Courtenay Campbell-Nixo: New Beginnings


Wow, time flies! It’s hard to believe it has been just over a month since I flew across the pond and settled down in Hatfield. I’m not going to lie; Hatfield lacks the typical charm of a small English town, but everyone here seems to know that, so I’m not the only one complaining. However, being just 25 minutes from London is a fair trade!

 

Settling in here has been weird. Half the time I forget I am actually in England. I wake up in the morning and it doesn’t look like my bedroom from home, and then I remember of yeah I’m halfway across the world and everyone outside my door has a funny accent.

 

I do have it pretty easy being in England since there is no technical language barrier, although most of the time I find my self smiling and nodding because I can’t understand half the things they say and I should because we all speak English! It is quite amusing being imitated by the British; at home its fun to put on a British accent, we sound so regal. Here, when the British attempt a Canadian/North American accent you want to cover your ears and pray that’s not what you sound like!

 

I can’t say I have really gotten homesick; the majority of this first month has felt a little bit like a dream. I didn’t truly feel like I was in England until I went into London the first time and walked past Westminster Abbey and saw Parliament and Big Ben. It was so beautiful, and overwhelming and exciting all at the same time, and I wish I could spend all my time in London, there is something new to see every time I venture into the city.

 

In the next month I am taking a weekend trip to Amsterdam with a large group of international students from UH and shortly after I will be going to Dublin with a few friends, and hopefully somewhere equally fantastic for spring break. I can’t wait for what the rest of this journey teaches me and what new things I get to experience. At times I start to miss home and its familiarity but like ‘they’ always say the good stuff happens outside your comfort zone, and I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for the rest of my journey.
 
 


Courtenay is third year Bachelor of Business Administration student studying abroad at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield, UK.


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