{"id":9043,"date":"2020-11-27T10:00:02","date_gmt":"2020-11-27T00:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/gone-global\/?p=9043"},"modified":"2020-12-18T14:02:32","modified_gmt":"2020-12-18T04:02:32","slug":"leeds-a-city-with-promises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/gone-global\/2020\/11\/27\/leeds-a-city-with-promises\/","title":{"rendered":"Leeds: A City with Promises"},"content":{"rendered":"

Isabella \u2013 University of Leeds \u2013 England<\/h2>\n

Semester 1, 2020
\nBachelor of Behavioural Science (Psychology) \/ Bachelor of Laws (Honours)<\/h4>\n

When I decided to go on exchange, my major goals were to<\/span> embrace the opportunity to travel widely and learn about other countries, experience greater independence by living alone in student accommodation,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>and\u00a0<\/span>meet a group of great friends from different countries.\u00a0 Despite having my experience cut short to only eight weeks because of the COVID-19 pandemic, I achieved every single one of those goals and more.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Travel<\/h4>\n

In hindsight, I am so pleased that I embraced a bit of a \u2018carpe diem\u2019 attitude towards travelling and experiencing once<\/span>–<\/span>in<\/span>–<\/span>a<\/span>–<\/span>lifetime opportunities because while I felt very sleep deprived at the time, I am now grateful that I did not procrastinate.\u00a0 Some notable highlights included a <\/span>one-night<\/span>\u00a0getaway to\u00a0<\/span>Amsterdam<\/span>, where I<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>by chance met one of my\u00a0<\/span>good\u00a0<\/span>friends from QUT who was studying in Vienna,\u00a0<\/span>and then\u00a0<\/span>travelling to Hull early the next morning to compete at, and eventually win, a debating competition.\u00a0 <\/span>Also, travelling to Manchester late one Thursday night to watch Manchester United play at their home ground of Old Trafford, and then early the next morning travelling to London to watch Sara Bareilles<\/span>\u00a0perform in a very<\/span>\u00a0limited run in the musical \u2018Waitress\u2019\u00a0<\/span>surrounded by an equally\u00a0<\/span>star-studded\u00a0<\/span>cast.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Within the same weekend in London, I also had other once-in-a-lifetime opportunities seeing a famous <\/span>Broadway<\/span> star called Alistair Brammer perform in \u2018Wicked\u2019 and managing to get last-minute tickets to \u2018Harry Potter and the Cursed Child\u2019. <\/span>Other notable travel highlights included a weekend trip to Paris with my new friends from Montreal<\/span>\u00a0where we walked a total of 53km in two days<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>a very breezy experience at Stonehenge and Bath on the day of a severe rainstorm, and\u00a0<\/span>a solo escapade to Berlin just before the pandemic took hold<\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Accommodation<\/h4>\n

I am very pleased with the student accommodation I was allocated, despite being initially displeased with its distance from the university campus.\u00a0 By staying at \u2018Liberty Dock\u2019 I was situated right on the River Aire\u00a0<\/span>which allowed me to keep up my fitness by going running along the river<\/span>\u00a0but also allowed me to get to know the real Leeds.\u00a0 This was because, unlike other university accommodation options, we had to take a\u00a0<\/span>30-minute<\/span> bus ride, or a <\/span>45-minute<\/span>\u00a0walk through the city to get to the university campus.\u00a0 While I was initially\u00a0<\/span>disappointed to be so far away from campus, and from other student\u00a0<\/span>residences<\/span>, I am very grateful for the excuse to go exploring.\u00a0 Some of my favourite sites were the Corn Exchange and Kirkgate Market<\/span>, as well as the beautiful, old-fashioned architecture of the entire town.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>I was also well-situated to walk to the train station which I did on many occasions to travel to various\u00a0<\/span>cities to see my family and friends who lived\u00a0<\/span>all around<\/span>\u00a0England<\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>I did not manage to venture into the famous \u2018Royal Armouries Museum\u2019 which was<\/span>\u00a0quite literally<\/span>\u00a0right on my doorstep<\/span>, but I guess that is an excuse to travel back to Leeds in the future!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Social Life<\/h4>\n

Finally,\u00a0<\/span>my favourite part of the exchange experience was making genuinely amazing friends<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0particularly my friends from Canada, the United States,<\/span>\u00a0Norway<\/span>\u00a0and by chance, Canberra.\u00a0<\/span>While I had seen many friends make wonderful connections on their exchange\u00a0<\/span>experiences, I<\/span>\u00a0was apprehensive to move to a new town, knowing absolutely nobody and hoping for the best that I would meet similar-minded people.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>But, within<\/span> the first half an hour of getting to my student accommodation, I met a wonderful friend from the United States <\/span>who I regularly call on zoom to catch up<\/span>, and with whom I am already planning\u00a0<\/span>multiple trips, once international travel is safe again.\u00a0 I am also surprised\u00a0<\/span>by\u00a0<\/span>how quickly we all became so close, for instance, I was planning my trip to Paris with my friend from Canada within a week of knowing him, but he remains one of my closest friends, and the fact that we travelled to Paris, London<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>Stonehenge<\/span>, Bath<\/span>\u00a0and Amsterdam<\/span>\u00a0together was one of the major reasons we became so close, in such a short space of time.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n