During the academic year of 2022-2023 the House of Commons reported that there were 758,855 overseas students in the UK. This number makes up 26% of the whole student population within the UK. A large portion of these international students also make their way to Newcastle. According to data shared by the Complete University Guide, Northumbria’s student body is composed of almost 11% international students, and Newcastle University has an international student population of 13.5%. Combined, they add up to roughly 7500 overseas students in Newcastle. The majority of them come from outside Europe, and have travelled a long distance to study here, including me.
My name is Gabriel Pazmino and I come from Ecuador. I am studying Journalism and Creative Writing at Newcastle University and have lived in Newcastle for over four years now. I chose to study in the UK because I wanted to study somewhere taught in English. Ever since I was little, I loved reading and writing in English, hence I wanted to try something related to that as a career. I chose to come to the UK because I had visited England and Scotland before, and I was quite charmed by the beauty. Another part of me chose the UK because I definitely wanted a ‘British’ accent.
The Geordie accent
My mother tongue is Spanish, but I was also quite fluent in English before coming to England. As I mentioned earlier, I was an avid reader and writer, and since I went to an American school, those two subjects naturally manifested in English over Spanish. When I came to Newcastle, I did not struggle with speaking the language, the problem was understanding the locals.
My naive self, believed that everywhere in England everyone spoke like the Queen, and it was my surprise to find myself not understanding a word uttered to me on occasions. You can imagine my initial disappointment when I learned that they did not in fact speak like the Queen up here in the North East.
The Geordie accent was quite rough to understand in the beginning, especially when spoken very rapidly. Many times, I would find myself at a McDonalds at 3am, stuck in a conversation with a stranger that I could not understand as much as I tried. However, the more I listened to it, the more I understood it. To this day, sometimes I encounter individuals with a very thick Geordie accent and no matter how hard I try, I cannot understand them.
The English Language
Back home I had been taught to speak English the American way, so it was also interesting noticing the subtle differences in phrases and words that are more typical of British English than American English. I had to relearn a lot of words especially since they were either not used or had different meanings here.
Football, I always had referred to as soccer, but now I also refer to it as football (We say it similarly in Spanish, so I prefer it this way). Whenever I said pants here people would always be confused or weirded out.
Later on, I learned that pants here are underwear and not trousers, which the Americans call pants. Learning this saved me from quite a few misunderstandings. At the same time, I also started wanting to embrace British slang over American slang and ended up replacing some words of my vocabulary with the British versions. Saying cheers, instead of thanks and calling my friends mates instead of well, friends. I started calling money quid and would occasionally say that’s mint too.
The weather in Newcastle
The first thing I remember someone saying to me when I got off the plane at the Newcastle airport was someone making a comment on how miserable the weather is here in the UK. I wholeheartedly believed that they were just being dramatic, and frankly I assumed the weather wouldn’t be as bad as they made it out to be. I did not believe that there could be harsh winds, constant rain and no sun for days at a time, later on I realised how real those weather jokes truly were.
For a little bit of context, Ecuador, specifically Quito where I lived, has some of the best weather conditions in the world. Since it’s located on the equator, Ecuador does not have four seasons. There is only summer and the rainy season, and as such temperatures do not change much throughout. The temperatures vary between 10 to 20 degrees Celsius. Since it’s located on the equator, that also means the sun sets and rises at pretty much the same times every day. All year the sun rises around five in the morning and sets at 6:30 in the afternoon.
Checking the weather
To this day, the weather remains the toughest thing for me to get used to living in Newcastle. In the beginning it was especially hard. Back home, it’s pretty uncommon to check the weather app. All one would need is to grab a jacket and one was sorted for the day. Here, I learnt the unpredictability of the weather.
One day it can be warm and sunny and the next it will become a rainy mess. I learned to check the weather every morning and every time I left my house. I learnt that rain or bad weather was not an excuse to not do activities during the day, whether it was groceries, shopping or exercise. Back home if it ever rained people would just stay indoors, it did not happen often so we could postpone activities. Here, I learned that the weather will always be bad. So, I learnt to do groceries in the rain, run in the cold and do shopping on freezing days. I had to embrace the bad weather.
Newcastle and the seasons
Another aspect that is still tough for me is getting used to the seasons. Winter feels very cold for me. But even then, that is manageable. Good clothes are all it takes to go on with daily life. What really hit me was the sun rising and setting at different times. It felt weird having the sun go down earlier than I’m used to and rising later than I’m used to. When the sun set, my body would feel it’s time to go to sleep and tired. Productivity reached all-time lows during winter darkness.
In the mornings, it would take a lot for me to get up. The freezing air in contrast to the lovely warmth of my bed would make me drowsy, and I would feel like wanting to sleep forever. I may or may not have been a bit depressed during my first two winters. It was tough. I had low energy, low productivity, and zero interest in leaving my flat. Thankfully, the more I was exposed to the weather, the more I got used to it and now it feels much more normal. I now do not get the initial tiredness I got when the sun set early for me, and now I even go out running when the paths are slightly frozen.
Spring and Summer
The harsh nature of winter however, only helped cater to my happiness when spring and summer come. Spring and summer here in England feel like bliss after winter. It is a welcome change to the weather, and definitely I feel my mood become more in sync with the seasons.
I enjoy watching the stages plants and trees undertake with each new season. Flowers begin to bud during spring, trees regrowing their leaves. It feels overwhelmingly positive to the contrast of winter. The weather here in Newcastle makes me appreciate the warmer days and also realise British people do not joke about the weather, they are always serious about how bad it gets.
