A new chapter

Hola everyone.

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It’s me, Laura. And no, I’ve not fallen into a big black hole I couldn’t get out of. Yes, I do still exist. What a miracle. Ha. Ha. Okay, but seriously, I’m back, for real. I’m sorry it took me so long, but if you’ve been following me for the past months or even just weeks, you’ll know that I’ve had this big move to Brighton and I just had to fully concentrate on that. But yeah, this is over now. I mean, it’s still happening, at least in my head, which I still can’t get around the idea that I’m now living in the UK, where people live, think and speak differently. It’s so so crazy and I’m really glad that I get to share this journey with you guys.

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As you can probably guess, my life here in Brighton and my new uni will be a big topic throughout, well, the next months and maybe even years. But for now I’d just like to share everything that happened in the past seven days with you guys. I know that nowadays it’s a bit more common to move to a different country or city to study or work there and everyone always tells you that it’s a great thing that will shape you, blah blah blah. But what noone really tells you is how hard it is to leave everyone and everything you know and love behind. I don’t regret any part of this move and I don’t want any of you to think that. It’s just that this really great thing also comes with a lot of heartbreaks and anyone who’s in the same situation as me should never feel like you always have to be happy from the first second on because you’re doing this really cool thing and basically fulfilling your dreams. Because it’s okay to not feel okay. Okay?

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So, you can probably guess by now that the move wasn’t easy for me. The last week at home was a total dream for me and probably one of the best weeks ever. I saw all of my friends and I got to spend a lot of time with my family. And yeah, it was just really nice. And I was truly doing fine, even on the day of the move. But then I went into the garden to say goodbye to my cat and said “Peaches, I need to say goodbye” and it was the first time I had to explicitly say it and yeah, it was kind of my trigger word. From that moment on the tears just kept spilling. And you know what, I even let them, because I knew that this was the most normal reaction on earth. And I also knew that saying goodbye to my pets would be the hardest step. I mean, I kind of had an internal panic attack during the flight, but oh well. And you know what, the human mind is something truly crazy sometimes, let me tell you. Because suddenly I had all of these worries popping up in my head. “What if I don’t understand them?” “What if I can’t properly talk to people?” “What if I don’t like my new home?” “What if…?” It was driving me mad.

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Rationally, most of my worries were pretty much total nonsense. Of course I still worry sometimes, mostly about uni right now and my new classmates. But you know, I always try to calm myself down by thinking that I can’t be perfect. I didn’t grow up in the UK and wasn’t raised bilingual, so of course I’m going to make some mistakes. But I’ve been progressing every single day and it’s actually really cool to notice how my brain slowly adjusts to the new surroundings and language. And I’m also already in contact with one of my new peers and yeah. Everything’s gonna be just fine, I’m hundred percent sure of that.

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Besides that, I truly love my new home and Brighton and my new “family” and just pretty much everything. The house is freaking amazing, my room aswell, Nick and Silvia are literally the nicest people ever and the location couldn’t be any better. If I truly concentrate on it, I can even hear the waves crashing into the shore when I open the window. It couldn’t be any better, seriously. But for any of you who are planning on moving to a totally different place, I can just recommend having your parents with you for the first few days. I think that’s what really helped me to both adjust to my new home and not get a heart attack at the same time. I mean, watching my mum get onto the train and leave without me was probably one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, but moving to Brighton all on my own would have been a completely different and also harder story. I just really needed them and I’m happy that I had them with me. Also, I’ll be seeing them again in just 32 days and I already can’t wait.

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You know, when I first got to Brighton I was asking myself whether I had made the right decision or not. Maybe it would have been better to just stay at home, do my Masters degree and then get a job at some magazine or whatever. Maybe that would have been easier. But then something very, very, very exciting happened. Some of you may know that Felix Kjellberg, aka PewDiePie, aka one of my favorite YouTubers, also lives in Brighton together with his fiancée Marzia Bisognin. And when my parents and I were walking to their hotel just after getting to Brighton, I actually told them all about Pewds and Marzia and was like “oh my god, imagine me walking around and then seeing Marzia with their two pugs. One is white and one is black. That would be so crazy.” I was probably annoying them, let’s be honest. And then we were passing this street and I looked to my left side and suddenly there was this guy, wearing a black jumper and black joggers. And I thought “hmm, why do I feel like I know him?” And then I looked down and saw them – Edgar and Maya, the two pugs. So, there he was. Felix. The one and only Pewds. I thought I was dreaming. I, of course, went completely crazy and whispered/shrieked at my parents “IT’S PEWDIEPIE. IT’S PEWDIEPIE.” And my mum was like “WHERE????” (she knows him – of course she does). And my dad was just staring at us like we were some crazy people. And then I looked back at him and he was looking at me and oh my god, I probably looked like a total freak. My mum then basically ordered me to turn around and walk past him, which we did. And as soon as he was out of sight, I basically went nuts. I couldn’t believe it. I had just moved to this city like five short minutes ago and as soon as I stepped outside Pewds walked by. How crazy is that? I still can’t get my head around it. And yes guys, he has got some looks to serve, I’m just going to be completely honest now. And it might be a bit crazy, but I took this as the sign that I had made the right decision. Because when mum and I visited Brighton two years ago, I was basically scanning every single face I went past and nothing happened. But this time I saw him, completely out of the blue. That just had to be the sign.

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Since then I’ve used every singe day to get to know my new home better, street by street, house by house. Let me just tell you one thing – Brighton is damn beautiful and living next to the sea is one of the coolest things ever. Honestly, I feel like the luckiest person ever. Thanks to Silvia and Nick I don’t feel so alone here and they kind of prevent me from getting too sad about the fact that my family isn’t here. Which I’m very thankful for, seriously. I’ve already started to decorate my room and usually spend my days walking around in the city, doing a bit of shopping and stuff. And I’m also really looking forward to fresher’s week that’s coming up. In short, apart from missing my home, life couldn’t be any better right now. I’m basically living my dream and yeah, I’m just really happy and thankful.

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And now I’m going to stop talking. Firstly, because this post if getting far too long and secondly, because it’s already past midnight and a new episode of Bake Off is waiting for me to be watched in bed. So I’m gonna go now. If any of you have got any questions about my move or Brighton or anything else, please don’t hesitate to leave them down below. I’ll try to answer them as fast as I can, I promise. Also, down below you can find some pictures of Brighton that I took the past few days and I really hope that you enjoy them. And yeah, I wish you all an amazing weekend. It feels really good to be back. Thanks for reading, guys. x

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