“I wish I had a delete button in my life. To delete some people, some memories, and some feelings.”

I’m sure this phrase has more often than not run through most of your heads. To be fair, it has run through mine more times than I am willing to admit.

In the last 27.5 years of me being alive, there have been fair shares of ups and downs – family, love, money, education, and career, making choices about the future. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, hence the idea of having a delete button in my life is very, very appealing.

Around a couple of years ago, after putting it off for so long, I went to see a therapist to deal with an ongoing issue I’ve been having. It was around that time where I decided on maybe going back to school, and maybe leaving the country for a little while.

Because you can never know what you’d miss if you never leave right?

Coming from a (little) big city, Kuala Lumpur does stress a person out sometimes. Traffic, air and noise pollution, the sheer amount of people, skyscrapers – I decided I really should tear myself away from such a stressful environment. You can imagine my excitement during my research on BU and finding out where it’s situated, I knew the place was perfect for the change I needed.

I arrived in Bournemouth at the tail end of summer. The sun provided a different kind of warm than that of Kuala Lumpur – it was like a warm, comforting hug. The air was crisp and clear, the sound of the waves crashing against the sand was calming, and going for a run at any time of the day didn’t feel like I was going to melt into a puddle of mush. And the people – regardless of cultural background – are warm and friendly. And I think the tallest building I’ve come across so far is like, 10 floors high.

Knowing that I can go to London or any other city at any time is reassuring (I’m still a city girl after all) because it is easily accessible. All in all, I would recommend Bournemouth to anyone who’s looking to get away from the city and live somewhere else for a change, but still not being too far from one.

Life doesn’t have an undo or a delete button and thinking back, it shouldn’t even have one, but I believe it has a reset button, when you really need it.

By Lina Abdul Halim