I was born in Stavanger, Norway in a family of four. In my 11th year of school, I was concerned about everything, I had no idea what I wanted to do, and I had no idea what would be the right choice. Everything seemed to be falling apart as the exams applied pressure to me, the thought of the exams closing in was becoming a daunting thought, and just leaving my family to study in another country made me feel even worse. I wasn’t even sure if I even wanted to go out and study. 

Then came the University fair that was held nearby our school, this was something that we were recommended to go to. Knowing that I’d have to make this choice sooner or later, I decided to get a ticket with my other friends to check it out. Going in, I still remembered the feeling of amazingness as I saw the mass amount of people and stations that were set up from all kinds of institutions and Universities, I didn’t feel that nervous but rather excited to see what was available to me. This brought me back to the thought of what I really wanted to back in middle school. I had always been in love with the thought of Crime, watching all the detective shows ranging from Benedict’s Sherlock Holmes to CSI, I really wanted to get into the field of Criminology. With wonder, I walked around to the Universities that had this course, which led me to the University of Winchester’s Head of International Recruitment. He informed me with everything I needed to know about the University of Winchester, and he supplied me with the basic information that I would need to get started on thinking about what University to choose from. He also then came over to my school, and was very informative on what would be available for me. Winchester was a very appealing choice for me. When I got back home, I instantly started researching about the local area, what the University was like, what other people thought, and what I would be expecting. Everything seemed perfect, and that was exactly why I decided to lock on to the University of Winchester. Once I got my conditional offer, I was very excited! I was really happy on the thought of going to the UK to study.

At first the process to finish up the documentation was troubling. Because of Brexit, we needed a student visa to study in the UK. This took a lot of time, and brought a lot of trouble to me and concern to my friend. However, after communicating with the International team, they took this very seriously and tried to help me as much as they could. They were very helpful and I was able to finish up the process at the very end. After getting all my documentation in place, I booked my flight on the day that the University offered free transport from Heathrow airport, and I waited for that day to come. 

I got to the UK pretty smoothly, but with a slight concern of timing and not being able to get there for the ride. I was however relieved to see the Ambassadors that waited, and got to know the people that were also coming from different places around the world. Everything went quite smoothly when we arrived at Winchester. We got a good introduction from the ambassadors and the International Student Advisor, and was led up to our accommodation. I still remember going into my room and looking out the window, it looked like a great start to a new beginning. 

After being through the first week of lectures and seminars, everything was great! I got to know a couple of friends and got to take part in Volleyball and Badminton where I got to meet more people. The subjects were fun and learning about Crime in the past, criminological theory and law was something that I was very excited for as the lecturers introduced them in a very great way. Hanging out with my friends was fun as well, we would always hangout at each others flats. I enjoyed going to sport trainings and I got to do things I had been wanting to try for a long while. Overall, everything was pretty straight forward and we got a lot of support from the University team. This was especially prevalent in the resources available to us, from the library with a variety of books to the online materials and the lecturers. 

The University of Winchester is a really fun and comfortable learning environment to get into! It has a very similar feeling to my school, and I feel very at home here. I’m looking forward to the road ahead and I am hoping to get to know more about the world of Criminology and also the people here. I cannot wait to see what kind of person I grow into after these three years, and where I will be at the end of this journey.

By Brian our BA (Hons) Criminology student from Norway.