Welcome to Serra’s blog called ‘Passport, Camera- Words in my Mind’, this week entitled A New Hope; a description of what it is like to be a foreign national living in Guildford and the different perspective that might give to one that has lived and grown up here in England. Serra was born in Ankara, Turkey and has a mechanical engineering Ph.D. She is an academic staff member at Gazi University but her work has brought her to Guildford as a visiting researcher at the University of Surrey. She loves literature, cinema (especially Walt Disney films, Japanese anime and Marvel) as well as being an amateur photographer and charcoal-drawer. She is hypnotized by the colours green and blue and loves the piano and violin, being particularly fond of Beethoven and Vincent van Gogh, blogging on books, arts and gardening in what is left of her spare time. Please enjoy her charming and enchanting journey through Guildford…
I lived in the capital city of Turkey, Ankara for the first 33 years of my life and tears were emerging on my cheeks as the plane took off on September 28 as I turned a new page in my life. While the small squares of wheat fields were passing by under our feet, I was also thankful that we were finally approaching my dreamland, England. The stars were brighter, the city lights were aligned like dashed lines drawn with a golden pen, the streets silent and houses quiet, everyone asleep when I landed in London. Being a distance of about 40 minutes by train, I arrived at Guildford late at night.
Guildford itself turned out to possess more than I originally thought. First and foremost, the town welcomed me with cheerful weather; clouds flying faster than I had ever seen anywhere in my life. There were rich opportunities for food & drink, satisfying every taste of fashion and options of sports facilities with all these shops, brands, perfumes, sandwiches and bakery’s. Immediately I saw the elegant style of the women with hair so natural in shape and in every shade of blonde, from old to young. People also seemed to be very fit, many preferring to cycle home after work.
I have been an undergraduate, graduate, postgraduate and finally a staff member so the university concept was nothing new to me. However, the nature, people and facilities of this university have altered my perception as most likely a lot of the other British universities would do as well. Students celebrate being here each day by introducing a cultural duplicity with their books, food and stories and the university celebrates the students being here with special lectures and activities. Returning home on the bus I heard at least three other native languages being spoken and so I think the variety of student origins is higher than many other European cities. The vision of education being thankfully open to students and researchers from different parts of the world is the most essential part and at the University of Surrey this is an indication of happiness in diversity.
I love not only classic British literature such as Charlotte Brontë, but at home we also used to watch ‘Upstairs Downstairs’ as a family every Sunday night! I am looking forward to visiting Baker Street to see the origin of Sherlock Holmes, and Big Ben, the London Eye, the world-famous universities as well as the south coasts in Summer, the British gardens in Spring, Westminster in Winter and Scotland in Autumn. It is great to be around classic English ladies and their beautiful hats, English gentleman that all look like Prince William, Irish folk with all their sweet freckles and so many museums, castles, trains, green hills and yellow fields.
Finally, I can say for sure, that through all my successes and failures, purposes and struggles, from the most irrelevant to the most related- they were meant to bring me here.
Written and photographed by Serra Topal