Stunner!

by Iyanuoluwa Toluhi (United Kingdom (Great Britain))

A leap into the unknown United Kingdom

Passport, admission, student visa, flight ticket, luggage – all checked. Did you know that as of 2018/2019, according to the Higher Education Statistics Agency, there are 159,430 non-EU students enrolled in full-time postgraduate programmes in the United Kingdom? What’s more? I am one of those 159,430 students. “Daddy, take our picture.” It was one of the ways I usually constructed my sentences when I needed to escape adulthood. Stuck between the feeling of a grown Nigerian woman about to embark on her first international trip – by herself – and the inner tears of a scared baby with not an ounce of idea what this trip was going to become for her, I struggled visualising my destination. As an unemployed, first degree graduate of two years, I lived with my African parents in their house in Lagos, Nigeria which was – on an abnormal no-traffic day – about 25 minutes to the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos. I was to board my 10:25 pm flight at exactly 8 pm for Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France at 5:45 am the next day. But, as is the case with most African parents, mine would rather be late to an 'owambe' than an (international) airport. 'Owambe' is the indigenous South Western Nigeria language – Yoruba – for 'party,' and can also be translated as “it is there.” In Lagos, if you want the party to begin at 1 pm, you would tell your guests it begins 11 am – at least, the early ones would arrive from 12 noon – but if you’re doing this, at least, have small chops ready. I left home for the airport at 6:05 pm – courtesy of my parents in collaboration with Lagos traffic. After a successful forth and back reducing my 30 plus KG luggage to 23 KG, I was finally cleared, and it was time to hug my parents goodbye. I did. Then, I walked down the aisle – as opposed to the common ‘aisle’ tradition, I was alone, and this aisle was the passage between the airport lobby and its boarding room – but was hit by my ‘unknown.’ Feelings of fear, freedom, happiness, pain, indifference, uncertainty, gushed through me at once. I questioned why I was taking this leap and it was all suddenly blurred. What was interesting but confusing at the same time, however, was that I could see through the obscure – I wanted my second degree; I wanted to build intercultural competence; I was going to put a touch to my life and make it excellent; it was my fresh start. “Air France AF0149 …” the boarding officer called out – WHEW – we were finally about to get on the plane. After what felt like a 60-day January month, I was seated in seat 33E, observed all airplane protocols including watching the safety and ‘in the case of an emergency’ video on the screen glaring at me, and heard and listened – not really to be honest – to what the pilot said at intervals. The part where you fasten your seat belt and the airplane wheels roll against the tarmac is where you can be sure your journey has begun. That happened too. Finally. Arriving Paris, I got on a connecting flight to Manchester – boy, CDG Airport, Paris is BIG, plus if you’re not fluent in French, Google translate and miming are your best friends. With more help from an airport staff, I got on the train from the arrival wing of the airport to Terminal E where I waited over two hours for my flight. I’m yet to understand why my flight ticket read 30 minutes for a journey that took slightly over an hour. Anyways, I landed in Manchester Airport, observed protocols again, and walked nothing less than 10 minutes to where I would finally board the Lancaster University Airport Shuttle I had booked. In about four hours, the ‘Lancaster University’ signpost was all in my face; here I was. Suddenly, the unknown was known – I was in a similar environment prior to this time. Oh! It was a similar setting to my undergraduate school - Covenant University - in Nigeria. Stunner! A leap into the unknown had gradually unfolded into the known in almost 22 hours. I took a breather.