“I’ve never been to England. But I kind of like The Beatles.”

If you had asked me one year ago if I wanted to study in England, I would have said no. To me, studying in England, USA or Australia just seemed too mainstream. Most Norwegians studying abroad goes to one of those countries, and I always wanted to do the total opposite of everybody else, so it was never really an option for me. I thought.

When wasn’t accepted for Chinese Studies in Oslo last summer, I decided to retake some subjects and exams and to try again this year. But I felt I needed a back up plan, so I started to look at some other courses in Oslo as well. One of the courses I was real interested in was International Relations. But the grades I needed to be accepted there were even higher than Chinese Studies, so I knew I wouldn’t make it. Plus I wanted to study an Asian language, which the International Relations course did not offer.

I don’t know how I got there, but one day I found myself looking at courses for International Relations and Chinese Studies in England at sonor.no. I found out that there was a course at The Univeristy of Portsmouth called International Relations and Languages and they offered Mandarin as a language. “Well, this is just perfect!” I thought. But I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do my whole bachelor overseas. So without telling anyone, I sent an e-mail to Sonor asking about the course. They sendt me back an application form for me to fill out. So I filled it out and it was done.

16th of January I was having coffee in a cafè when someone from Sonor called and said that I had been accepted at The University of Portsmouth for International Relations and Languages with Mandarin.

I wasn’t quite sure if I wanted to accept the offer or not, but I decided to do it. The course just seems so perfect for me and Portsmouth looks like a really pretty city to live in. I will also save some time doing the course in England, because if I would take a bachelor in International Relations and then one in Chinese Studies in Norway it would take me six years. At Portsmouth I can do the bachelor in four years. And the third year I get to spend a whole year in China, which I am really excited about!

I woudn’t have had it any other way now. What if I hadn’t sent that e-mail or accepted the offer? I don’t even want to think about it because I am so looking forward to going to England now. I think it’s going to be four awesome years!

Source image 1, image 3