Life as a fresher in London

Life as a fresher has never been easy for anyone, especially if you are an international student living in one of the largest metropolitan in the world. (Not to scare future students from coming to London but just as a caution nudge on you all. Are you aware of the disadvantage of studying in London or rather in general UK).

As an international student, the first few weeks will be very tough or rather challenging as you have to struggle through mental and physical obstacles. The first war most will encounter is sickness. You will be haunted by illness with symptoms such as cough, sore throat, tiredness, and fever. Why you may ask? Are we so vulnerable to diseases? The answer is YES. As a foreigner on this unexplored land by ourselves, we are not immune to the local sickness as what we used to have when we are at hometown. The strain of bacteria and virus at overseas is unfamiliar to our immune system. We don't have the antibody to fight the diseases and hence, sick for a long time. Furthermore the doctors and pharmacist here are not that helpful at all. If you visit a GP with sore throat or cold, they will just send you off with no advice and medicine. Pharmacist are not helpful at all too. However maybe this is the right thing to do although it is different from what we usually encounter in Malaysia.

Taking medication for mild cold, cough or fever will only weaken our immune system as our natural body resistance against illness is not built up. For example, imagine a country with army but only rely on bombs, missile or nuclear weapon to fight off enemy, will they be able to fend enemy off if they are out of ammunition. But sometimes, you do feel as if you are about to die in this foreign land where nobody will even realise that you are dead until the stench of your decaying corpse reach your neighbours' nose. That's when you start to miss home, the comfort of your own bed, the love from everyone who care for you, the familiarity of everything, the freedom to eat anything you want, the dependant life on your parents. Tears will start to flow down your cheeks, drowning all the face cells on its way.

Life is depressing but maybe you will find the sunshine behind all the dark clouds. However, it is really difficult to feel warmth from anyone else, because of the cold weather? Everything seems to be so difficult as you have to complete it by yourself and you cant rely on others. I'm feeling deja vu to relive over the most difficult part of my life, which is when I transferred school. But this is many times more difficult than that. The feeling of loneliness and incompetence is amplified. New bonds with new friends have to be forge but sometimes, you just feel so lazy to do that. If you don't forge any bonds, you might not get any friends at all, friends to take care of you when you are sick, friends who can give advice when shopping, friends whom you can be with and feel safe. You might be alone during festive seasons, alone during your birthday and no one to live with you when you are going to move out of the hall of residence. And that's why you get very emotional, reluctant to talk, the feeling to lock yourself in your room.

WHY IS LONDON LIKE THIS?

People smoking everywhere. People drinking alcohols everywhere. Everyone seems so cold everywhere.

Maybe it's because you locked your door to your heart? Reluctant to try new friendship? Scared of failure? Worried about getting yourself embarrassed? I also don't know the reason. I should stop babbling nonsense here.