The Return: Going Back to Where I Studied Abroad

So, as most of you probably know, because it was basically the only thing I wrote about that year, two years ago I studied abroad in England, and it was the coolest thing I have ever done.

Anyway, since then I have gotten back into routine here in Victoria, but there has always been a little piece of me that is still across the ocean. It’s been about a year and a half since I left the UK, but this past week I made my comeback tour.

Not going to lie I was a little apprehensive about the whole thing. I had had such an amazing time living there and I had made so many life-changing friends, and I knew that when I went back it would be different.

It had been a year and a half. Lots of my friends had graduated and moved, and one was even getting married (which was why I was going in the first place), and I just didn’t want to be disappointed if it wasn’t as crazy amazing being there again.

But, big surprise, I still loved it.

Yeah it was a little different, but going back just felt like coming home. I just slipped right back into the rhythm of the city. I still knew the streets and got to go back to all of my favourite places (as well as spend way too much money in said places).

While I was there I also went back to my old school, the University of East Anglia (UEA) and reminisced about my time at the #HomeOfTheWonderful (what a slogan).

I graduate in the spring, and my goal is to go straight into my master’s back at UEA, so I also met with the master’s admissions director for the history department. It was SO helpful to talk to him about my application, the layout of the program, scholarships, basically anything I had questions about that I thought would be too long for an email.

Studying abroad really got me thinking about how I wanted to further my education after my undergrad, and going back to the UK just feels like the perfect way to bring the whole experience full circle.

I did a lot in the 10 days that I was back in my second home. I caught up with friends, did some shopping, watched two people start the next chapter of their lives together, and figured out what I wanted my own next chapter to be.