Family Matters

Studying abroad means that you don't get to see your family very much. But it really depends on you. If you want to, you don't have to see them at all.

The Jesus College accommodation is either long or short tenancy. Short tenancy means that it is covers the 8 weeks of each term plus 1 week either side - that leaves you with about 3 weeks without accommodation between the terms. Long tenancy covers all weeks from a week before the term starts up to the end of the academic year. If one finds a long summer or just travels visiting friends and places, one does not need to go home at all*. Not that I would be that kind of person though.

I really like this separation between studying and family time.  It goes along the lines 'work hard, party hard'.  For me, Cambridge is about working, home is about relaxing.  When I am at Cambridge, I feel I should be working all the time (which I do not do) but I also know that the more I get done at Cambridge, the less I will have to do at home, because I generally have to do something at home. Therefore, it motivates  me to work  hard at Cambridge so that I have time to relax at home. A great thing about  treating it in this way is that I am really looking forward to spending time at home, since it marks the end of work. Theoretically,  practically it does not. It just means that I will have loads to do after I come back to Cam before the terms starts.   It also feels like a well deserved break after the intense studying.

Since I do not spend much time at home, it becomes a scarcer utility so I enjoy it more. I also tend to make effort to spend time with family rather than just to be there physically, which is of course nice in itself. it seems to me that I have seen more movies with my family or played more board games together after the beginning of my studies abroad. I guess that I just did not have the need to do so when I used to be at home all the time. However, I cannot be certain that it is due to studying abroad since more than one variables have changed: I have also grown up.

Skype creates opportunities for conversations that I that  would not have happened spontaneously at home. My family would not have sat down at 3pm at a table and said: 'Let's talk, shall we?'. That being said, one could argue that common meals create these opportunities, so conversation like this would have happened. The truth is that Skype requires effort and intention and I think it is this what contributes to the 'quality' of the conversation.

When I am at Cambridge, the outside world ceases to exist. The life only consists of lectures, example sheets, societies, project work, applying for placements and internships etc.  I become entirely surrounded by the Cambridge bubble. It is also happened that my brother was getting married in the middle of my exam period - 2 weeks with 10 exams. In the end, after a long decision making,  I decided to attend the wedding. I flew back to Czech just for 1 day. I am really happy I did make the trip. It might seem disturbing that I had to think a lot before deciding, but that is what Cambridge bubble does to me. Similar happened when my Grandfather died.  

Finally, I want to emphasise that I am looking forward to going home but I do not miss family, since there is no time for this. My schedule is too busy and enjoyable.

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* I must admit that I have a friend studying in Prague who spends less time at home than me.

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