Hello from home!
After five months overseas, I flew home to little old Aotearoa. I thought leaving home to move to the UK was going to be hard, but leaving Leeds was even harder đ In my last month, I explored more of my beloved Leeds, travelled solo around Europe and said goodbye to all the friends I made along the way. I have learnt a lot and want to give you a final review of the University of Leeds and tips for planning your own exchange!
I have nothing but good things to say about studying at the University of Leeds (UoL) and Leeds. Iâve said it before, and Iâll repeat it: UoL cares for its exchange students. From the get-go, they kept us involved and offered multiple social events to keep us all together. Offering guaranteed accommodation for all exchange students relieved so much pressure, and being placed in Central village, with other exchange students, was a dream. Making the most of UoLâs studying spaces, student association, and social scene through their pub and club was a great way to meet, exchange, and socialise with local students. For the Uni itself, certain things did take getting used to, like scanning QR codes for attendance and understanding their essay criteria, but it didnât take away from my experience. The Law School was engaging, and the courses on offer focused on important social and international issues. I enjoyed my papers and felt that while the content was engaging, I wasnât overwhelmed with assignments, so I could enjoy learning about Gender, Evidence and Disability Law.
I also really fell in love with Leeds city! The social life, food, shopping, parks, Tesco and all. The most important thing to me was that it wasnât a touristy city. I felt like I could make the city my own, being bombarded with crowds or feeling like a tourist. It felt like I could fit right into the life around me, which made my experience so special. It wasnât so big that I stressed myself out figuring out the area, but it also wasnât small; it was the perfect city that isnât my home, but I know my way around it now. I could find my favourite spots in the city, socialise with locals, travel within England by train, and fly out from Leeds to many places around Europe. Sitting at home and reflecting on my time there has made me realise how happy I am with my choice of university and city.
I pushed aside my sadness of ending my exchange by ticking off an oversized item on my bucket list: solo travelling! I was lucky to have visited Croatia, Greece, Amsterdam, and Portugal over 18 days. Going in spring was the best choice, and although I was battling 30-degree heat, I could see some fantastic sights: from the Acropolis in Athens, Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, to the beautiful seas in Portugal and Croatia. I am so grateful I spent my last few weeks seeing such beautiful countries and cities. It was a great way to take my mind off of leaving my UK life, and it helped prepare me to get ready to come home. Even though saying goodbye to my exchange friends was difficult, itâs so lovely to have friends from all around the world who shared the same experience as me.
The decision you make when you apply for/ in the lead up to the exchange makes such a difference. Here are My Final Exchange Tips to hopefully help with your experience:
#1 Making the final decision
- Going into it, everyone has an idea of the country/ region they want to go to, but researching the Universities and specific cities can be overwhelming. Will I like it there? Is this university good? What if there’s a better option?Â
- The best advice I can give when researching is to provide the University and the City equal weight of importance. I was initially stuck between three Universities, Nottingham, Glasgow and Leeds. I spent hours researching all three and could not make a decision.
- I finally put UoL as my top choice; it checked my criteria of being a safe city, not too touristy, having good law electives, being student-focused, and having a diverse campus. It just clicked and felt like all those hours I spent researching were worth it.Â
#2 No One Has a Perfect Experience
- Nothing is perfect, and no exchange experience will be perfect either. I faced it all, whether it was some hiccups with Uni, your accommodation, or travels. From having my accommodations elevator broken for 6 weeks or having an Airbnb cancel on me the night before my five friends and I travelled to Edinburgh, I faced a few hiccups. But none of it tainted my exchange experience!Â
- It’s important to acknowledge that nothing will go perfectly, no matter how much planning you put into it!!
#4 No Regrets
- A couple of months into the exchange, every exchange student questions whether they made the right decision in their city of choice. Especially after travelling to different cities and seeing other universities. Should I have gone to a bigger city? What if I were thereâŠI couldâve done that.â I felt it a little bit, despite how much I loved Leeds. But I quickly realised, this experience was made for ME. If I hadnât chosen Leeds, I would not have met the most amazing people, travelled to the places I went to, studied the papers I did. It wouldnât have been this experience, and I wouldnât have wanted that.Â
And just like that, five months of my life are over and Iâm left with friends from around the world, a love for all things British and a fridge full of magnets.
Bye Leeds <3