One of my favorite things to do is meet Londoners and tell them that I’ve never done *insert common Londoner thing*. They become a bit red in the face and take it upon themselves to personally see to it that I experience that thing. Before coming here, I had never been to Tesco, or had … Continue reading Julia Mathur, University of California, Merced (Sep-Dec 2019)
The custom surrounding accents in Spanish are quite similar to those of English in the UK: the way you speak gives nearly all the information someone needs to place you, from where you grew up, to your economic class to your education level. When I was working this past summer at a local burger restaurant … Continue reading Being “Sort-of” but “Not Quite” in London – Sharon Hammer, Hamilton College (Sep-Dec 2019)
Yes, London is different and, to its credit, I am a different person here. I’ve been thinking about it a lot and I’ve decided that the hinge point of all this change is that, for the first time in my academic career, I have time. I am coming from a college with nearly double the … Continue reading Time After No Time – Maggie Olmsted, Wellesley College (Sep-Dec 2019)
Hello, hello to you all! My name is Julia, I am from the University of California Merced, and this is my first installment of my existence in London. As it so happens on a college campus, every day I meet new people; which means that several times a day I am doing the ‘Small Talk … Continue reading Are you doing the ‘Small Talk Dance’ too? Julia Mathur, UC Merced (Sep-Dec 2019)
As a small-town girl, enrolling in Columbia University in the City of New York was my first opportunity to live in a huge city, and as a consequence, I am desperately in love with New York. When I decided to study abroad here at Queen Mary in London, rather than being nervous I would miss … Continue reading “You drink tea?” Alexis Buncich, Columbia University (Sep-Dec 2019)
Getting to know my new home city: ...when the opportunity arose to get as far out of my comfort zone as possible and study in London fall semester of my final year, I dove right in! Even in a jet-lagged haze after about twelve hours of travel, powered by granola and countless coffees, there was … Continue reading I Think I’m Going to Like It Here. Sharon Hammer, Hamilton College (Sep-Dec 2019)
Adjusting to life in a different country can be somewhat hard. Just visiting a foreign place sounds like a lot of money, time, and work for many people. Now, just imagine what it is like to study in a foreign country with a different system of education, cultural values, and money system. It has taken … Continue reading Finding My Footing – Angelina Healy
I landed in Heathrow airport in London on Sunday, September 16th. In the time span of one month I have traveled to Paris and Amsterdam, while also traveling around the UK. I have to admit that I was nervous when I decided to spend the semester abroad in the UK. The days leading up to … Continue reading My First Month Abroad – Nasser Ghaffar
They say that going off to college is finding a type of freedom. The freedom away from parents and some rules. It gives a lot of students a new start and the opportunity to reframe their way of thinking. It is a place to find yourself and get away from things that might have tied … Continue reading The freedom of going abroad – Carrie Case
The 19th of May was an unconscionably warm day ~seriously~ I didn’t just wear a sun hat to get into the wedding spirit, I needed it. I firmly believe that this was a pathetic fallacy, the sun-baked streets reflecting the excitement of the crowds parading outside Windsor. Not only did the wedding produce one of … Continue reading Why you should watch the royal wedding if you haven’t already – Shola Lee
I’ve always been interested in the history of medicine and hospitals. My husband puts up with me starting dinner conversations with things like “did you know we fix cataracts pretty much the same way that ancient Egyptians did?” and “apparently they wouldn’t give women anaesthetics when they started using them in Europe, because they were … Continue reading Exploring Museums – Kelly (Sherrinford) Honegger
“There will never be a place where I can fully belong.” This is what I wrote down on Facebook, right before the plane took off to London, the city where I would stay for the next six months. All kinds of anxieties started to upsurge into my body, and one of them is the fear … Continue reading Embracing Discomfort: Studying the Arts in London as an East Asian – Unique Wenxuan Xue
