Hi guys! I’m Malvika Shahi and I’m doing my Masters in Creative Writing and Publishing at Bournemouth University.

It’s been seven months since I came to Bournemouth and in this time, I’ve changed a lot, as a person.

I believe that it’s because of the place and the people I’ve met in my first term here. Change is scary but I had already made up my mind that I was going to explore the place as well as myself, and I wasn’t disappointed.

It wasn’t an abrupt change because I had read up on the education system and everything I could think of. Although, reading something and experiencing it first hand is completely different.

It was a welcome change though!

For my course, we had so much creative liberty that I was dumbstruck. Along with that, what surprised me most was how helpful and involved the professors and the students were.

Cultural and Critical Influences Class

The approach to being creative was very different, which I thoroughly enjoyed. We had assignments that helped us explore our creativeness and helped us break the limitations we put on ourselves.

As an introvert and a little bit of a shy person, I’m used to keeping quiet in classes but the amount of support and encouragement from my peers and faculty was unnerving. I came out of my shell, actually participated in class activities and this helped me improve my work.

As for things outside of my course, being a Student Ambassador worked in my favour. As a digital ambassador, working for the Postgraduate Blogs and the BU International Instagram team, I learned skills that would really help me in future endeavours.

Workshops

I opted for things I had never done before and learned things I would have never gotten to.

I edit videos, write creative and informational blogs, click and edit pictures and share my life with other students of BU. The exposure has made me more confident in my work, plus the people I work with are so supportive that I actually want to learn more and do better with each project.

I also visited a bunch of towns around the country, made lifelong friends and met so many creative and interesting people.

It’s like a never-ending learning opportunity, even when you aren’t looking for it. I’ve learned to speak my mind because people are actually willing to listen to me and provide helpful feedback.

In a nutshell, I’ve done and learned more in my seven months than I had in the past couple of years. Although times are hard at the moment, I think coming to the UK to study for my PostGrad was one of the best decisions I made.