Week 2: Why not Cornwall?

So, after forty weeks, here it is: my last full day in Cornwall for quite some time. Whilst most people will be returning to Tremough Campus in three months, I will be gone for nearly seven. Seven months without seeing any of my University colleagues will be a strange experience, and by the time I finally return, a lot will have changed, I will be readjusting to life in England: to some extent, it may well be like being a foreigner in my own country, if not my own county. This therefore begs the question: why on earth am I leaving Cornwall for so long? And why don’t I just stay here instead?
Firstly, let me make one thing clear: I am not leaving Cornwall for so long because I hate the place. I am more than happy here, and this first year has been an excellent one: I have founded a new society, FECCLES (Falmouth & Exeter Cornwall Campus Light Entertainment Society), we put on a very successful production in “One Night Only”, and I leave it in the very capable hands of the new President, Dan Scholes, who I am certain will do just as good a job as I did, if not better. Indeed, my departure to Sweden has given someone else the chance to be President, which I think is good for the society as a whole: as enjoyable as being President was, it is not a job one should hold for more than a year. There is nothing wrong with the area – the nightlife could be better, but it could easily be worse – and my church is thriving. I have made an incredible number of friends, and have spent many a day this term either a) having a BBQ, b) going to the beach or c) having a good night out in Falmouth. So I can confidently say that I am not going to Sweden in order to get away from Cornwall. However, as the saying goes, “A change is as good as a rest”, and I would quite like a change from Cornwall: it is not exactly perfect, and to simply stay put because you’re comfortable with where you are is to rest on one’s laurels: I will have to leave Cornwall for good at the end of my degree as it is, so to say that I should stay put just because I like the place is like arguing that I shouldn’t have gone to University in Cornwall because I was perfectly happy in Gloucestershire. I want to go somewhere I haven’t been before, and this is a brilliant opportunity for me to do so.
Some people might assume that I am going to Sweden because I do not like what I am being taught at Exeter’s Cornwall Campus, that I do not get on well with my lecturers, or that I am doing badly in my course: this is also untrue. Whilst some of the modules have not exactly been enthralling, others have been quite the opposite: I particularly enjoyed studying America 1865-1929, the Victorian Occult, and British Political History since 1945. I get on well enough with my lecturers, most of whom are more than willing to give me advice on how I can improve, and my marks have generally been good; I got 66% overall for this year. I am studying in Sweden because, it will give me not necessarily a better way of studying history, but another way of studying history, and I will be able to study parts of history that I would have been unable to study in Cornwall, Swedish history being an obvious example. Again, it is not because I am disenchanted with the English University style of education but because I want to experience the International University style of education as well, so that I have a better sense of why different people study history in different ways.
It is, of course, not an easy decision to leave Cornwall, and I will undoubtedly miss the weekly meetings of FECCLES, the manic student parties, the sampling of Cornish pasties, the ridiculously glorious (if inconsistent) summer weather: heck, I’ll probably miss the weekly trek to ASDA and the kickabouts that usually result in me conceding a sloppy goal à la Paul Robinson. I’ll undoubtedly miss Falmouth Christian Union, and I’ll miss Cornwall just as much as I’ll miss not being able to amble about in Stroud Town Centre, or use English currency. But it would be downright mad of me to reject Sweden just because it’s not Cornwall, and to a certain extent, the fact that it’s not just like Cornwall works in its favour. And with any luck, my seven months away from good ol’ Kernow will make appreciate it all the more when I return.

Right, back to packing: I’ll be back in the Shire at about this time tomorrow. Next week I’ll be giving you a quick “tour” of Uppsala itself. Until then though, I advise all you crazy Cornish bunch to take care, have a great summer, and stay tuned for the next exciting instalment of…
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sweden (But Were Afraid to Ask)
Chris Stanley