{"id":4018,"date":"2017-02-14T06:04:39","date_gmt":"2017-02-13T20:04:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/qut-exchange-students\/?p=4018"},"modified":"2017-02-14T06:04:39","modified_gmt":"2017-02-13T20:04:39","slug":"my-first-impressions-of-leeds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/gone-global\/2017\/02\/14\/my-first-impressions-of-leeds\/","title":{"rendered":"My first impressions of Leeds"},"content":{"rendered":"

The train stopped. My world halted. But the people around kept moving.\u00a0 The moment I had anticipated, dreaded, feared, dreamed of and planned for was finally here. I was in Leeds. I had made it. I was on exchange.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll be honest, my first day in Leeds was a strange one. It was full of mixed emotions, cold weather and slight confusion. After dragging my suitcases through the city centre, whilst strategically glancing at my phone that was carefully balancing in my pocket every so often so I didn\u2019t get lost, I managed to reach my residence, Central Village. The weather was cold. Very cold. I was sick of travelling, and I was simply ready to sleep BUT my birthday was in two days and no one wants to spend their birthday alone, so off I went to be \u2018social\u2019.\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

That first night was great! I met people from all over the globe, all studying different things and all hoping to get something different out of this unique experience of exchange. The people I met that night are people I would now class as my friends, and I suppose THAT would have to be one of the greatest \u2018first impressions\u2019 anyone could hope for\u2026 acceptance.<\/p>\n

The following days only got better (with the exception of the weather) and my good impressions of Leeds only continued to grow. The juxtaposing architecture, the rich history, vibrant culture and once again, acceptance of Leeds as a town and the university, all came to the forefront.<\/p>\n

Never before had I ever seen public pianos in a shopping mall prior coming to Leeds, but I must say seeing a fellow student pull up a chair and play with complete freedom for nothing but his own self-satisfaction is one moment of those first few days I will never forget.<\/p>\n

Exchange is supposed to change you. To enrich your life, broaden your perspective, open up opportunities and challenge you to push yourself. I feel like it is premature to say this has happened to me already\u2026 but perhaps first impressions are the most meaningful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The train stopped. My world halted. But the people around kept moving.\u00a0 The moment I had anticipated, dreaded, feared, dreamed of and planned for was finally here. I was in Leeds. I had made it. I was on exchange. I\u2019ll be honest, my first day in Leeds was a strange one. It was full of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4289,"featured_media":4020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15891],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4018","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-short-term-exchange"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMy first impressions of Leeds - QUT Gone Global<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/gone-global\/2017\/02\/14\/my-first-impressions-of-leeds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My first impressions of Leeds - QUT Gone Global\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The train stopped. 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