I never expected that I would be miraculously connected with a foreign city – the one distancing over 7,000 miles away from my hometown – so deeply and affectionately.  Even on the day of departure, the excitement of embracing another culture was still overwhelming, accompanied by the nervousness of facing ‘alienation’. However, the so-called sense of ‘alienation’ was never felt, and to my big surprise, Queen’s and Belfast warmly welcomed me on my first day here with a super lovely rainbow!

^{The rainbow from my first day of arrival}

I have to admit that I was not an enthusiastic photographer but since that day, I’ve been falling in love with capturing the colours of my everyday life, a rainbowlike life. I’m more than pleased to share with you some colourful moments in my studies and life here.

‘Red and Orange’: A Perfect Start with Warmth

If you are going to choose Queen’s Accommodation or nominated Student Roost throughout your Queen’s studies, you’ll feel the same warmth as me on the first day of arrival. As a student studying abroad for the first time, I was greeted by Reception with a detailed explanation of the building services, such as the 24-hour reception duty, great loft communal space, clean and quiet study room, spacious courtyard… almost everything.

^{I took this photo of an ephemeral rainbow when I was walking from the Students’ Union to the Lanyon Building}

I quickly found a super beautiful Grand Hall in my accommodation, designed in the most warm-hearted colours where I could cosily relax myself, chat with friends, organise parties, watch TV programmes and play table games. I could imagine how much fun I would have in this space throughout my leisure time (and it is indeed fun).

Such great experiences extended to my first day of registration on campus when I stepped into the fantastic Students’ Union with modernised decoration and the beautifully remodeled Graduate School with warm colour designs.

^{The Grand Hall of John Bell House}

On each floor of the buildings, there were student volunteers and school staff guiding me to explore the buildings so that I could quickly access the group study and teaching rooms, various meeting rooms, training facilities, social spaces and spacious silent study areas. I have been to the two venues on almost every weekday, and sometimes I am also offered free breakfast and coffee there before I start my studies for the day.

Nevertheless, a good start of the study journey may still be sometimes disturbed by homesickness. That’s no exception in my case. Luckily, during the first several days here in Belfast, I connected with a group of nice Chinese students at Queen’s in a couple of school induction programmes organised by both school and department.

^{This photo was taken when my friends and I attended a concert in the Music Building of Queen’s}

More luckily, we discovered perfect Chinese restaurants here to satisfy our Chinese tastes! As such, we often gather together to attend school art activities, communicate with each other about our own study progress, and share a dinner of our typical Chinese food.

^{This photo was taken in one of the Chinese restaurants close to campus}

‘Yellow, Green and Blue’: Serendipitous Encounters with Vitality

During the past several months of study here, I have found it a most enjoyable time to walk from the campus and enjoy the sunshine along the path in the Botanic Gardens to our grand Queen’s Sport gym. If I’ve got some extra time, I can also touch the greenness by enjoying the vitality of flowers and plants in the sunlight botanic room. Whenever I see those students lying and reading on the lawn, I feel an unprecedented gentle pace of living, soothing enough to decorate my study and sport time. 

^{Botanic Gardens}

There’s a very popular concept in China called ‘city walk’, referring to a slow-paced touring style inside a specific city. Thanks to the great artistic vitality here, I have enjoyed myself walking and observing the creative design in and around Belfast, such as the Big Fish, the Graffiti Wall, etc., some of which even inspired me to research in another perspective.

^{The Big Fish, a symbolic landmark of Belfast}

As well as this, it is great fun for us Queen’s students to join the locals and discover the humanistic vitality in our spare time. Last week, I participated in a social activity with my uni mates in the Christmas market in front of Belfast City Hall during which we shared delicious food and drinks (I strongly recommend you visit during the Christmas period!)

^{The Graffiti Wall alongside the sea shore}

‘Indigo and Violet’: Studying in a ‘Magic Castle’

I can’t say that studying late in the library until 6pm is a really stressful experience because when we walk out of the building, we are immersed in a magical ‘Harry Potter’ styled castle.

^{Campus at night}

Standing under the bright moon against the indigo-coloured sky, the Lanyon Building always shines in the seemingly purple lights, producing a ‘magic’ sense of power leading us out of darkness. Who else could refuse such a delightful study experience in the ‘magic castle’?

^{The Lanyon Building in the evening}

I’m excited to see all of you experiencing similar fun here at Queen’s. Please also share with me your colourful moments here and I wish you best of luck in tracing your own rainbowlike studies and life here!

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Chinese students at Queen's: Admission information

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Student life in Belfast

Luyao Yan PhD Translation | Postgraduate Student | China Hi there, I’m Luyao from China. I’ve been engaged in translation studies since I first attended my undergraduate courses, and currently I’m a first-year translation PhD student at Queen’s. Being here with friends of similar academic pursuits is wonderful, and more luckily, I find myself interested in discovering those serendipitous and surprising moments in my daily life here. A pretty good start of exploration, isn’t it?