The first real journey abroad

2014 - It was 7 a.m. on one of the last days of March. 23-year-old Leila was excited. She was about to get on the coach to Frankfurt Airport where she would take a plane to London Heathrow. She looked into her handbag every 10 minutes to see whether she still had her National ID card, her boarding pass, her coach ticket to Swansea, her hotel reservation for the first night and her internship material. She had a thousand of thoughts in her mind, yet she thought of nothing specific. When she arrived at the airport, she became a little anxious. After all, it was her first time flying. The only time she had flown before was when she was 5 and she visited her father's family in Pakistan. Gosh, was that exciting - nothing familiar seen for a while back then, Leila didn't even speak a word. All of a sudden, she shouted out of the taxi window "Mum, look, camels!" And her mother, the German tourist who has been a little fond of the hippie lifestyle, laughed heartily. It was a laugh that Leila would never forget. It always reminded her of the real beauty of her mother.
Back to Frankfurt: She stood there, took some coffee, sat, rested. Then, she checked in her huge monster suitcase and moved further to the security checks. She can remember the security guards found her a little cute as she was shy and apologised for the jewelleries that made the safety barriers beep.
Once she was above the clouds, she could feel the blessing of the world. She had a certain feeling of home which she found a little odd at that time.

In the afternoon, she was at Heathrow Airport where she first looked for a toilet and was surprised to find such a proper one just before the border control. It looked fancy with high walls, mirrors and hand dryers.
When she passed the border control, she didn't even feel she was now in a foreign country. She went on to buy  new sim card from a lebara shop nearby and followed the sign that would lead her to the coach station.
There, she waited with a cup of coffee and phoned her mum, her grandmother, her uncle of third degree and she texted some friends. Also, she observed her environment. She was overwhelmed, but she found she liked this kind of overwhelming feeling.
She got on the coach to Swansea and after she arrived at the hotel, she felt that she was home far from home.
The day after she met her new flatmates, N., Z. and J.. She couldn't believe she had only male flatmates for the first time, but they were all respectful and nice. N. was working at the company where she would start her internship a couple of days later. He showed her around the city: Tesco Supermarket, Swansea Beach, the city centre and the train station. He also functioned as an interpreter as the other two guys didn't speak English, but only Polish.
On 31st March, another girl was about to move in. Her name was S. It turned out she became Leila's best friend. Holy Mary, what stupid stuff they did during those 3 months! They had hilarious lunch breaks, crazy work skype conversations, they went all night out to Wind Street having drinks and conversations with strangers, made trips in Swansea and around it, got up at 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. to take a coach to Bristol at 4 a.m. to have breakfast in a wonderful new city and a memorable city trip! Leila has met uncountable people during this time with whom she's still in touch with.
There was so much more that made Leila feel like this must be the way a real traveller feels. This is the spirit of a nomad.
Finally, when she came back to Germany, Leila has changed. Not on the outside, no. But right inside her, she wasn't the same. Something's awaken in her. And it couldn't be silenced anymore.