I have been living 293 days in Torquay, England which is acutally a long time. 7032 hours, 421920 seconds, I have enjoyed nearly every moment there. Loads of ups and downs but my friends always tried to help me to get rid of my madness and I am grateful that it mostly worked.
Sitting in my own room, walking around the own flat.. It feels so unusual even unreal. Its like a dream, I feel like Im going to wake up in Torquay again, lie in my bed getting dressed, going to school and meet my friends.
But thats not going to happen. I also cant really describe my feelings right now, I feel so happy to be home in Berlin but I also feel so sad that I had to leave Torquay.
It turned out to be really boring without the usual crowd and I am relieved that this time is over. The things which happened in Torquay, all the stories, all the adventures, all the friends I made there, they wont be forgotten.
I can still remember that day when I came to Torquay. It all started at the first September where my new life began. I was insecure whats going to face me but after several days my fear was taken by all the new friends I made. We discovered the whole town by ourselves, went out to other cities and builded up our own life in a different city.
The school life was pretty different compared to mine in Germany. I had to chose three subjects ( math, English language, sociology) and could only study these. It was like holidays for me not to have 15 different subject and I guess it will be hard to get used to it again..
But school wasnt very important, we just had to pass the exams which wasnt difficult at all. It was more important to socialise, getting some international or English friends, learning about the English culture, that was the main part.
I found myself in a crowd of different people from different countries again after some weeks which made me so happy. The fear not to find any friends got taken by them. Be open minded and confident otherwise you will end up with no friends nor fun, thats what my parents taught me when I left. True story I guess.
Time flew by and without realizing it it was Christmas time. Time to say good bye to some close friends who finished their halfterm. Time for some days with the real family. Going home with the knowledge that you will come back again makes it quite easy to leave.
After two weeks with the family it was time to go back to Torquay again. I thought nothing would change, everything will stay the same but I was wrong. New people came and new bonds were settled.
These new people also changed my life. I somehow lost contacts to my international friends and started to hang out with these new guys.
Sleepover at my place were common with one or more than one friend, fun was always there.
Trips to different cities such as Exeter, Plymouth or even London were also a lot of fun. We enhanced our friendship, trusted each other even more and found out more about each other.
This year changed my personality and my character a lot. Maybe its because I had to do everything on my own, maybe its because of the surroundings or because I found new friends.
I accomplished loads of goals I setted up before leaving such as these following things:
- learn to be self dependent
- learn about new cultures
- getting mature ( not as much as I wanted though)
- found new friends
- enjoyed the time
This experience is something which will follow you through your whole life. I can recommend to everyone who is currently thinking to do it. Gather all your braveness, the first days will be hard but you will get used to it and you wont regret it. Just a little tip from me: If you chose to do it in England, dont go to the coast.. There are loads of German exchange students there, I barely improved my English at all. To be honest it was my fault because I spoke German all the time but seriously it feels wrong to not to speak German..
Talk about friends, I also have to point out all the people who went through the good and the bad times with me. I have to thank you for beeing part of my life, for beeing patient with me, for beeing my friend:
Chiara, Florian, Rami, Annika, Lisa, Erik, Peter, Lucia, Kathi, Mira, Paul, Jonas, Frank, Soussana, Hannah, Sebastian, Kayley, Jimmy, Kevin, Sören, Euginio, Francesco, Edo, Giacomo, Leonie.
Thank you for everything, Im looking forward to see you soon again. This year was just tremendous with you guys, memories will remain in my brain and along with these I shall never leave Torquay. Torquay will always be a part of my life and so a part of my heart will always be there. I will miss the times where we had nothing to do but to go to the beach or in a cafe, I will miss the life in Torquay, I will miss the sea, I will miss you. I wish you everything good for the future, keep calm and carry on!!
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