It was a typical rainy day in the big city of London. The tube was crowded with people reading newspapers, looking at their phones, listening to music through headphones or, like me, watching outside the window thinking about how amazing it would be to go back home, sleep and have a hot drink.
Since two months ago, this had been my life: getting up at 6.30 am, having a quick breakfast, getting ready, catching the tube to university. I would come back home not before 5 pm, study (or trying to), eat and sleep.
I wasn't complaining about my hectic lifestyle: I'd been way to lucky to move to another country to study, not many people could afford it. But it was really hard to cope with the stress of the imminent exams, the house cleaning turns, the grocery shopping for me and my four roommates, and keeping in contact with my family.
The train stopped. A few people got off of it, a lot entered the already crowded railway carriage. This happened for three more times, until it was my stop. As soon as I got outside the tube station, I took out my camera and began recording, hoping not to catch too many glances from strangers.
"Good morning everyone! It's the 15th of December, it's 8.12 am and I'm going to Uni right now" I smiled to the camera, and talked not too loudly.
"And because I haven't uploaded anything in two weeks, I thought it would be a good idea to bring you all with me and show you what I do during a normal day... I actually don't know if this will be a fail, seeing as my days are boring as hell, but I figured I'd just give it a try" I kept walking, careful not to punch people in the face with the arm that was holding the camera.
"So, I've just got off the tube and in a couple of minutes I will be at my Uni building. I study Modern Languages and Cultures at Westminster University and right now I'm at the second year. I came to London last year for an Erasmus, and now I'm finishing my studies here. In fact, last year I studied in Italy, at the Pisa University" I crossed the road carefully, even though there weren't a lot of cars.
"My first lesson today is Spanish Literature which is actually one of my favourites" I arrived at my building and stopped walking before going inside it, where a lot of students were drinking coffee and chatting.
"I need to go now, but I'll catch up with you later and maybe introduce you to some of my friends. Goodbye chicos!" I switched off my camera and walked inside the huge building, looking for Kate. I didn't see her in the entrance, so I walked to the Spanish classroom and took a seat, putting my bag on to the chair next to mine.
Kate arrived just before the Spanish teacher started his lesson. Her hair wasn't perfectly straight as it normally is and she was breathing heavily.
"I woke up late" She said without giving me the time to ask. "and I couldn't find my linguistics book. The coffee machine didn't work and the starbucks near my house was too crowded" She added, while I let her seat near me, putting my bag under my chair.
"Well I know what to do during this lesson: wake you up whenever you fall asleep" I laughed at her while she tried to undo her coat and opening her bag without getting too many eyes on her.
The lesson began, I took some notes and elbowed a sleepy Kate a couple of times.
***
"I just finished my first lesson and I'm here with Kate! Kate say hello" I turned the camera to the blonde girl near me, who waved with way too much excitement.
"Hello! I'm Kate and I'm so happy to be recorded right now, with dark circles under my eyes an hair all over the place" She smiled nonetheless and I giggled.
"Kate is been the first girl who welcomed me to Uni last year during my Erasmus, and fortunately we are on the same course this year" I explained while we walked to a near Starbucks in order to get some coffee. It wasn't raining anymore, but it was really cold and the fact that I wasn't wearing a scarf wasn't helping.
"I remember the day I saw you, I thought you were Spanish – because of your complexion – so I started speaking Spanish and you were like what the fuuuck?!" We laughed at the memory.
"Well you weren't the only one who thought I was Spanish! Do you remember how Derek went like Hola, eres una nueva estudiante aquì en Londres? (=Hello, are you a new student here in London?)" She snorted and laughed quite loudly, some students turned and looked at her; she didn't care. "We're going to Starbucks now, because someone didn't have a coffee this morning and is basically still asleep" Kate made a weird face and I turned off the camera, entering the warm coffee shop.
***
After Linguistics, our morning lessons had finished. While me, Kate and Rebecca – another friend of ours – were leaving the classroom, a tall, chubby, gay Derek approached us with the biggest smile on his face.
"Girls! No English lesson today! Look!" He pointed a paper stuck on the notice board that we had ignored for the whole day. The English professor was ill.
"Oh my god that's amazing!" Rebecca screamed hugging me, having a bit of an extreme reaction to the news. "I desperately need to see Tom, I haven't been on a date with him in years" Tom was her boyfriend, and because she was a really diligent student, she didn't want to miss any lesson or waste time outside instead of studying. She took her phone and started texting him, with a big smile on her face.
"Yeah, I need to buy some Christmas presents for my relatives... I think I'm going to Carnaby later, to do some shopping" I said yawning, walking outside the building. "Do you mind if I vlog you guys?" I asked Rebecca and Derek, who shook their heads.
I opened my bag and took my vlogging camera. "We just finished our last lesson of the morning and we just found out that our English professor is sick so, that's amazing" My friends behind me made weird faces to the camera and made me laugh. "By the way, the curly haired girl is Rebecca, the gay guy is Derek" I pointed at them looking at the camera's screen.
"As I was saying, no lessons this afternoon, which means I'm taking you all to Carnaby street! I need to buy some Christmas presents for my family and friends so maybe this vlog will be a bit more interesting than how it is right now".
I said goodbye to my friends and made my way home.
Author's note:
So... here I am with a new story. This first chapter isn't that great and nothing happened, I know... but I promise it will get better. Dan will arrive soon, but I had to introduce the female character first.
I don't know what else to say. I hope you'll enjoy the story and I hope that I will finish it at some point.
See you soon (hopefully tomorrow) with another chapter.
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