The first month of the best year of my life

I don’t thing that it has hit me that I have been in England for more than a month now. It feels like I’ve been here for way longer. I have done so much, met so many people that it feels like a whole life to me. Time flies and I’m trying to enjoy every second as much as I can. I’m getting the chance to learn about so many cultures and how there is so many things so different than what I know that only now I’m starting to grasp the idea of how big the world actually is.

I feel like I’m finally getting into a routine and if that makes sense, I don’t feel like a tourist here anymore. I know my way around town, I know which buses to get, where to go, how things work and bit-by-bit I’m increasingly feeling like I belong here. Southampton is a beautiful city and I’m really happy I chose it. There is shops to go, parks to hang around and everything you’d need. It has a lot of history too, and one of the greatest things I’ve seen here is the museum dedicated to Titanic.

My days here usually start quite early, I have to get up at about half past seven in the morning to take a shower, get ready, have breakfast and be out the door at half past eight. I go to school by walk and it usually takes about half an hour to get there as I walk with the other student that lives in my host family and we tend to be a bit slow together, as we talk too much. I arrive at school at about nine and then it ends at about four in the afternoon. During the school time I have three classes a day and one free period that I can use to study or to talk with friends at school. Once school is done I usually stay there with my friends until half past six, and by the time I’m probably on my way home. At home I have dinner with the family and then I go to my room to do my homework, talk to people in Brazil and relax.

I have met my High Schools International student advisor twice already. Her name is Sarah and she’s a very lovely woman. We schedule an appointment and we chat for about half an hour about everything that is going on. She is basically the person in charge to make sure I’m settling on okay and that everything is going as expected, and the first one I’d have to contact in case I’ve got any problems.

Although I’m missing my family and friends very much, I feel extremely lucky to be having the chance to do this Study Abroad Programme and that everything is going so well. This experience has been amazing so far and I am sure there are still a lot of great things to come. I can definitely say this was the first month of the best year of my life.