International students from more than 130 countries come from across the world to De Montfort University – but what’s it like to leave your homeland to study in the UK? Lucia Sandoval, an exchange student from California, tells feature writer Sara Doktorova her experiences
Some students go to the university down the road. Lucia Sandoval enrolled in one more than 5,000 miles from home.
The 20-year-old is an exchange student from California, USA, who has has been studying journalism at De Montfort University in Leicester.
“I honestly just heard about the exchange programme, through my friends, and through that I was kind of motivated to see the world I guess,” says Lucia.
“I know that journalism is important, and I think it’s important to have an open mind set, and I feel like sometimes in America, we can be selfish a little bit, so I wanted to kind of expand my knowledge and see other cultures and places,” she adds.
Studying in a foreign country has given Lucia a different perspective to see different personalities and getting to know the different media laws here in the UK.
“I’ve been learning about journalism and the different laws you guys have. It’s a lot different than in the States and I guess there are differences in point of views,” says Lucia.
“Among the differences between journalism in America and the UK is that, here in the UK we have different kinds of media laws, whereas in America people can say whatever they want in their newspapers.
“Here, they’re really careful about what they write, and, in the States, we don’t have as many regulations and rules,” says Lucia.
“In my media law lectures, I have noticed that here, that they have more like restrictions, I guess, compared to the States, they can say whatever they want to and not be careful like here in the UK,” she adds.
At De Montfort University, students are taught in blocks, exploring topics in single modules that run for seven weeks. “The blocks are different, because in the States, I have like six classes, and over here it’s just like one per day, like block period, it was kind of difficult to adjust to, and I see the same people almost like every day,” says Lucia.
“It was interesting to get used to this,” she adds.
Lucia has struggled with the feelings of homesickness, and initially the British accent didn’t help.
“Of course, everyone here has a British accent, and it would second guess me talking, because they know I’m not from here, so it’s like weird, because I’m so used to the American accent,” says Lucia.
“Listening to like the British accents all day, it’s kind of threw me off and made me feel super homesick and I missed home a lot when I first got here but I got used to it eventually and now, I’m fine,” she adds.
In her free time, she likes to read, play the piano and guitar but since she can’t do that in her flat, Lucia just simply reads the evening away.
“I read a lot here, that is pretty much the only hobby I could bring over, and I just read at night, “says Lucia.
“My favourite books are like the dystopian books, like the Hunger Games, and one of my favourites is like the Shatter Me, it’s about like corrupt government and right now in America we have problems with our president,” she adds.
This type of dystopian fiction has influenced Lucia a lot and give her hope for the future, but she knows that America is in a pretty bad place now.
She often facetimes her family, but sometimes she avoids it. It makes her miss home. On those kind of days, she just messages them.
“I call my mum like once a week, because it makes me feel sad, but I do text them and send them pictures, all the time, and my mum always sends me pictures of my cats, which makes me feel better,” says Lucia.
Lucia misses California, specifically going to the beach with her friends, the good burritos and Mexican food (her mum is from Mexico).
“I also miss LA a lot, I would go to LA literally every weekend and see a concert,” says Lucia.
Lucia likes the fact that she doesn’t have as much homework here at DMU in Leicester compared to in her college in California.
“We don’t have as much homework, which is like a big thing, because like in America, I always have like ten things due in like one day,” says Lucia.
Lucia also likes the architecture of the buildings in Leicester, as it is very different compared to America and she also likes the history of the UK.
“I think the very old buildings are cool,” says Lucia.
Lucia has been travelling during the holidays of her exchange program. Places she has visited include London and Paris with her friends, and Morocco with her father.
Lucia loves how British people go out to pubs during the week, whereas compared to America, people only go out strictly on Friday or Saturday. She also really likes the pop culture and especially The Beatles.
“I think it’s important to go and have fun with your friends whenever you want,” says Lucia.
After completing her college final year in America, she would like to write for her college newspaper and then apply for an internship and investigate a masters programme.
This exchange program has made Lucia feel less scared, as this was her first time living without her mother and she learned that it’s not so bad, while figuring things out on her own. It made her realise that she could perfectly live on her own anywhere.
After finishing off her studies completely, she would like to move to New York and write for Vogue. “Then I would like to have my own talk show, like the chicken shop day or the hot one’s challenge, I really like those talk shows with celebrities,” says Lucia,
“I would like to interact with film or music, basically anything in that realm,” she adds.
Lucia would like to encourage students who wish to do an exchange program abroad. “I would say it would be the best experience of your life, it feels very like freeing, knowing that you can do something alone,” says Lucia.
“I would say it’s hard, but definitely worth it in the end, because of like the people you meet and the different experiences,” says Lucia.
“You really have to build your own life, and it takes you out of your comfort zone, so you like learn a lot about yourself, and also save like a lot of money, as it gets pretty expensive,” she adds.
