Arrived!

City Council and grounds, Cardiff

One week into my postgraduate adventure and I have (thankfully) put to bed an entire roller coaster of emotions. A feat only reserved for the emotionally well-developed -- otherwise known as the acute quarter-life crisis.

It has been quite an out-of-body experience, learning to live somewhere completely different in a hurry. Classes were beginning within a few days' of my arrival and I had to get my affairs in order quick smart. But I would say seeing my room for the first time was really what drove it all home for me. The sight of a single bed with a mattress less than a foot thick and no other bedding was more than my 400 thread-count body could bear.

But shopping is and will always be my best forte and within a day or two, a new nest was formed and I felt calmer.

The Wales Millenium Centre, Cardiff Bay

Adjusting to local life was a bit more of a challenge. Finding out that it would take a week to open a bank account, more than 24 hours before getting your mobile to work properly, needing to make an appointment with a doctor even though you have an emergency, and that televisions require licenses were all extremely strange and truthfully, rather at odds with what you would imagine an advanced country would have to offer.

The worst has got to be the appalling mobile service. The moment you step into a building, any building, you're rendered communication-less. If you do not see the sky, then don't expect to be able to text, call, tweet or email from your phone because you will not have any kind of coverage. I've tested this with various telco companies and phone models and they've all fizzled the moment you get yourself under a roof. Coming from Asia, where phones work even inside commuter trains, this is something that will never fail to amaze me.

Still other aspects, the more familiar and wonderful things about living in the UK (which I can also draw direct parallels with Australian life), such as the consumerisme and excellent (human) service, are a welcome change. Wales is the gentler cousin to its British neighbour and an undoubtedly warmer host. The Welsh are are a friendlier, happier bunch with a penchant for a quick song and a dirty mind for laughs. It is a country of castles, daffodils, and Roman ruins and proudly proclaims its unique differences from the English with every lengthy signpost. The land of Dylan Thomas, Roald Dahl, Shirley Bassey and Catherine Zeta-Jones lays open for me to discover with each passing day.

Main university building

I will blog again in the coming days about the (mis)adventures of my first week. Until then, noson dda ac yn cymryd gofal (Goodnight and take care!).