23 Dec Moving to another Country

As someone who has previously never left Europe, travelling to another continent by yourself is incredibly daunting. Part of me was certainly confused as to why I would leave a university that I love, a country I call home, and friends that I could basically not live without for an ultimately really expensive year. But on the other hand, this is probably the only opportunity I am ever going to have to live in another country for a year without having the trials and tribulations of a job, or the full responsibilities of a sensible adult, something that I am definitely not prepared for just yet.
Also, it is America! And not only America but San Francisco! The city of free love, liberal politics, and more hippies than you know what to shake a stick at. If I am going to spend a year away from my family and friends anywhere it has to be here. I have learnt so much about San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area as a history student that to study at the same place that Angela Davis taught at in the 1960s makes me wiggle with glee. SFSU has a fascinating past with political and social activism that I want to explore, and hopefully contribute to in some way.
So far, I’ve discovered that San Francisco is not just expensive, but REALLY expensive. Like makes you want to eat rice-and-soy-sauce-exclusively kind of expensive, and to be honest the soy sauce is too expensive as well so I’ll end up sticking to just rice. I come from the land of Aldi where my weekly shop is £15 max and I dither over whether spending £1 on some sweet onion chutney is really worth it. It is going to take some getting used to and some serious budgeting to avoid spending my entire loan on just surviving. I guess this is just part of the challenges of adulthood so welcome to my transition to becoming a functioning independent adult woman!