Tania Suarez Mendoza: Home Sweet Hertfordshire

Trying to put into words what I’ve experience in the past month since arriving to the UK is much harder than I thought. For starters, it seems like forever ago I was at YVR waiting nervously to board the plane. My bed that felt so unfamiliar now feels like heaven after a long day. People that I referred to as “that girl from…” or “that guy I met at…” are now people I refer to as “my friends”.

I am not going to lie; the first days were hard. The water tasted funny, people’s accents were a lot harder to understand than I thought, and it was colder than people said. At what point exactly, I don’t know, but suddenly, everything was better.  



Abby Road

My advice would be as simple as to take a deep breath. There were so many times that I felt overwhelmed, homesick, and exhausted. It didn’t feel like the experience everyone kept talking about. They said, “it’ll be the time of your life”. At times, it didn’t feel like it. Then, I realized that I don’t have to be doing something every hour of every day of every week to be having “the time of life”. Sometimes, you need to take a moment to step back and look where you are, what you are doing, and what it means to you. Things will happen so unexpectedly. Take those opportunities that you can and those that you feel comfortable taking; the rest will come by again, or better ones will open up. 




Tower of London

My advice on travelling would be to be patient. There are plenty of opportunities to travel, so be organized and try to plan them in advance (in the end, not only will be easier but it’ll be cheaper to plan ahead!). I recently went to Brussels for the weekend with a few friends, and it was breathtaking! I can’t wait to explore other countries. The exciting part was that this was a last-minute trip planned. While it was fun, we definitely learned a few things for our next trips! It won’t always be as perfect as you planned, but it in the end it will be worth it, so be patient!
 

Grand-Place (Brussels)

I would have never picture myself studying abroad and travelling. The thought of it was terrifying, but it is worth it. So take that step, and go out and view the world. 

 

Arc du Cinquantenaire (Brussels)

Tania Suarez Mendoza is a Bachelor of Communications Studies student at Capilano University. Tania studied abroad at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield, England.