Alyssa Abroad

On the 18th of August 2014 SQ306 landed at Heathrow Airport in London 160 days later SQ321 left Heathrow Airport on the 25 of January 2015. This is a video about those 160 days I spent living in the beautiful country that is the UK studying at the University of Dundee.

For more Information of University of Newcastle iLead and Study Abroad :

In less than 12 hours I'm on a plane back to Australia, and if I had to describe how I'm feeling it would have to be bittersweet. All this time people have been telling me that it will be hard to leave, but it will be amazing to go home. Yet in the cringe inducing words of the boy wizard himself "I'm not going home not really" despite all that 5 months of my life had jammed back into my suitcase which is now precariously close to the 30kg weight limit and I'm looking around a nearly empty hotel room getting ready to leave but it doesn't quite feel like I'm going home. Home is now stretched across multiple different countries at least 3 continents and a splattering of people across the globe who have made this experience what it was. So I'm not going home, but I am going back to the place where this all started, I'm catching the train I caught upon arriving in London 160 days ago in the opposite direction and I'm heading back the way I came.

And while I look forward to my own bed, and not having to cook for myself and my favourite burger place, I'm going to miss living with a bunch of my friends, and ordering dominos at like 1am and my favourite cafe. Someone asked me the other week if doing a study abroad was worth it, and to anyone who's reading this who might be considering it, yes, yes it is. These part 160 days have comprised of some of the happiest, saddest, most stressful and incredible moments of my life and I can still 100% say that its the best thing that I have ever done.

So for now I'm going to go, but like I'm not done with this blog yet as I now have a backlog of about a months worth of adventures that I still need to post about !

xx

Tomorrow I leave Scotland - and on one hand I'm thrilled about it, the next great adventure spans 12 days, 12 days until I'm home, 12 days of seeing new places, experiencing new things until I get to return to the wonderful excitement that will be me sleeping for approximately 12 days straight.

Someone asked me today if it was worth it, if uprooting my entire life for 5 months and then re-uprooting it just when the little tree I am had started to grow in its new home. The answer is the same it was the day I left, the first time I cried because I felt home sick, the time I considered just coming home, the times I spent with friends and the time I spent alone. Yes, yes it was worth it, yes I would do it again, yes I would recommend that anyone do it as part of their university experience.

Choosing to study abroad is the best decision I have ever made, better than picking me degree, better than any other travel experience I have ever had. It had given me friends across the globe and some of the most amazing memories.

So thank you to everyone who has made my time here as amazing as it has been, and well I'm sure I will be back sometime Scotland, your not getting rid of me yet.

xx

A week of appreciation  - Wednesday

Wednesday while here in Dundee has meant swimming day, which means getting to hang out with this amazing bunch of people while we drag our body weight through the water a fast a possible.

For someone who was relatively scared about joining the swim team back in September I can 100% say it was the best decision I could have possibly made. Not only did it give me friends outside the internationals circle but it also gave me a ton of hilarious stories to regale at a later date. And between Stirling Sprints, Swim Socials,  and the SU & Christmas Dinners there sure are a lot of them.

So I suppose thanks to anyone in the DUSWPC for making my semester here as wonderful it has been :)

xx

At 5pm today I hit the one week mark of my time left here at Dundee, and while I'm still abroad for a little while longer, once I walk out of that exam hall next Wednesday my time as a student here will officially be over, finish, done. And I'm not sure how I feel about that, it feels like that for something that was such an abstract idea for so long to finally arrive and then to be almost over already is an impossible thing to grasp. Like don't get me wrong I'm super excited to get home and see all my family and friends but at the same time I'm leaving behind my little Scotland family and I'm going to miss them a hell of a lot.

But until we all officially part ways next Saturday morning we still have just over a week of midnight conversations, stupid dancing, surviving finals and the convenience of having friends living less that 5 meters away.

xx

100 days, that's how long its been since SIA306 landed at Heathrow airport at 8 in the morning with little old me aboard. So in honour of it being 100 days since I dragged myself through boarder control and across London with only a suitcase of belongings, here are 100 things I have seen, done and experienced since I arrived in the UK 100 Days ago !

This week has been a swimming week like lots of it, really.

I have my first ( and only ) big-ish scottish student sport event today, and I'm like sick to the stomach about it - I did however make myself an amazing looking lunch

I have started calling butternut pumpkin butternut squash, this needs to be rectified immediately

Last night I won at snakes and ladders and failed at words with friends. I did however have way to much fun playing them so thats what really matters.

I have about 5 trillion things due next week ( okay its only 3 ) but I also have a birthday get together to attend and sports ball ( goodbye sleep see you later)

Its almost a month until semesters is over and I am not ready and by not ready I mean I am not okay with going home but I am 100% on board with exams being finished

xx

Halloween in photos

Carving my first pumpkin - it just as messy as expected but took way longer than I thought it would.

Erica (shadow hunter), Kym (Merida) and Myself (creepy doll) prior to the halloween party)

Myself and my flatmates Heather and Jess ( Danny and Sandy from Grease)

My most prized ( and now rotting in a garbage bin ) possession - my pumpkin this little guy took like 3 hours to carve because I kept adding things.

Kym, Jess and Myself at Frankensteins Flashback on Floor 5 of the DUSA 

As far as university traditions go St Andrews runs rings around the rest of the field. With Red Gowns, Academic Families, May dip and the famous Raisin Monday Foam Fight I can't think of a single university world wide that can match that ( like the most exciting this my home university does is a go kart race across campus during the drunken antics that is autonomy day).

Needless to day when my favourite St Andrews resident invited me to come down for a little but of raisin weekend fun I said yes. like immediately. 

Now if like myself not too long ago your knowledge of raisin weekend can be summed up in the shrug of a shoulders then here is a mighty quick ( and probably inaccurate ) guide.

During your first couple of months in St A's the goal in life is to be 'adopted' by some of the older students these will be your 'academic parents' and there sole aim is to introduce you to St A's and guide you through the drunken antics that is raisin weekend.

Raisin Sunday : Go to your mums from 'morning tea and games' ( read as alcohol and drinking games) with your academic family. Then follow that on with either a flat or pub crawl with your academic siblings with your academic fathers family

Raisin Monday : The famous foam fight is Sally's Quad during which you must wear your raisin costume designed by your academic mum.

now that that has all be over simplified.

Raisin Sunday for me began with the bus trip from Dundee and then a shot before the time of 11am because I may not have realised that the "don't be early don't be late" on the invitation also referred to out of town visitors. The next two hours consisted of ice breakers, drinking games and the most disgusting game of twister I have ever played ( its was paint and canned food and sometimes I swear I can still feel canned tomato's in between my toes sometimes) the party games where over and it was onto the scavenger hunt portion of the afternoon.

me post twister - pre having paint and mushy peas smeared all over me

As with all scavenger hunts that include some level of intoxication the items on the list where ridiculous and many. For the sake of plausible deniability I will not be sharing the photos with you however I will share a couple of a favourite tasks.

Maypole dance around the pole at the end of the pier

Take a photo of your entire team on a slippery dip

Propose to a cat

Do the Can Can up the main road

The day finally ended with watching easy a, taking a nap and acquiring indian before I took the bus back home. No other words can really be used to describe raisin other than an experience I laughed to much, face palmed a few to many times, witnessed things I would rather forget, and made memories I never will - all without actually being a St A's student so good job there me.

My Lovely little academic siblings, parent, aunt  and cousins prior to the scavenger hunt.

xx

So mid semester break has come and gone, I have experienced Halloween and been quite ill but here we are again with another thoughts from abroad.

I quite like train journeys - except the one where you don't get your assigned seat due to a printing error and end up in a isle seat facing backwards the entire trip.

Being ill in another country is really inconvenient - not only do you not have parents to help you out - you also have no idea what the equivalent of all the tablets you take back home are.

The cold is finally coming - the air is just a little bit colder every time you walk outside and tomorrow night its supposed to hit zero ( which of course is bonfire night so I'm most likely going to be outside when it hits zero. brrrrr. )

Halloween was an experience but more on that in a blog post all of its own.

Also leaves turning brown is really pretty like I always knew it looked pretty but it smells pretty and it sounds great when you step in giant piles of them

xx

Last Sunday my flat hosted Canadian Thanksgiving, and it true Alyssa fashion I might have not realised that my memory card was still plugged into the box, not my camera.

The day for me was made up of lists, groceries to buy, food to cook, and people to organise. But come 6:30 the turkey was cooked, the stuffing was ready and the mash potato was ready to go. Food was spread from one end of the kitchen bench to the other and we had far to many chairs squished around it and it was as close to perfect as we where going to get on our student budgets and limited cooking facilities.

Something like four hours later the small crowd of people trickled back to their own flats and I entered a food coma courtesy of trying to eat a slice of every dessert there was ( pro tip : you may think you can eat a slice of pumpkin pie, apple pie, maple and pecan cheesecake and a slice of chocolate tarte but you can't stop being greedy and accept defeat)

This week has been the hardest week by far - I have felt every single one of those ten thousand miles pulling at me just telling me to pack it in and go home. You see long story short during my weekly Sunday morning face time session I found out that my Grandpa had suddenly passed away over night, now in saying that Grandpa was 90 and had an amazing run at this thing called life but that did not make sitting here on the wrong side of the globe feel any easier. Hence why this weeks TfA are a little sadder than usual.

Being away from home really stinks when all you want is a hug, something other that a pixilated image and your cat. 

Having close friends living a bus ride away is a god sent like I have never been more grateful for Ellie that after I had dragged myself to her house as a emotional wreak for some much needed hugs and a nap

Sometimes you will not feel up to going to class and that okay, email your professors, lectures and tutors and just don't leave bed for anything less than food.

Pint tubs of ice cream happen to be the perfect size for shared freezers - they also happen to be the perfect comfort food 

It gets better - I'm feelings better today than I did on Sunday and I will feel better this time next week than I do today

xx

A couple of weeks back one of my flatmates suggested that head down to Anstruther on the weekend to catch a ferry out to the isle of skye before it closes for the year. So in typical enthusiastic tourist fashion we could be found a the bus stop way to early in the morning ready to catch two buses and one boat in order to reach our destination.

Our vessel which would carry us safely to the island was this magnificant orange RIB which came complete with matching jackets and life vests. Essentially if you didn't like orange the next half an hour on the boat where about to become mighty uncomfortable ( well they did for me regardless - yay for sea sickness). However once we finally touched down on dry land ( which I have possibly never been so happy to see) it was all totally worth it to see the rolling expanse of the green hills and blue waters in every direction.

We spent close to two hours exploring the isle before we had to catch our boat back to the mainland but we could have easily spent the rest of the day, however as high tide approach we boarded the boat said good bye to the isle and its friendly seal inhabitants and set off back home.

However because it really is one of the prettiest places ever I'm going to leave you with a ton for photos anyway.

But truthfully I cannot recommend a trip to the isle of may enough, not only is it one of the most scenic looking places ever but the people at Anstruther Pleasure Cruises (x) who run the Isle of May ferry where amazing and really went above a beyond. Because it was such a small group that day and ended up taking the small boat we easily just could ahve been taken from Port to Port with no fuss however our Captain ( is that even the word here, boat driver person) was amazing taking us around to isle to look at the seal colony and even go in one of the many caves before heading into dock.

xx

September started on a day with less than perfect weather and the piling of various bags suitcases and boxes into a car. September started with a city in which I knew practically no one and had no idea where I was going. September was the month that started the journey for real, while I could say the same about November, or February or even August. It was September in which I move into the halls, joined clubs, matriculated and finally learned to navigate without a map.

September was freedom, to do what I wanted to do, and be who I wanted be, and to no longer be a dreaded teenage. September was taking risks, trying new things, and getting lost on more than one occasions. It was laughing at the absurdity of it all and missing the norm all at once.

However September also gave me dinners for one, which are significantly sadder than I had ever imagined. It gave me late night bouts of nostalgia in where just for a second I felt like I was home and all this suddenly just didn't quite seem worth it.

But most of all September game me another home, filled with late night talks in the kitchen over ice-cream and trying to fit one to many pots in the hob. It's forgetting to put money in the bank account for groceries, planning bus trips and train trips while trying to find the perfect balance of study and play.

September started on a warm late summers day in a car on the way to St Andrews, and it ended in a string of late nights with people that in the past month have grown to be my friends in this little city so far from home called Dundee. 

And as the first days of October have crept in and a growing feeling of winter creeps through my window I suppose I just wanted to say thank you to September and all that you gave me.

xx

Yes this is late (pls stop judging me) turns out i had a super busy weekend and then finally succumbed to freshers flu so thats fun. or like not

Car park raves are a lot of fun, going out two nights in a row however was the nail in coffin re: freshers flu

Sometimes you will go to compulsory classes when sick instead of going to the doctors because your classroom is closer than said doctors and you feel like your about to turn into a giant blog of nothing

Student night at Overgate is an excellent excuse to justify buying that skirt

Ben and Jerry's at 4am is never not a brilliant life decision

I really like the smoothy place just down the road but I really wish it was cheaper so I could go there all the time

I have been to Boots 3 times in the past 7 days and all of them where because my body is failing me

Why is it not winter yet like I just feel like it should be winter already and its making me sad

In Instagram's so far again.

The view from my bed outside to what I now call my tree

Guess who is now officially a student at Dundee

Students vs Zombies - I spent 2 hours running around campus throwing marshmallows at other people what more is there to say.

I fit inside the tiny window box in the kitchen, i feel like this should be an important piece of information

Some of the most attractive wet weather clothing ever

Green Gates at the Isle of May 

xx

I have officially survived my first week of classes, well at least I assume I do as I am currently writing this on wednesday night because organisation is the key.

I forgot how much time uni takes up like excuse me I want to sleep all the time what do you mean I have to go to class

I have joined the swim team - which means I now have to go to training. Training is exhausting someone remind me why I joined the swim team.

I need more 20p coins in my life. Not only do I need the to do laundry, but also to use the lockers at the pool. Pretty much I need to convert all me 1, 2, and 5p coins into 20p and my life will be great.

I am so ready for the Indy Ref to be over all ready like at this rate regardless of the verdict I am going to roll down the street in sheer joy that it is over and that i can stopped being harassed every time i leave the flat.

I forgot to water chloe for like half of this week. However she seems to have survived the ordeal which is a plus.

xx