May 2, 2014, by International students

What Nottingham taught me about life, love and football

I was taking a long walk around University Park Campus, listening to music in my headphones, when the sun was setting and the darkness was spreading its wings. I saw a bright light over a small distance and the sound of cheering. Out of curiosity, I started to move in the direction of the light. I saw the scenic beauty of the football ground decorated with young athletes in colourful outfits encircled with bright lights.

A football match at University Park Campus

The green touch of the ground, the white light from the top, the happy faces of the footballers in their colourful sportswear along with the hip-hop sounds and most importantly the hero of this blog post, ‘The Football’, caught my attention. I fell in love at first sight with the game just by watching it. Just like something out of a movie scene, the love for football hit me – literally – when the ball hit me hard, so be careful guys when you are going to watch the game! From that moment on, I started getting involved in making myself fit – well, I started to go for a walk everyday just to watch the ground!

Women’s football team training, University Park Campus

I found out that many of the University’s courses don’t have classes on Wednesday afternoons, because the time has been allocated for the sports centre so that students have time to spend on relaxing away from their studies taking part in their favourite sports. Find your game – football is definitely mine!

A student waiting in goal, University Park Campus

Through my love of football, I learned a lot about British people and their outlook on life, which I think is quite beautiful! They love their life for what it is, and moreover they have a passion for finding happiness in what they do rather than simply striving for money or fame. I met a British student who is studying a sports course at the University who is a great example of this. He told me that he would rather become a football coach than a football player. His ambition is to train the most interested and hard-working kids and try and turn them into international-level players, which I think is brilliant.

My favourite thing about football is that it’s a great metaphor for life itself. The ball should be under our control to win the game – likewise we should carefully control the elements in life to win. The earth is like a football – play it!

Kartheka Bojan, MSc Imaging and Sensing student from India.

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