Farewell season

Hi there!
It's hard to believe that I have less than one month left before going back to Brazil and these last weeks have been extremely difficult to me. First because it's time to finish my summer project, which means many hours working to conclude that and writing my report before I go. Also, as the time passes, I see how many things I'm still wanting to do here in London: places I've never been to or I want visit again, things I want to learn, pictures I want to take. However, the thing that most upset me is having to say good bye to my friends.

Flat 53 family gathered together for the last time at Lacy Hall

When we arrived here, my flatmates and I took the decision on living really like a family and I think we did very well. Many people don't believe when we say that we share food (and bill), responsibilities in the kitchen and cook for each other every day. It might sound impossible and sometimes it was really tough.We had a quarrel several times during our weekly meetings. We disagreed countless times about how to share the bills or who should do the dishes. I had to put my foot down many times when they passed the acceptable limit on noise. I had to complain about ownerless spoons in the sink. But, of course, it doesn't mean that I haven't got along with them. Isn't it the way that a family behaves? On balance, it was a very positive relationship! I'm completely sure that all I'm going to remember from now are the cheerful moments we've had together.
Fortunately, I'm the kind of person that life's prepared to farewells. I've moved so many times in my life that it should be impossible not to learn how to deal with it. I am completely sure that distance is not a barrier when you really want to keep people you love in your life.

See you soon guys, I'm sure!

Improving English and making international friends with Meetup

A challenge that many people - like me - face when they come to an English-speaking country is to adapt to the language. Of course, to be accepted in a university in the UK I've done a proficiency test, but I was still struggling with the language after around 9 months living here.

I have been doing all that things that everybody says to you to avoid when you go study in another country: make only friends from the same country which you come from, continue listening musics from your country and reading books in your language. The result was that I was deeply upset with myself about not having achieved the level of English I expected when I came here.

Everything changed the day I discovered Meetup.com . The website's purpose is to connect people with the same interests within an area. For example, you can search for people who like board games, in your neighbourhood or city. Or photography. Or... languages, of course! Then, you can enter as many groups you want and go to the meetings organised by them. Many of them are free, other charge a nominal fee to attend. I had never heard about it, but since that day when a friend of mine told me about the website, my life here totally changed.

I can't count how many meetings I've been so far, but the experiences I had were all fantastic. I've experienced both free and paid events and they worth it. Personally, the groups I like more are The London English conversation group ( paid English lessons with a native and amazing teacher), Babble Exchange (meeting in a pub, you can improve any language you want), Ken's London Walks (£2 per a guided walk in different places in London) and London Let's Click (free and paid workshops).

The advice I can give you is not to look only for those groups related to language, even if your main purpose is to improve your language skills. The problem with language groups is that most of people who attend them probably are not native speakers as well. I know you can learn with people from other country as well, but - for me - it's so much funnier to practice my English with British people, while we go on a stroll in a park or in a photography tour around London.

Give it a try!