When I arrived to Birmingham, I did not have any British Pounds on me because I forgot to make a money exchange at the airport. As such, this presented a few problems. First, I could not travel to my apartment. Second, I could not buy any food, something which I forgot to bring. Fortunately, my Swedish flatmate arrived at the airport on the same day as myself and we were able to travel to the campus together. He lent me money for my bus fare more than once, and even my groceries. This seems to be quite trivial, but to me, this was a godsend. If it weren’t for him and his trusting nature, I would be at a complete loss; I would be stuck in the middle of nowhere with a growling stomach as my companion. I was able to exchange money the following day after I used my debit card at an ATM machine. Today, he was in the need of change because the bus fare requires the exact amount of 1 pound 80 pence for a one-way trip. Yesterday, I stocked up on change precisely for this purchase and I gladly lent money to him. It felt really good to help him out. This is but a small example how comforting it is to have at least one other friend in a foreign country whom you can trust and depend on.

Today afternoon, we went to buy groceries at the UK Wal-Mart called, ASDA. While our current apartment is furnished, it is empty, devoid of kitchenware, bathroom necessities and the like. As such, I suggested that we four (soon to be five) flammates gather together and come up with a list of items we should purchase from ASDA. And brainstorm we did! “Toilet paper, plunger, laundry detergent…”, I spoke aloud. “Plates, sponges, mirror, cups…”, another flatmate, a South Korean named Jeongwon chimed in. And we went on and on until we had covered the basic necessities. Today, my previously mentioned Swedish flatmate, Robin and I went to ASDA to buy these necessities. Jeongwon and my Spanish flatmate, Alejandro did not know we were going and went off somewhere else by themselves. After a long 4 hours of walking, searching and asking for help, we were ready to go home. This as all in pouring rain. Traffic was terrible and while waiting at the bus stop, two buses zoomed by without stopping. I was confused when the first passed us and flabbergasted when the second did the same. Finally, I gathered the guts to ask a local why I was being ignored. “You need to wave at the driver down” was the reply. I’ve heard of waving down a taxi, but not a two deckered bus! Finally we did get a bus and walked home, muscles sore and brains sorer. As a showered that evening, I thought how curious it was that I could 1) take things for granted back home 2) be oblivious to others helping me just as I was helping my other two roommates without them knowing 3) expect things to fit to my ideas (the bus would stop for me) instead of fitting my ideas to other things.

Picture: Digestives are not a medical product for gastrointestinal problems. They are delicious biscuits that taste like graham crackers made into loose, flourly cookies!

Ever since the officer who was checking the boarding passes said, “Good luck young man!”, I have felt a genuine sense of warmth both the English people and international students.

When I was on the airplane bound towards Birmingham, the flight attendants similarly expressed a cordial attitude. Being jet lagged at 9 am in the morning (or equivalent to 3 am in the States) I could barely hold my head up and soon dozed off. When I awoke, I looked around and saw that the other passengers had been served breakfast. I thought this quite unfortunate as I had forgotten to bring with me some meals that could be quickly prepared or eaten. To my surprise, there on the seat next to me was a boxed airplane breakfast of apple turnover, deli sandwich and orange juice. Hooray! One of officer onboard encountered technical difficulties and the movie that was being played had to be stopped midway. He profoundly apologized over the intercom and then resumed the movie from the start; while I would have expected any officer to apologize, I would not have expected his apology to be so great to that extent. Upon arriving at the airport, I had to fill out a form at the UK Border Agency stating that I had arrived. I was filling the form out as I waited in line (the English say “in queue”) but was unable to complete it was my turn. Even worse, at the last moment I realized that I was supposed to by filling it out using capital letters. I began filling out a new form from that moment. I went up to the UK Border officer’s desk and told her that I probably should let the next person go in front of me. Instead, she looked at my forms told me it wasn’t a problem as she, herself could help me fill out my forms. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised.

Upon my arrival, there were Aston Students ( I am studying at Aston Business School) wearing huge name cards and smiles who greeted me shortly after my arrival. This “Meet and Greet Service” was supposed to have been for exchange students arriving at 10:00 am or later, but even though my flight arrived at 8:45 am, the Aston Students greeted me and gave me a free ride to the University. There are more examples of this kind-heartedness that I am sure I will experience in the next few da—no, hours!

*Picture: An interesting statue at the Schipol Airport in Amsterdam. I stopped at this airport before my connecting flight to Birmingham and had 2.5 hours to amuse myself.