hapter 13
When the plane landed in Mardale, it was exactly midnight.
The immigration officer looked through the documents and asked some routine questions.
“Ms. Kinsley Reed, may I ask how long you were planning to stay in Swoeburg?”
“Hello, I received an offer from Mardale University and it required two years to complete the
program.”
Upon hearing her fluent Swoeburg language, the immigration officer no longer gave her a hard time and stamped her passport for clearance.
After Maeve, no, it was Kinsley who politely thanked and took the luggage, leaving the airport.
She held her newly bought phone and searched for the location of the hotel, then hailed a taxi.
The driver, an Australian Chinese of Asian descent, saw her face and immediately started chatting
with her.
In a foreign land, Kinsley felt a strong sense of familiarity when he heard his mother tongue.
As they chatted along the way, the driver sister told her a lot of things to pay attention to in Mardale, and she wrote them all down.
When they arrived at the hotel, before parting ways, the two of them exchanged contact
information.
The driver sister helped her to put the luggage into the elevator and then left.
Kinsley opened the door with the room card and, upon seeing the clean and tidy room, felt a wave of relaxation wash over him.
She packed up her things and went downstairs to have dinner. After coming back, she freshened up and lay down on the soft big bed, soon falling asleep.
A good night’s sleep.
The next afternoon at two o’clock, she woke up groggily.
When Kinsley saw the completely unfamiliar room, she still felt a bit uncomfortable.
It took her neatly five minutes to finally realize that she had left Crowmount and arrived in a completely new country.
It was midsummer in Mardale, and the weather was hot.
She took out a few skirts and changed into them. After having some lunch, she hailed a taxi and went to the vicinity of the school to check out the apartment she had booked early in the morning.
The landlord arrived on time and handed over the keys to the apartment to her.
After entering the new house, she looked around and made a note of all the things that needed to be purchased. Then, she hired a cleaner to clean the house.
In the evening, she returned to the apartment with her luggage and settled down.
Over the next few days, Kinsley bought many essential items, and the previously vacant room gradually filled up.
She was packing her things while contacting her roommate who would only come in a few days.
Slowly, she also adapted to the local life.
Because she had excellent cooking skills, she smoothly joined the circle of international students
and played with two neighboring girls.
They took her out shopping, introduced nearby restaurants to her, and showed her around the local
attractions.
Over the past few days, her exquisite photography skills were recognized by new friends, and she also joined the local photography community.
On the tenth day of arriving in Mardale, Kinsley completed the first photography assignment.
She looked at the newly arrived three hundred dollars, content.
The next morning, there was a noise coming from outside the door.
She rubbed her sleepy eyes and walked out of the bedroom, only to see a shy young sister in her early twenties pushing a suitcase, greeting her.
“Hello, are you Kinsley? I am Yazmin Juarez, your roommate.”
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