Hello, my name is Olufunmilola Abidemi Olowoyo from Nigeria, Africa. I am a first year MA Social Work student, and also a Student Ambassador at Hope. Moving to the UK for my postgraduate studies was a whole new experience for me because it was my first time in the country. It was a journey that I looked forward to with great expectations. When I arrived at Manchester Airport, it was exciting to see an airport so elegant and tastefully built. I had support from the officials to get me on my scheduled train to Liverpool and guess what? It was my first time on an international train so I had fun all through the journey!

The next day I got up with so much excitement to explore the city of Liverpool, but due to the quarantine, I stayed indoors waiting for the 14 days to elapse for me to hit the city. Liverpool is such a beautiful and vibrant bubbling city with so much diversity of cultures. My experience was thrilling and my special moments started right from my university. The university is beautiful, calm, warm and supportive to students. It has fantastic tutors who are swift to assist at any time to make one comfortable. The university also has support learning services for students, and I have been able to reach out to the writing mentor services on various occasions for writing tips for my assessments. Though the learning has been online since I started, it has been quite interesting because of the high technology standard deployed by the university for learning.

The main language is ‘scouse’, and the people here have a great sense of humour, are friendly and welcome foreigners with a warm embrace. It is commendable how supportive the people in the city are, always available to render help when asked. Lost my way a couple of times in the city and have been assisted by strangers without discrimination despite the difference and richness in accent.

The bus system is so smooth, comfortable with functional Wi-Fi for use and honestly this saves me the stress of wanting to drive myself compare to my home country. I stay close to the city centre in Liverpool and it is so big with a lot of shops. If you love shopping like me, then the city centre in Liverpool is a place to visit. It has a variety of designer shops where you can get wears, lovely clubhouse, eateries and host of other things.

Though I’ve not been able to fully explore the city due to the lockdown, I have been able to visit some parks, shops, the magnificent museum, the state library and the famous Anfield stadium. I have also met great minded people and got involved with different life changing coaching. The exposure I have got so far is more than my expectation. I’m sure by the time I finish my program here, I would have experienced more of Liverpool and there will be more stories to tell.

By Funmi