Name: Chia-hui Liao( 廖佳慧)
School: University of Newcastle
Course: MA in Translation and Interpretation

My First Impression of Newcastle

I arrived in England this July. I chose England to further my higher education after I completed my BA. I expected I might face some cultural shocks before coming to England, since England is definitely different from Taiwan, where I grow up, in many ways: eating habits, weather conditions and social manners, for example. Hence, I'm not really shocked after doing a series of "psychological constructions" in advance.

I have been in England for two months. I am studying in Newcastle. It struck me as rather odd that people in Newcastle seem to be rather more interested in the moon than Chinese. They love to name the place they live in "crescent". I have seen countless "crescents" since I arrived. I believe this phenomenon indicates a major distinction of road design between Taiwan and Newcastle. The road design in Taiwan is either vertically or horizontally straight, so I can always find my way easily according to road signs. In contrast, roads in Newcastle seem to curve around everywhere. I can never ever know where I will be for the next few minutes. It is exciting and scaring as well. Sometimes, I really have a strange feeling that I am locked in the crescent! Yet, it is quite poetic and romantic to have that thought. I enjoy exploring in these "crescents", because I often meet friendly local residents who would like to stop and have a chat with me.

I found that people here are very amiable and friendly. Ever since I came to Newcastle, I have been in a state of getting lost in those "crescents" or even in the city centre, the local residents are always willing to give me the correct and exact directions to my destination. Besides, they always give me a warm smile, which eases my anxiety of being far away from my family and being alone in a foreign country. Old British ladies are particularly nice to such a foreigner like me. Once on the bus, I asked an old lady whether she could show me where to get off to go back my residential hall. She agreed but said she would have to get off few stops earlier before I get off. However, she "handed over" me to another old lady before she left and asked the old lady to remind me to get off. "Wow! How nice the British grandma is!" I whispered to myself then. She impressed on me the amiability of British people.

Everything in Newcastle or even in the UK is new and fresh and amazing to me. Since I am going to spend my next two years here, I believe there will still be many other things waiting for me to explore. I wish I could know more about the people as well as the cities in Britain. When I go back to my homeland, I will probably miss the crescents in Newcastle.