Travelling abroad is the dream of every growing
kid and even adults around my locality. If not for permanent residency, at
least for the adventure, for the fun, and maybe to earn the bragging right. In
fact, people from my locality (location withheld) are known to sell all their
belongings to fulfil their desire to travel and live abroad. I was just
completely the opposite. All I dreamt of then as a kid was to study abroad and
return peacefully to my country and join in developing my Fatherland.
The opportunity soon surfaced in 2014, after my
undergraduate degree to pursue a postgraduate degree in a Russell group
University in the United Kingdom through an all-expense paid scholarship. Here
I am just about to fulfil my own dream. The feeling was just out of this world,
I was so ecstatic. Mind you, this opportunity did not come easily though, it came
after two hectic years of surfing the net and searching for a fully funded
scholarship and applying for admission to several universities. It took that
long not because I wasn’t getting admission offer, but because I could not
afford the cost of studying abroad.
On September 27 2014, I was opportune to board a
direct flight from the International wing of the Murtala Mohammed Airport on a
Virgin Atlantic carrier to London Heathrow International Airport. It was an
over six hour’s journey, a journey that saw me arrived at the airport at about
4:30pm. As it was in the usual custom, we were delayed for about 30 minutes
before alighting from the aircraft. Haven alighted, I was thrilled seeing a different
level of civilization from what I’ve been used to.
Although I got to London that day, the only
place in London I had been in as at that day was just Heathrow Airport. Since it was not my final destination, I still had to find a way to get to my final
destination. This was my first time outside the shores of my country,
everywhere and everything looked entirely strange to me. Why I was still trying
to figure out how to get to my route, I heard the sound of a train, it was a virgin
train that was heading to a city in the West Midlands called Birmingham. Ah! I
just missed the train I was supposed to board, I said to myself. I learnt I had
to buy a ticket before I could join the train, and that, I had not done as at the time the train came, and so I couldn’t join it. I had no idea that I would have
been able to join the train and buy my ticket inside. The next train was to
arrive in the next 30 mins. I was already tired not just because of my six hour’s
journey, but also because of the heavy luggage I had with me. While I was still
waiting for the next train, a Coach arrived and it was heading to Birmingham. I
hurriedly went to the ticket vending machine that I was shown, to buy a ticket
so I could join the coach. I was finally able to join the coach.
Birmingham is about two hours away from London
by fast train. So with a coach, the journey becomes even longer. I wasted no
time in sleeping in the coach as we journey to the Midlands. It was a very long
journey more because, the coach, being the last for the day, had to drop some
passengers at Coventry before heading to Birmingham. I finally got to the city
very late, say about 11:45pm and immediately boarded a taxi that took me to
lodge somewhere around Hagley road.
Watch out for the continuation of this article.
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Canadian Visa for Nigeria
