Hello! My name is Kiersten Mann and I have spent my year abroad in Canterbury, England studying at the University of Kent. I cannot tell you enough how much I have loved and adored my year abroad. I chose to do a year abroad because I have always been told by other study abroad students that the only thing they regretted about their experience is that they did not have enough time. I’m taking as much time as I can abroad and, regrettably, that also means forgetting a little about those back home. This will be a very long post because I’m trying to catch you all up on what I’ve done. This will be part one surrounding the beginning of the first term and part two will follow covering the second half of the first term, then I will move on to the second term. It should be a lot of posts so I hope you’re ready!
The start of my study abroad journey did not start with hellos, it started with goodbyes. Before I left for England I had to say goodbye to my friends and family back home. I was a little sad, but I knew I would see them again soon. A year seems like a long time but you never really know how short it is until you’re at the end. My parents dropped me off at the airport on September the 15th and I arrived in Canterbury tired, hungry, stressed, and very excited. Those first two days were a blur, the flight was long and nothing confuses you more than that lost 6 hours. Getting to Canterbury I had opted for the coach service offered by the University of Kent and was very happy I did so. I met a wonderful French girl, Ilana, while riding to Canterbury and I am happy to say that we are still friends. When we arrived at the university we tried to get into our houses, which I was unable to do as it was not ready yet, so I sat in a friend’s room and waited. Then Ilana and I ventured into town to search for bedding for our rooms, which turned out to be quite a task. We went to this store called Wilko, it had everything we needed but we got there at 5:45 and the store closed at 6:00! So we had to hurry! After running around the store we stepped outside to a typical English sight, rain. Taking a taxi up to our houses, we parted ways and ran home. I got inside my house and finally met my housemates. We talked in the kitchen for a few hours before we all passed out in our rooms. Within our house we had two English natives Daniel and Joe; two Americans, Kaitlyn and I; and one German/Italian, Silvia. The following day we all went into town together and walked around getting a feel for it. The following months we got to know one another, we took trips to see the Leeds Castle, the Cliffs of Dover, and London, and Silvia and I went to Dublin and to the Cliffs of Moher. We saw Wicked in London and checked out some sights as well. Check out the pictures below! I should have my next post up real quick, if the pictures will load!
