[Update] Some things never change...

Hello hello!

Thank you to those who've been reminding me about this corner of existence. I don't actually see who or how many subscribes so glad to hear that some people actually remember this :') Thank you for your patience.

Surprise surprise, Charlotte is once again very late, but better late than never, right? ;)

Obviously lots of things have changed and I've settled since school (or as they say here, uni) started in October. But even though it's already been a term... EVEN SO, to start off, this post will be about how I got settled into Bristol. 

Two things stood out to me when I was settling into the Bristol uni life:

1. It is HILLY. 

Bristol was built on 7 hills so everything else that's not towards the river or harbour feels like it's pretty much uphill.

This is Park Street, which makes up about half of my uphill journey to uni. It's not too bad considering my other friends who live further down near the river who have to walk up St. Michael's Hill and/or the Christmas Steps (see below). 

St. Michael's Hill 

The Christmas Steps - Four flights of fun

2. The preservation and assimilation of old residential homes within the university area.

Never mind that now class is only 10 minutes away instead of an hour bus ride and a forest away. UofB is definitely nothing like the modern, purpose-built campus of UBC. 
It's still got your usual big buildings for research and science and all that good stuff but a lot of its schools/departments' offices are situated within some roads of residential houses. 
The houses are obviously renovated and modernised on the inside to fit its administrative function but my awe of the seemingly juxtaposition of form and function took a few days (maybe weeks) to settle.

"How are these all offices or classrooms?!"

Signs like this would be the only indicator

Why rebuild when you can just attach onto another house through a glass walkway?

#FutureNeighbourGoals?

That said, there were still a lot of other things to get used to.
Things like: knowing what my coins were, which way of the road to look out for so I don't die (still a problem tbh), people asking me "You alright?" and learning to take it as a hello/how-are-you and not actually as if I seem concerning to them.

Small things that told me that this isn't the world I've been used to anymore.

There were also small mercies, like how I didn't expect there to be as many Asian grocery stores as there are and decent Asian restaurants. There's even a handful of bubble tea places for me to go if I get desperate. 
And from the time I had no place to live to after having moved three different times in my university accommodations, God showed me He was in control. 

I came here expecting everything to be different and wanting to find out what of me will change or stay the same. 
So COME BACK AGAIN to read more of my ramblings if you'd like, there'll be recaps/photos of my trips in addition to reflections of exchange life.
Spoiler alert, I am still a horrible student so if you entertained the thought of that part of me changing, apologies, you and I are both extreeemelyy disappointed. 

I promise I won't take 4 months for the next post! There's lots I'd like to share with y'all :')


Also, I'm not the greatest at keeping in contact with friends back home, but just wanted to put it out there that I do miss all of you dearly. While social media helps us keep tabs on each other it's also enabled me to not proactively reach out because I could just check your story or something and see that you're doing okay. But if you're reading this, just know that I hope you're doing well and that many, many of you are still in my thoughts and prayers.
Out of sight, out of mind is definitely not true. 

Much love,
-Charlotte