Term 3/ Year 1 Round–Up: Part 1, 12/08/17, My Warwick Journey

August 12, 2017

Term 3/ Year 1 Round–Up: Part 1

The spring holidays and the whole of Term 3 disappeared in the blink of an eye. Although most of my time was spent studying, I managed to take a break and go on a couple of short trips to surrounding countries.

During the spring break, I visited Bulgaria and Greece with a couple of friends, and it was a great experience travelling with new friends! This was especially fun because it was actually two separate groups (My future housemates, and my AIESEC buddies) to whom I was the only mutual friend. and it felt wonderful letting my friends know each other.

group pic bulgaria — The 7 of us who went on the trip to Bulgaria (Sofia) and Greece (Athens, Santorini)! Great memories.

This trip was memorable as I have always wanted to travel to the nearby European countries since reaching UK, but was not courageous enough to do it on my own. Going with a group of friends was a fantastic idea because we helped each other through the whole experience and we all enjoy each other’s company.

Housemates sofia — With housemates atop the Vitosha Mountains in Sofia, Bulgaria

AIESEC pic santorini — With AIESEC buddies in Santorini, Greece

The best part about travelling with this group was that I learnt a lot more about them in the one week we were together than in the couple of months that we had interacted throughout first year. Through the planning phase, times of stress during the trip itself, I felt like I was able to understand them better.

Thinking in Athens — Deep in thought. Not sure what I was thinking about. Athens, Greece

After the spring break, Term 3 began: it soon morphed into exam season, in which the main problem on my mind was not to wonder which restaurant to eat at, but instead it became finding a suitable study spot which was not overcrowded with other students eager to get some revision in. It was an intense 5 weeks in which I really took stock of what I had learnt. While it was gruelling to condense so much revision into a short period of time, I felt like it was possible to pull through because I had great coursemates who were willing to share and teach what they knew (and vice versa, of course).

Summertime sadness — Although it was a tough period, I was greeted by beautiful cotton candy skies like this once in a while from the convenience of my room

This breathed new meaning to the phrase ‘getting through it together’, and it also made me realize the importance of having different groups of friends with different strengths and weakness, so as to leverage on them.

As soon as the exams ended, the travel bug bit me once again and I couldn’t wait to make plans again. So I grabbed a couple of friends from Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Indonesia and we planned a short getaway to Scotland.

Group Pic Edinburgh — This was us at the top of Arthur’s Peak in Edinburgh, Scotland. Some of us found the hike harder than others, so it was quite some time till all of us were up here for the picture.

With exam stress taken off our minds, we were truly able to enjoy ourselves, going on tours of the Royal Edinburgh Museum, Edinburgh Castle, the Scottish Whisky preparation process, and even The Elephant House, where J.K. Rowling was said to have visited multiple times to get inspiration for the Harry Potter series.

Arthur's peak — Amazing view of Edinburgh atop Arthur’s Peak.

Bagpipes — Streetside bagpipes busker. He put up a great show, and not only because I love the regal sound of the bagpipes.

For all its quirks, I absolutely loved Edinburgh and would definitely visit again someday.

On the way back to Warwick, we stopped over at Liverpool to visit the Beatles’ Museum as well as take a boat ride from Albert Dock. While I wasn’t exactly the biggest Beatles fan, my friends enjoyed the experience thoroughly and it was great fun to see them so excited about something and to try and feel their joy. While Liverpool was a quiet little town with a very windy situation, there was a peaceful atmosphere about it and I truly appreciated that!