It was a cold September morning. The date on the mobile phone showed 21st of September 2009. A small car with 4 occupants was heading towards Otopeni International Airport. Myself, my girlfriend, her sister and my girlfriend’s father were the 4 occupants of the car. As we were getting close to the airport my heart was pounding. I found myself pulled apart from 2 parts. On the one side I won’t see my girlfriend until December, I won’t have her next to me, I’ll be totally alone and on the other hand I will start uni in the UK. Never before had I experienced such mixture of sadness, fear and excitement.

fast forward >>

Finally on the plane … the plane starts accelerating and a few seconds later we’re in the air and climbing to the clouds. This is it … no turning back … all I could think of was my girlfriend … what is she thinking, is she crying, smiling or just hanging in there … I could only guess. This was my 1st time on an airplane so I got to see a lot of things through the plane’s windows like the Carpathians Mountains … too bad I didn’t have my camera with me, maybe on the return trip.

3 hours later I arrived at Heathrow Airport, UK. “OK … I’m here … what do I do now?!”. It took me about 30 minutes to go through border control and get my baggage. Walked out at arrivals and looked for somebody with a green Southampton T-shirt. Walked around for a little bit … “ok, no one here … how do I get to terminal 3?! Follow the arrows…”. A lift, train and 500 meters later I was at terminal 3. Finally, University of Southampton representatives. Lucky I met a postgraduate from India and we started talking which really helped pass the time and gave me a chance to speak in English.

fast forward >>

I arrived at halls at 4:30-5 pm. Checked-in at reception and of to my room … no flat mates yet. Unpacked a few things, talked to my girlfriend and mother and in the evening I went to the christian unions church for a free meal and made some new friends.

Full stop!