Is it worth it?

Two months had passed, and I was beginning to realize the full extent of what I will go through in a month – going into a completely new environment, different culture, having new experiences; even so I just could not fully imagine that I have made it so far, that I will be able to study on a university in a different country. The reality had really drawn itself after a meeting with the representatives of Kellner Family Foundation, which has been kindly supporting me since Open Gate, and which had made all this possible. “Will all the work getting there be put to use?” I thought to myself.

A week before the family emotional strain began to appear – after all, when studying in Open Gate I was quite near home, so if anything had happened, it would take only a moment to get home. That is not possible in Glasgow, since it is a bit further away; and as a plus I had to catch another bus in London. When leaving Prague, I was feeling surreal – tomorrow London, evening Scotland. Of course, breakfast in London while waiting for the bus would not be complete without the mandatory “I am in London, we have arrived safely” message. Trip to Glasgow was notably more interesting – it was the sight of Scottish hills in a fading light of setting sun that have caught my eye. And in the evening, I was standing in the front of the coach station. Few moments past, and Murano Street Village was in front of me. Only person in the main building was a cheerful guard, and so after a small talk and getting keys, I was sitting on a bed in my new home. So this is how it begins, I thought.

I came a week earlier due to international orientation, and so I have attended University tour and Glasgow city tour. The first biggest interaction with other students happened during ceilidh, which is an evening in Scottish style. And even though not many people had participated in the first few dances, at the end everybody was dancing traditional Scottish dances and having a blast – it was because almost nobody knew how to dance in such ways, and so there was an abundance of collisions and accidental stepping on somebody – all of this usually meant that you now knew the person or group you have bumped into. Great socializing tool that is. Freshers’ week was gone faster than this international one, and suddenly it was time to learn.

Teaching style on English universities looked a bit chaotic and peculiar at the first sight, and I did not know what to expect; after a few weeks I got used to it to such extent, that now I would not change it in any way: a mixture of lectures, labs and tutorials nicely combines into a larger picture. And so the day to day life consists of going to the university and back to halls at least once a day. As a computing science and business/management student I have notably more lessons on my schedule than, for example, students of literature, and it is clear why – programming, computer systems and mathematics are not so rich in basis of essays and self-study. Business/management, on the other hand, required a large essay for 40% of the course mark. Fortunately IB had prepared me a bit for this, but even so the requirements of reading academic journals and writings from the library’s archives was quite new to me.

Life in Glasgow itself is calm – no kilts and ginger beards on every corner, just rain and cars driving on the wrong side of the road; that could be the summary of what it is like in Scotland. I may have been preparing for more violent culture shock, but it just did not happen. I got used to local style of life fairly quickly. Cheddar and biscuits are for a longer talk, as the selection is marvellous – and as it happened, I have discovered Custard Creams and Bourbons, my current favourites. One of the forbidden necessities in everyday life is, however, street crossing. The pedestrians do not have the right of a way, and so most of the traffic lights are green only if there could be no car crossing the pedestrians’ paths. As good as it may seem, it can cause a lot of problems as the pauses between the green lights are sometimes quite long, and so the Scots just run over the road whenever they can. Even here, the patience is limited, and if the person needs to cross such roads multiple times, he does not have the time to wait two minutes at each crossing.

The people are incredibly helpful and cheerful, which may be caused by the weather, because if you have grim weather with lots of rains and clouds, the equilibrium of moods must be maintained by the people (for example reflected in the selection of tea and biscuits, as then you have more reasons to stay at home and not to get upset with the weather outside). I have also noticed the increased usage of “sorry”, “thanks” and lovely “cheers” had increased in my vicinity. This atmosphere can be seen even in the halls, as my 3 international flatmates (Italian, Romanian and Spanish) are very friendly despite the fact that we see each other only a few times a week – as it happens the timetables practically permit us to meet only during the evening, sometimes not even then.

The last two months of life in Glasgow have been full of new experiences, small cultural changes, change of road sides, biscuits, cheddar, and of course, Glasgow city itself. The subjects are getting increasingly interesting, while the level of intensity rises without a notice. And to answer the question from the beginning: yes, it was put to use and is worth it.