whenever my friends sit together, we always say, the Welcome Programme was the best! It indeed was!

All I want to say in the end is, you will find a way out and there’s always a way so be hopeful and I wish you lots of good luck for this wonderful journey you all are set to take!

Nanki Sahota, international student from India studying a masters degree in Electrical Engineering at The University of Nottingham.

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