I have decided to take a stroll down memory lane and share stories from my study abroad period in the UK back in 2009 – 2010. Starting now, posts tagged “Christa in the UK” will tell you my experience as an international student living, studying, and traveling around the UK. Hope you’ll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy taking a stroll down memory lane 🙂
How did I end up there?
When I got the opportunity to pursue a graduate degree overseas, I didn’t instantly chose the UK as my destination. Instead, I aimed to go to Australia. It seemed like a realistic option since Australia is closer to Indonesia. I also looked at other options.. the UK, the US and Canada. I deliberately limit my options to English – speaking countries only thus explains the limited options. But, after several considerations (most significant being cost), I chose to go to the UK! woohoo! Oh, did I wrote it right? Cost? Yep, I found it cheaper to go to the UK rather than Australia or the US despite the high Poundsterling exchange rate to Indonesian Rupiah. Simply because most of UK universities offered 1 year master degree program, while at that time not many universities in other countries that offered the same.. mostly were 2 years program. Having done the budget calculation, I decided that the UK was more budget friendly for me and decided to apply.
I applied to several universities majoring in Advertising/Marketing Communications and got accepted to a few. I had to choose between 3 wonderful cities – Leeds, Birmingham, or Bournemouth. The first two might be more familiar to most people. But I ended up choosing Bournemouth, a small town which – prior to applying to Bournemouth University – I actually never heard of. Although there were some educational based reasons behind that (I might elaborate later..), but the reason I chose to go to Bournemouth was also because of this!
Who can resist studying in a town with a beach like this? I certainly could not! 🙂
Though Bournemouth beach may not be as pretty as those in Bali or Derawan Islands.. it’s still very pretty to me and the fact that it’s so easily accessible (very close to the town centre) made it very appealing. With the help of Google, I easily could search images of Bournemouth beach and the city surroundings. I was hooked instantly, and ended up choosing Bournemouth over Leeds and Birmingham.
So that’s how I ended up in the UK, particularly in a small town called Bournemouth in Dorset county, approximately 2 hours away from London. The town is famous as a holiday destination for those in South of England (and of course, for the university haha). I lived there for almost a year (11 months and a couple of days, to be exact..) while completing my masters. Did I like it? I certainly did! In fact, it was one of the best period in my life. Why? stay tune to this series and I’ll let you know in the next posts 🙂
Christa Bercerita 