So, the fun times have ended, you’re back home and don’t know what to do. You’ve been told that it is normal to experience the reverse culture shock, you know, realising that your home country is not as great as your YA country, constantly comparing the two, but have you heard of the post-YA depression? Some people say that that is missing your life, your friends and everything else in the foreign country, but for me it was more like extreme apathy, lack of energy or motivation and just wasting my days staring at the ceiling.
But anyway, why am I even talking about all of this? Well, because not having much to do wasn’t helping my situation and thus, I was very, very excited to go back to the UK, to start my final year of uni and to be busy again. However, when you get too excited, things tend to not go the way you planned…
Firstly, let’s appreciate that I packed into 20kg suitcase (though I did order my bedding online), isn’t it impressive? Well, I had to do it that way, how could I travel from Leeds to Newcastle with multiple suitcases. Up the stairs, down the stairs, up the hill, onto the train… Moreover, because of the check-in hours for my lovely accommodation, I couldn’t go straight to Newcastle on the day I landed. And with my plane being delayed, the luggage taking ages to be reclaimed and the next bus from the airport being cancelled and me having to wait for 45 minutes in the freezing British weather, I would certainly not make it.
Fortunately, I’m lucky enough to have a friend in the UK who was willing to take me in for one night (shoutout to you ♥), which then meant I was travelling from a different city to my destination the next day. I left at around 10:00, catching my first train. I was ready to get to Newcastle, I kept checking all my documents and tickets. I had to change the train and I was a bit worried about making it from one platform to another, but the train was delayed by a few minutes, which added to my confidence of making it. Oh, how silly I was!
The train kept being delayed and then cancelled. But it was fine, because the next train would be coming in a few minutes… and a few more, and a few more… until it got cancelled too! And the same thing happened with the next 2 trains!! It was lunchtime. Usually, I’d be hungry, but I guess the stress filled me up no problem. At last, we were told to go back to Leeds (!!) and take a train of a different company from there.
Originally, I was supposed to be in NCL 12:30, a good hour before I was due to collect my keys. When did I really get there? 14:35, frantically trying to get a taxi to make it to my accommodation in time because I was told they wouldn’t wait. 🙂 And when I got there, 10 minutes before the closing hours, there was no one. Should I wait, should I start thinking about where I’m gonna spend the night? But luckily, the office was not locked, so in a few moments, I got my keys and could enter my room.
“Finally!” I thought. It’s all over now, everything’s fine. Ha. I realised that I didn’t have my bedding in the room, though it was supposed to be delivered 2 days ago. I ran to the post room, but there was nothing. “They don’t deliver during the check-in, love. It’ll get here tomorrow,” I was told. Am I gonna sleep covered by a towel on a plain bed? Yes, it seemed so. Thankfully, my brain started working, because the idea of a cold night wasn’t very pleasant, and decided to turn on the heating (which worked! Woohoo!).
So now, you’d think that the next day I’d get my package and everything would be fine, right? Me too. Ha, ha. No, not yet! We’re getting older and our life tests are getting more difficult, y’know. On the first night I order a grocery delivery for the next day. I’m a person that loves to go to sleep early, but the delivery was supposed to get here at around 8-9pm, which meant that I couldn’t start my night routine until after 9. It’s fine, I can survive one day like that. 8 comes by, 8:30 passes, 8:50 I get nervous about where the hell is the delivery and go outside to wait in case they come but can’t reach me. Nothing. 9pm rolls by, 9:10, I give up and go back in. I call their service, can’t get through the music. I try to contact them on chat, the bot says they’ll back to me within 2 hours. I break down. Have I just lost £100? Has anyone taken my shopping and I won’t get it refunded? Why always me? Have I mentioned that this wouldn’t have happened in Japan, none of this? After my little crying session, I put myself back together and decide to call again. This time I am patient enough to get through. Turns out the driver came here and no one answered the door (obviously, there’s no doorbell and they didn’t ring my phone!!) and so they just left. Wow. So I’m grocery-less, hungry and exhausted with a busy day coming up.
In the end, I somehow managed, I made it to my shift, I got my groceries and walked up with 15kg shopping in three bags up the hill (with a few breaks) just in time to teach my class and even my neck and shoulders survived. So yeah, did it! May it be the end…
