I am officially one month into study abroad and can now confirm, yes, it rains a lot a here in London. In fact, it even snowed a little last week. That was surprising. Despite the weather not being as sunny as Winter Park, Florida, there are a lot opportunities that I have been able to take advantage of since my arrival one month ago.
My first week here, the week of orientation, was remarkably resembling of my first week of college at Rollins. I got to my flat and it was empty and bland. I didn’t have friends to talk to or anyone to ask how the shower worked. To be honest, at such a point, I was really hoping I made the right choice to go abroad. Through the orientation activities planned to introduce the university and some of the city, I began to make friends. Incorporated in such activities, a stereotypical fish and chip dinner, of which I found disgusting in taste. However, united by similar disappointment in taste, I bonded with other study abroad students like myself. After this, I found myself mostly hanging around with other American study abroad students. I became friends with individuals from Boston, Pennsylvania, Illinois and New Jersey. Very comparable to the first people I met from Rollins J. Eager to make the most of our time, with this group of students, I began exploring the city. While smartphones make navigating a new place quite easily, what I couldn’t, and still can’t remember is which way to look when crossing the street. I can confidently say I’ve almost been hit by a few cars, 1 bus and 1 bike. Now, I just wait to see what other people are doing and cross behind them.
My second week in London, classes began, and local students returned. It was a totally new experience for me to be in lectures halls rather than classrooms, some filled with up to 250 students. Academically, I also found it odd that here that most of my classes only meet one day a week for a duration of two hours. On top of this, there is not much daily assignment. A lot is left to you to study individually and review what was covered in lecture. Although I am actively reviewing for my classes (or modules as we call them here), I was used to spending most of my days (and nights) in Bush. So, having this new-found free time is kind of odd to me. For this reason, sometimes I found myself getting lonely during the day or just not knowing what to do with my time. At one point, this even resulted in booking a last-minute ticket to Bratislava, Slovakia with another study abroad student I met during orientation. Spending just the weekend in a city neither of us have heard of before was such a neat experience. We enjoyed the local cuisine, took part in a walking tour of the charming town, and met many other young, eager travelers like ourselves.
By week three, a lot of the temporal feelings of loneliness have subsided for the most part, largely in part to becoming closer with my flat mates and finding my study niche. Four of six of my flat mates are native Britonions (I don’t know if that’s how you say it). They have introduced me to their friends here and have never shied away from including me on their rendezvous. As we share a kitchen, we will often gather there to cook together and reflect upon our days. Although not as exciting as the glamorous nights out I have enjoyed with my flat mates in central London, but nevertheless important, I have also found a place that I am comfortable to work and study in the library. In fact, I am writing this post from here now.
As week four has just come to an end, I am now one third of the way done with classes. This is crazy to me as for most of modules, we have only gathered a total of four times. This week has probably been my most stressful academically as I had to study and take my first tests in psychology and physiology, as well as complete a biochemistry lab. With all now done, I feel confident that all assignments have gone well. Overall, at this point, I am happy to say I am well adjusted. The accent really doesn’t get to me anymore. While I have a couple friends here from Rollins who I keep in touch with, I have also made a lot of local friends. I am enjoying the sites, museums, and just the overall dynamic of living in the city as diverse as London. You never know who you are going to meet next here and where they will be from.