One year in Coventry

In 2016, I decided to spend one academic year at Coventry, attending lessons at Coventry University (CU), and I didn't do it alone. 

After 4 years doing a BSc and 1 year of MSc, I still had 1 year left to finish my studies (Yes, in Spain BSc+MSc is equal to 4+2 years), but I needed a change to break with the monotony of 5 years, so I decided to go abroad as part as the ERASMUS programme. Since my girlfriend wanted to improve her English as well, we decided to go together and Coventry seemed the most suitable option we had.

Update: As this post is getting more views than I expected and I got more than 1k views, I'm going to write about either the English spoken by Spaniards or how I improved my English (or any other subject you tell me in the comments) just let me know which one you find more interesting. Cheers! 

The beginning

Starting the "freshers’ week" on the 26th of September and the academic course the next week, we arrived in Coventry the 8th of September with nothing but a suitcase each and some spare money.

Logically, the first step was to find accommodation. Some of you may think why we didn't do it before going there, but obviously we wanted to see the house before, since there are a lot of frauds on the internet these days (Actually, we met a couple who found the house on the internet and when they arrived, it was a fraud and they were totally screwed. On the other hand, we also met a guy who found a real bargain and had no problems at all. Anyway, I think it's better not to take the risk). We looked in many webpages (Gumtree, Rightmove, Spareroom, Easyroommate, etc) and popped into every letting agency. We managed to arrange a few views to the available houses, but house hunting was incredibly hard. You could view a house and half an hour later the house was complete, or even on your way to view the house receive a call to tell you not to attend since the house was no longer available. Besides, we had an extra problem. I was a student and she wasn't. This supposed a big problem for the landlords because of the council tax, guarantor, etc. and obviously, why would you accept us when you can find someone without this problem? (That's why we couldn't apply for a residence). Every day we didn't find accommodation we had to pay one more night at a hotel, hostel or Airbnb. Whatever it was, it costed money. However, after, some stressful and appalling days we finally found a room. 

We weren't very happy with the room we found, but it was our best and only option. The house seemed nice at the beginning, and two guys were already living there. However, after some time everything got worse. There was a big lack of cleaning in that house, and one of the guys who was living there turned into a real nightmare, since he thought that the house was his and no one else's. Later, another guy moved into the house, and he was one of the filthiest people I've ever met (He used to take a shower once a week, on Sundays). On the top of that, the landlord made us to sign a 12-month contract, when we were going to stay just for 8 months, but what could we do? We were scared to death in a foreign country where most of the people don't give a shit for your effort to speak their language everything was against us (Yes, most Brits are not friendly at all, at least at the beginning). Days were grey and sad, and if you were lucky you could see the sunlight a couple of hours a week. Some people would rather go back to their country than staying in this hell for longer, but we weren't ready to give up, we gave support to each other and although it was a hellish time, together we managed to keep going.

The daily life

Some time later, we found ourselves used to the kind of live we had. I did improve my arguing skills very much thanks to this housemate who thought he owned the house. One day I was cleaning the house as my friends were coming for the pancakes day and the house was very untidy. This guy saw me cleaning the house and came towards me:

-What are you doing? - he said angrily as he approached.

I passed, I decided not to answer.

- What the hell do you think you are doing? - he shouted while glaring at me.

He repeated the same question several times since I wasn't answering him, but finally I decided to speak with him as he was not leaving.

- Don't you dare to shout at me again - I said. I was angry but it was pointless to start a stupid argument I thought - I'm just cleaning the house because I invited some friends tonight.

- You can't clean whenever you want - he said almost crying- there are rules in this house. You don't have to clean today.

As you can imagine, that statement completely confused me. I couldn't clean even if I wanted to, that's nuts!! He was just repeating those words "You can't clean" again and again. And finally, I started to laugh because of the ridiculous situation.

-Look...- I said- I'm just cleaning because I don't want my friends to see such a filthy house. If you don't wanna clean do not clean, but let me do whatever I want. And if you don't like it shut your mouth and go back to your room. Let me alone.

And he did so, went back to his room and did not speak to me for a couple of weeks thank goodness.

This kind of situations were our daily routine. Regarding university, although it was a real mess at the beginning because they forgot to send me all about enrolment and modules and all that stuff, lessons and courseworks were a doddle for me, and I quickly made some friends. My girlfriend found a job very easily, and then another, and then another. She ended up working in a coffee shop in the Earlsdon, the neighbourhood we used to live, where she could make some friends and meet some kind and friendly Brits. 

Also, we used to join a language exchange group in a local pub known as "old Clarence". It wasn't as rewarding as one would expect, since some of these people didn't understand the meaning of exchange (I give you my Spanish, give me your English bitch!), but we met very interesting people in there, and especially, I met the man who I consider nowadays to be the father of my English, as the two of us used to meet outside the language exchange group in order to properly exchange our languages. He is one of these kind and friendly Brits who I thought not to exist.

During those months we met a few people from our own country (Spain). Although none of them was completely happy about living in the UK and wished to come back soon (and who don't? I mean, even Brits dream about living in Spain), some try to deceive these feelings. Of course, there are more jobs in the UK than in Spain, and people are more valued (just think about these poor interns in Spain working 9 h/day earning no more than 1k monthly, and I am probably saying to much money). This situation is not common at all in the UK. Even if it is true (that it is), nothing makes up for the lifestyle and weather we enjoy in our beloved Spain, reason why I think we tend to make friends with more Spaniards. However, this is my view and not everybody will share it.

A new beginning

Before we realized, May had come and my course was about to end. As I stood out amongst my classmates, I had the opportunity to stay for the summer doing a paid internship at university (and it was really well paid compared with my country) and we decided I should took this. 

Fortunately (and you'll know why I say fortunately) our landlord wanted to carry out some works in the house, so he said we had to move. Our landlord was in my opinion a dodgy one, probably avoiding taxes, and I think he expected us to leave before these works (remember we signed for 12 months and it was about the 9th month when these works were going to be done), but things did not happen as he wanted, so, after 9 months we move out of that hellish house and the tenancy agreement was surrendered (Yeeeey!!). 

As it was summer, just few students were living in the residences, so we had the chance of moving into a residence in Earlsdon, where we spent the next 3 months. This residence was amazing, and very good value for money. We had a studio for us, with separated kitchen and bathroom, all bills inclusive. This was our golden age at Coventry.

Nevertheless, Coventry still was a boring and ugly city. Even we had many friends and both of us were earning money, nothing changed about our feelings regarding this place. It is true that we travelled around the UK a lot during our time here (Edinburgh, Liverpool, Oxford, Bath, Bristol, London, etc) and Coventry is a perfect basement to do that as it is in the very heart of England and it is cheaper than other cities.

The end of the adventure

Although we were thinking about staying for longer, it was September again and all students were coming. House hunting became hard again, and I had no job as my internship finished. Besides, we were tired of being there and we had achieved our objective (my girlfriend speaks English incredibly well now) and we were no longer the same scared and weak couple that came a year ago. It takes strength to live in Coventry.

By and large, we decided our time there had then came to an end.

Now we are in Spain looking for a job, while we enjoy with our families and the hot and beautiful summer that global warming has brought. Some might think this is a step back, but I think is just a clever step to think about our next movement and plan our future. 

Almost two months after we came back, when I look back to our year in Coventry, all the bad fades away and I just can remember all those amazing people we've met, the good moments we had together and the many anecdotes I couldn't put between these lines.

I hope you enjoyed it, and if you're interested in knowing more or just want to let me know your opinion on the matter don't forget to comment down below. Thank you for reading!