It was seven in the morning when Caroline woke up to Big Ben's chime in her dorm room.
She smiled to herself. This is it. First day of her exchange life in London.
Caroline sat up In her bed, hugging herself with her head on her knees. It's going to be wonderful, this semester in Britain. Ever since she heard of this half-year student exchange program provided with full scholarship by her college, she's been working so hard to get herself eligible, even harder than how she fought for the throne of Miss MF.
As an American small town girl, she'd always dreamed of traveling around Europe. The great cities, art, and music… all those genuine beauty, lying across the Atlantic, waiting for her to taste, to feel, to witness, to explore. And among all, Britain had always been the ideal first stop in her blue-printed grand tour plan. What could be more appropriate than choosing the place where modern collides tradition as a starting point? Let alone this is where she wouldn't have to worry about all the language and communicating problems.
And here she was now, after 2 whole years of efforts, she's finally here on her dreamland, her first step to her lifelong vision. The flight delay that caused her to arrive a whole day later than planned thus leaving her no choice but to unpack in just one day before school started had no call to ruin her excellent mood.
After washing herself up, Caroline walked out of her partition only to see her roommate, Elena, was already sitting by the table in their shared living room, having her toast and yoghurt as breakfast. She even got a share ready for Caroline.
"Morning. Come on and grab a bite or you're gonna miss the first session on the first day!" Elena patted on the chair next to her, inviting.
Caroline thanked her for the food and sat down to start chewing.
This British university was kind enough to place each fresh-off-the-shore exchange student with a more experienced one as roommates. Elena Gilbert, also an American exchange student, was on her second semester in this school by now since the program her college provided was for a whole year. Caroline quite envied that, but what could she ask for more when she's got full scholarship already? Besides, she was lucky enough to have Elena around to help her out with all the unpacking and cleaning yesterday. This Gilbert girl was truly one of great heart and enthusiasm.
"What are you doing today? You said you don't have classes on Mondays." Caroline opened up the conversation once she finished her toast.
"I'm planning on meeting my former roommate in the afternoon. She's doing her exchange here as well but she decided to move out to have more space to herself. She's an artist back home and she's been taking lots of at courses here. You know, paints and easels and canvases and abies oil and all. Artists do need room. Her name's Bonnie and she's really a cool girl. You'll gonna like her. We can have lunch together someday and I can introduce y'all."
"Thanks, I'm really looking forward to it." Caroline said smiling, but Elena's words were starting to make her nervous.
"Speaking of art courses…Elena, I'm taking a few of them this semester. Are they really that… nasty?"
"It depends. Bonnie said most lecturers in Art College aren't that demanding, I think she's just pushing herself too much. Why ask?" Elena stood up to clean up the table as they both had finished eating.
"Well, I'm actually not an art student back home and I'm only taking these courses because there were lots of restrictions on the course selection for the exchange program I'm in and this History of Art and application course seemed to be the most interesting one in my limited choice…" Caroline frowned, suddenly feeling like a first-grader anxiously going to school for the first time in forever, "It's not that I've never drawn before. In fact I've earned some art credits back in high school. But I'm definitely no expert in that field."
Elena was now at the sink washing dishes, and Caroline could tell something must be wrong as she stiffened at the course she had just named.
"Which art course did you say you're taking?" Elena turned off the tap and even stopped whatever she was doing with the dishes to ask.
"History of Art and application?" Caroline answered hesitantly, "anything wrong with that?"
"People say the lecturer is kind of…" Elena seemed lost in her thought in search of a right description but in vain, "You know what, forget what I said. Forget what people said. Bonnie said the lecturer's courses are always worth taking despite the tiny flaws he has. So let's not put a prejudiced view on you before you experience it. Bonnie told me she's taking that course, too. I'll text her and make sure she helps you through the first sessions. Maybe you can join our afternoon reunion afterwards. Seems like you guys are gonna meet before I even get to introduce my former and current roommates to each other."
Crap. Crap. Crap. Caroline sighed.
Elena's trying her best to sound optimistic to cheer her up but ended up making her even worrier. How awful is that lecturer if this warmhearted girl couldn't even bring herself to put his problems in words?
The beam and good mood on her just a few minutes ago were now nowhere to be seen.
Little did Caroline know exactly what wicked affairs she had put herself into.
AN/
Hi there! Thank you all for reading my first ever fanfic in foreign language. Please forgive me if there are any misspells or grammar mistakes or whatever for English is not my mother tongue. But feel free to point them out! I'd appreciate it.
I've just started watching this wonderful TV series months ago and I really fell for it. Unfortunately, I have heavy academic loads for college this semester so I've only gone to mid-season5 so far. As a result there might be some settings in future stories that doesn't seem to catch up with whatever's going on with the girl bestie trio in the show. But needless to mention, my heart goes to this cute vamp couple whose male protagonist wasn't even mentioned in this prologue haha. He's gonna show up right in the beginning of the next chapter and I guess you all already know which character he's gonna be.
As you can see, the background of this story is set in London for I just came back from my second visit to this wonderful city. I really loved London and since most fanfics are set in the US with Klaus being the British foreigner, I thought it would be fun for Caroline to be the outsider this once. I'm going to write about several real places in London in future stories but this university near Big Ben is definitely fictitious.
Well please forgive the long AN for I was so excited to publish my first story on Fanfiction.
Please review and tell me your loves and hates in this short prologue. I'm still a green hand in this and it really would help motivate the updates if I know there's someone reading.
Thanks again, and until next time ;-D
-A