7 months have passed since I moved to Nottingham to do my postgraduate study. Everything has transitioned so very quickly, from Autumn to Spring, time seems to be on the run. From one month to the next, one coursework after another and deadlines after deadlines. I enjoy how I can easily be in a group of people who are 21, 28 or 32+ years old and get to cross paths with so many different people from all walks of life. This experience has certainly been an enjoyable roller-coaster ride. I have moved (back and forth) out of home for the past 8 years and when I thought it would get easier, it never does. This time has been more of a challenge than ever before. I realized that leaving your bubble will forever remain as a bitter-sweet thing.
I had my doubts before having set my decisions to move all the way to England. The 14+ hours flight away from Indonesia terrified me the most. What if there was an emergency back home? What if something happened to my cat? What if I wouldn’t like Nottingham? What if I couldn’t survive the winter? What meaningful events will I miss out during my time away? Prior to my move, I have never even visited England. So this was all one huge risky gamble I still decided to take a leap of faith in.
Since my University is centrally located in the city, everything is conveniently accessible. My transition during the first months went smoothly apart from some unpleasant incidents that happened. When I booked my student housing, I was promised to be allocated in a flat with mature female students. This was preferable, considering I was over the whole student party scene and all that (well, I thought I was haha!) but when I arrived to the flat, I was instead greeted with 4 non-females! This was pretty upsetting but I decided to give it a chance. I thought it could have been better, because guys don’t do drama right? But boy I was wrong, my living situation kept getting worse – especially sharing kitchen and bathroom with them – plus the constant unpleasant smell that made me dizzy on the daily (you know what it is).
The shortcut to Uni from my flat was through a cemetery and this never really scared me until one night when I walked home, I was chased by a crazy drunk guy who kept shouting “Run away you happy person!” to me. When I told people about my daily cemetery walk, they immediately asked whether I’ve ever spotted any ghosts or spirits, but no, being chased by a random drunk dude was a thousand times more haunting. There weren’t a lot of people around that night and when I finally spotted another pedestrian, he unfortunately wasn’t the most heroic and gave 0 shit about me getting chased hahah (he only tried to help by screaming at the drunk guy but didn’t make him stop). It was a pretty traumatizing night and ever-since this, I kept Uber-ing home until I was finally able move out (it was a hard 2 months of struggle, posting room Ads everywhere trying to find a replacement and a place to move in the middle of the semester).
Does the city finally feel like home? Honestly speaking, not quite. I am, however, forever glad to choose Nottingham over other cities (especially London) to study in. To be fair, I don’t think I have put enough effort and time to settle in properly and this is partly due to my idea (also people around me, I’m pretty sure of this) of Nottingham being this small and simple city with nothing much going on. Thus, we keep planning trips to other cities instead of really exploring what Nottingham has to offer. Well, there are a couple of museums and parks around but sadly nothing as special that we would actually revisit. Also, another reason might be the limited time I have here. At the back of my mind, I know that I will be leaving this city sooner or later and just maybe, my heart knows better than to get attached to something as temporary as my time studying here.
One thing I like most from Nottingham is the different monthly events happening at Notts’ Old Market Square (Christmas Market, gigantic Ferris Wheel and The Lady Boys of Bangkok show which is currently on). I can’t wait to find out what next month’s event will be! Don’t get me wrong, I think Nottingham is a calm and pretty little English city worth visiting and since it’s centrally located within the country, everyone should stop by and check out Nottingham when given the chance!
This is all for my first Nottingham/personal entry. I am thinking of doing another entry of my favorite spots here since I feel that Nottingham is pretty much underrated compared to other UK cities. Let me know your thoughts and I hope you enjoyed this post!
Have a great week!
Indira
Indi's Journey 