Image Credit: G & A Scholiers

The cold weather on this particular Monday morning was not welcome. It had been warm for the past few days and I had expected the same today: bright and sunny for my first exam of the week.

Sadly it was not, which disappointed me. Fortunately, my fingers were not frozen by the time I got to the exam hall as I had found my long lost gloves!

Coincidentally, also on a Monday, four months ago, I was first introduced to the cold weather.

This after so many hours of waiting in a queue that stretched as long as the beaches of Lagos, the coastal city I lived in all my life before I came to the UK.

After passing through immigration checks, my journey was hitch free.

I had talked to some students who were also all tired at the end of a very long journey. The University of Portsmouth representatives arrived soon after.

As I pushed my suitcase onto the coach which was to take us on our two hour journey to Portsmouth, I had my first taste of the bitter cold. Now, four months later, I try to talk less of the cold as I attempt to catch up on revising for my semester one exams.

The month around the Fresher’s Fayre was filled with parties and flyers. Three parties in eight months before I came here is in no league with three in a week.

I thought I was going to burn out by the fourth outing, but surprisingly I was not even close to that by the end of induction week!

My Fresher’s Fortnight calendar ran for a month, and I wondered how it was humanly possible to party for that long. However, I knew of people who were partying almost every day!

The first thing the experienced students introduced me to was the ever so popular drink, Snakebite, possibly even more popular than the President of the Union!

The acceptance of the different cultures here, coupled with the fact that Nigerians are everywhere in Portsmouth, has made settling down easy and now I can say I am on my way to having the University experience I have always longed for.

In the end, I came to University to have an education and I am having a good one here, firstly academically and secondly socially. I am enjoying every bit of it and I would not want to be anywhere else!