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Some thoughts about moving away from home (to the other side of the world)

Some thoughts about moving away from home (to the other side of the world)

I haven’t yet discussed here my life at KAIST; said life has rather got in the way of writing it down. Because that seems to be the key feature of university living – consistently impending deadlines and an ever-growing to-do list. Two weeks into my second semester, I am already finding my timetable full to bursting either with lectures, recitation classes or club activities, all of which bear ‘homework’ time commitments. Meanwhile, I spend probably too long on the ‘home…

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PSA: KAIST is Difficult and I Need Better Time Management

PSA: KAIST is Difficult and I Need Better Time Management

Hello again to you few people who have checked this page once more. You are finally rewarded with new content! Though this is a notice both for any readers and equally to myself. I started happily at KAIST in the Fall 2017 semester, last September, after having travelled around Japan and Korea with my family as I had begun to document. Clearly, this documentation took rather a low priority on my suddenly very full to-do list, and hence I have…

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Hakone: Volcanic Eggs and Fuji

Hakone: Volcanic Eggs and Fuji

Having spent a few hectic days in Tokyo, living at the same fast pace as the heart of the city, we were ready for a rest – a retreat. However, as tourists, an eagerness remained to see and experience Japanese highlights that had previously only been ideas tacked up on the wall, famous landmarks only pictures in a guidebook. The perfect combination of these two sentiments was to travel to Hakone, an area not far from Tokyo that also provided…

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First Stop – Tokyo!

First Stop – Tokyo!

The journey began in Tokyo, which we reached in the evening after a train ride from Narita. The bustling hubbub of the airport retreated until we were left with only the occasional conductor’s announcement in Japanese – the very first times I would hear public broadcasts in a completely unfamiliar language. I have found that there is something very intriguing about knowing that information is being imparted but receiving none of it – it is both worrying and relaxing at…

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Bye Britain

Bye Britain

I have officially left British soil for the next five months – though I’ve headed not to Korea but Japan. I’m grateful to say, my family has joined me on this first journey, primarily for an amazing holiday but also to soften my transition to life alone at university. We left home in the morning of July 31st, travelling first to Heathrow then efficiently boarding our flight at the scheduled time. The aeroplane then handily teleported to Narita and we…

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The Beginning

The Beginning

How does one begin a documentation of a life-changing event? For surely that is what this will become. I leave the UK in only a few days, and will not return for months, far longer than I’ve ever been away from home before, and at a far further distance. I have begun this blog to record my experiences living in a foreign country, studying in a new system and discovering a different culture to my own; welcome all who have…

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