My honest First Semester experience at the University of Edinburgh

Should I go to the University of Edinburgh?

5000 miles away from home, standing at the Edinburgh airport I had a new set of expectations for me. Now was the time to face new challenges and grab all possible opportunities. In my mind I knew that interacting with people from different cultural backgrounds wouldn’t be easy. The fear of making friends all over again was constantly tickling me, especially because English is not my first language. Outside in the arrival area a bunch of university students humbly welcomed me. As suggested by them, I took a taxi and it took about an hour to reach my new home.

Welcome to the new World

On the way I was wondering how the university would look in real, would my new neighbors be friendly, how would the food be and the biggest question in my mind was whether I would get socially rejected. To my surprise on reaching Lee house everybody seemed friendly and welcoming which I had presumed that people would not be very interactive. The vast diversity gave me an opportunity to learn about other regions of the world and get an idea of other cultures. From the very next day it was time for the overwhelming fresher’s week to begin. The very next morning I was standing in front of the majestic MC Evan hall. Afterwards as the tour leader instructed, I went to see other parts of the campus. It is a perfect blend of modernity with ancient culture as I had expected.

Opening the gate for the upcoming person and acknowledging every small action of others is one thing totally different which I noticed. I have developed this habit now and it feels good to become respectful. Now slowly that problem of mixing up with people has started vanishing. I find myself to have become more social now and have managed to make loads of new friends.The Fresher’s week gave an opportunity to participate in many food tasting and traditional dancing events. Food here tasted bland as compared to home. In the beginning I faced some problems with the food but now I have adjusted to the new food and culture well.

Gearing up to experience a different education pattern

The lectures, tutorials and society activities were to begin from the next week. I was very excited to experience the different education system from mine. It was very good to know that there is a lot of assignments in my courses. My first experience to sit in a hall full of both boys and girls was very different. Throughout studying in an all-boys school made me a little hesitant to interact with the opposite gender. Now I have started to improve my social skills.  Debating is one extra-curricular activity which I really liked in school so I joined the university debate’s union. Every Monday there are practice debate, speaking in which helps increase my confidence and also give me an opportunity to overcome my stage fear. From here I got the opportunity to go to Glasgow for a debate competition. Representing university in an actual competition was very wonderful. During one of the business lectures, an announcement to inform the people who might be interested to become a program representative was done. I found this as a perfect opportunity to add in my cv plus gain some experience. Working as a group to collect feedback helped me learn how to efficiently work in a group. This helped me work better in the poster presentation competition and I got nominated for the award category of ‘Best Presenter’. Things like this always happen to be very motivating for me and they make me more confident from inside. Multiple group assignments also help make a lot of new friends.  All these opportunities are worthy experiencing and I think by continuously keeping a balance between academics and extra-curricular activities to make my university life much more fruitful.

What did I gain out of my first Semester

First semester is now almost over. It provided me ample opportunities to carve out my future plans. Especially time management is one major thing which I learned in the first semester. With so many events happening throughout the semester, it became a bit difficult to choose between which events to attend and which not to. I have decided to get in the committee of the societies which I have joined because they provide with a very different experience overall. For making this possible I will have to indulge in a lot of networking activities. Networking would not only help me get votes, but also these people would be useful throughout my life. A leadership role like this is always useful in life.

Conclusion

During the first semester I faced new challenges. The very first challenge which I have already overcome is understanding the different accents of different nationalities. Now by the accents I can tell which nation a person might belong to. Now in front of me I see an entire path full of opportunities which I can grab and make the best possible out of. After the completion of my degree I plan to get back to my country and give it back what I received. For this I want to receive the maximum possible exposure so I can get more ideas which I can apply in my life. My whole point of seeking admission in a foreign university was this and after coming to Edinburgh I feel this is the perfect place to gain that exposure. The cultural diversity in the university helping me broaden my horizons and see world from a new perspective. Within these months of staying away from home a drastic change has come into me. I feel all this is a positive change.