This week, Laura, Dhanya and I stayed in Colombo University and the people we met, the things we did and the memories we had together with this lovely campus made our stay wonderful and unforgettable.

On the first day we arrived, we made friends with girls in our hostel. It is a really wonderful experience to talk with people at our age and they teach us how to speak Singhala, teach us the traditional dance and they even dressed me up of their traditional dress, Sari. On the one hand, we are so similar because we have listened to same music, watched same movies, studied same subjects, recognized same fashion or even have same dreams of future job, boyfriend and life. On the other hand, we are so different because we grew up in different childhood, have different culture traditions, different religions and different experience of the past 20 years. From the similar aspects, I feel so close to them because I know these are the people who also have similar dreams of future and try so hard to make dreams come true like us which means I am not lonely on the way of fighting for my future and they know exactly about how you feel about pressure, fear as well as happiness. From the different aspects, such experience opens my eyes of a different university life, culture, religion and different world of almost everything.  

Chanthi is a lady we met on the ceremony of Kirelawela pre-school and she is a researcher for Durham University as well as a social worker. Chanthi invited us to the National Institute of Social Development and the Department of Probation and Child Care Services. Through the conversations with the directors of them, we gained a insight of the present problems and developments of social work in Sri Lanka and the basic working pattern of helping the children who have come into contact with the law and children who are at risk. They even invited some of us to get involved their work as volunteers during our last week in Sri Lanka.

I really enjoy our stay in Colombo University and it is even hard for me to say goodbye to this lovely campus and people. However, I know I will not feel lonely if I leave them because I always know our dear friends in Colombo University are chasing their dreams just as I do.