When I first arrived in Dumfries, I knew no one at all - a scary prospect! However, I met my flatmates (the people I am sharing a house with) on the first day, and we got along really well. My flatmates are international students from Italy, China and Germany. We quickly connected with other international students and formed a nice group of friends to explore the area with.
While it is great to have fellow international students as friends, an important part of living abroad for me is to meet locals. The majority of students in my programme are international students, so I had to step outside of my home and school to meet locals. I did this by joining a local writers' group, where I meet two or three times per month with writers who live in the area. This has been a really great experience, as I get to hear their stories and learn more about the history of the place and their experience living here. Additionally, I joined the student council, where I meet once a month with students from all over the university at the main campus in Glasgow (a two hour train ride away). Most of the other students on the council are from the United Kingdom, so the meetings and events give me a good way of getting to know local students.
