2020: KARLA AND HER FIRST TIMES
My name is Karla. I am 25 years old. I am a Cuban living in the UK and this is part of my story.
My experience in the UK could define it in many ways. It has been such a … busy year, so full of surprises, some pleasant and others not at all pleasant, but without a doubt it has been a year full of new experiences that have contributed a lot to my life, both personal and professional.
The story begins even before reaching Manchester. The story begins in Havana, in my beloved Havana, when one day I decided that it was the ideal time to cross borders and see with my own eyes what everyone called “development.” At that time, I was a Cuban who had never left Cuba, had never ridden on a plane, therefore, I had never lived in a different cultural space. Back then, I ‘thought’ I knew English (once I set foot in the UK, I realized this was not true). Despite all the first few times they waited for me, I was willing to give everything to achieve my dream of studying abroad. Of course, I wanted to know and live the experience, but I was also thirsty for a lot of information and knowledge.
After spending almost a year following all the phases of the application process for the Chevening scholarships, in July 2019 I received what I would qualify at that time as the best news of my life: I had won a full scholarship to study a master’s degree in the University of Manchester, UK! At that moment I thought that the nervousness, the uncertainty, the waiting was over. What I didn’t know was that I was about to start a stage in my life full of firsts.
So many first times in so little time. First time to separate from my mother, my family, my friends. First time I said goodbye and did not know what was waiting for me on the other side. First time riding a plane and experiencing turbulence in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. My feet were stepping on another country for the first time (Germany — I stopped there before landing in Manchester). First time to feel the cold (the real one, not that of Cuba). First time to call my mom being so far from her. Finally, first time in Manchester, UK. I had already reached my destination. The universe was condescending to me and that September 9, 2019 was sunny.
My adventure began and the first times continued. I began to nourish myself with history from the moment I took a taxi from the airport to what would be my new home for a while. The driver had Middle Eastern features and his accent was peculiar. First time sharing a house with other students, all from different countries, different cultures, different points of view. And the first day I went to explore Manchester. A beautiful city, a mixture of cultures, nationalities, a city open to beliefs and orientations. And I was dazzled to see that university. That magical, majestic, clean, impeccable university, where its walls tell the story by themselves. I felt so small in front of that majestic building, but that lasted a few minutes. I instantly felt great and proud to have gotten where I had come.
My first day of school was unforgettable. Entering a room full of international students, mainly from the Asian continent, but I also met many people from my Latin American region. It was enough just to look at us and smile to start building our new family. I enjoyed every day to the fullest, or so I thought. I confess that during the first semester of my course I devoted endless hours to studying and I was leaving the other part of the experience aside. We continued to share in our Latino family and with some infiltrated Asians and more than welcome, but our new home was the library and our pillows were books and our laptops.
Unfortunately, when I started changing that style, which I can say did not work 100 percent, it was too late. After finishing the first semester, with their respective exams and just two weeks into the second semester, the world began to turn gray. The pandemic had reached the UK. From one moment to another my plans to visit Bath, Cambridge, Oxford, Cardiff and many other cities in the UK vanished and we all began to live a quarantine that became more and more eternal. And here is my first experience of this journey. Don’t put off what you can do today until tomorrow, stop making excuses and enjoy every minute to the fullest. Life changes in the blink of an eye. Yes, I know that these phrases are very common and that everyone repeats them non-stop, but there are few who apply them to their daily lives. I began to enjoy every minute of my life since then.
The first thing I did was change my hair. I am letting it grow naturally and decided to stop following beauty stereotypes that have been instilled in me since I was little, and I am loving the process of watching my real afro hair grow and have learned how to take care of it. I have learned to love myself a little more as I am. I discovered yoga, and I confess that today it is an important part of my life. This activity helped me a lot to find my inner self and to dedicate time to myself, my soul and my spirit. This activity also helped me to stay focused on my goals and not to let myself go crazy because of the difficult external situation that was happening. Definitely, the day I left Cuba I knew that I would be away from my family and friends, that I would miss them a lot, that there would be times when the longing would be stronger than me (being in the UK, I have come to miss the endless queues in Coppelia), but what I never imagined was that I would experience a global pandemic. And it is so, in these moments where you realize that everything changes from one moment to another.
The second semester of my course was very difficult. Another “first time” was beginning to approach. Write a dissertation in English and apply acquired knowledge, much of it online, due to the isolation restrictions that were put in place due to the pandemic. The stress was undeniable, yoga helped, and a lot, my family and friends helped a lot, I felt great support from my supervisor, but it wasn’t until one day that I talked to myself and stopped worrying and started to take care when everything changed.
I finished my dissertation even before the scheduled deadline, again I felt proud to be a student at such a prestigious university. Neither the pandemic, nor being in a completely different country from mine, nor being away from my family prevented me from realizing my dream. Someone once told me that each thing in life, each event or event has its positive side, even those that are harmful and that kill people, such as this pandemic. For me the positive side is that people have learned to love each other more in recent months. They are learning to enjoy the present more, they are not fully focusing on planning a future that is uncertain. And it is not an uncertain future now due to this conjunctural situation that the world is experiencing, the future is uncertain by nature, just as the past cannot be changed, because we cannot go back in time. It is the present, it is today and not tomorrow, it is now and not later.
Despite everything I have cried (I have to be honest, I think this year I have cried more than in my entire life, and I am not exaggerating, believe me), I would not trade this experience for anything. Every minute has been a new life lesson. Even now writing these lines I feel full that I will be able to share my experience with other people.
