Arriving in the UK, the CAPA team was right there waiting for us at our living accommodations with open arms. Taking everything in at once, learning landmark locations, store brands, our passcodes to get into the flat buildings, they were very helpful with answering any questions we had and helping us adjust bit by bit.
Starting with Day 1, we got info packs about all of our orientation sessions, contact info, and most importantly, our CAPA cards and Oyster Cards. Quick tip: DON’T lose these!! They cost a good amount of money to replace, especially the oyster card. Then once we met our flat mates and looked around our flat, they split us off into smaller groups and took us around our residential neighborhood and showed us the closest grocery stores, restaurants, and stops for the tube and buses.
Pub culture here is huge for all Londoners, it’s nice to get some friends together and just sit down and have a drink. Alcohol here is stronger than in the U.S. so drink with caution at first if you plan to.
There are so many places in London that it was definitely a bit overwhelming to build a routine and figure out which places were best for what I was looking for. Here’s a brief list that I’ve put together a list of some places that are useful for day to day life:
Grocery:
- Tesco/Tesco Express: Tesco has really great options especially for grab and go foods such as sandwiches, pastries, salads, wraps, and microwaveable dishes. Really convenient for grabbing your lunch on your way to your internship if you didn’t pack one!
- Sainsbury’s: There’s one less than a minute walk away from the CAPA center, which is really awesome for grabbing a snack in between
- Whole Foods: Not as common as the others, but there are a few if you are looking for a familiar US brand.
Pharmacy:
- Boots
- Lloyd’s
Home & Bath:
- Primark: They have so many useful things for great prices. You can find bedroom and bathroom items here as well as some inexpensive clothing if you need to do some more shopping.
- Marks and Spencer
Bookstore:
- CAPA Library: The student library in the CAPA center has good resources for your courses and sometimes even has a few of the course textbooks that you can use for the semester. Don’t rely on this because the textbooks will go quickly, so try to get there ASAP if you want a chance at free textbooks! (The library works on an honor system so you can just pull it off the shelf without checking it out.)
- Waterstone: Especially useful if you are taking a literature course that requires several materials, most of them can be found here.
Gym:
- Gymbox: If exercise is a priority for you, this is a place some of my friends and flat mates go to somewhat regularly, and they have nothing but positive stuff to say about it. They have great reviews on their equipment and they offer a range of classes such as cycling, gymnastics, yoga, dance, and MA boxing.