A huge part of the cultural difference is how I have to be like a local in order to protect myself from stealing. The experience of getting stolen is something new for me and I never thought I was the one. This is a sad experience but at the same time, this was a huge life experience for me in both positive and negative ways. I became more aware of what is going on locally and this made me improve my cultural understanding. For example, when I am walking outside, I put my phone away and look for what kind of people live in each area which makes me feel different types of community cultures. I adjusted myself to be more aware of protecting myself but this experience made a huge difference in how I observe things around me.
My perspective of London was global and people have more which is from stereotypes that I have learned. After this program, I have realized that London is a global city but at the same time, I feel strongly about how people are separated by areas that are similar to the US. I know the United States has lots of immigrants but I think London has more different types of immigrants than the US. It is because of the location in between Asia and America but I think there are more attractions which make people want to move to London. The huge things were food variation, convenient transportation, the opportunity to work, and especially, this culture of living with history.
Many of my family, my friends, and my professors told me positive things about how I changed which came from my experiences in London. The culture itself fits me where I can access easily everywhere which made me go out to explore cities. Especially as an art student, people from home were so happy that I got a chance to see the artworks, and experience and explore the study of art. In addition, My family describes why I am getting comfortable in London easily because they have so many similarities between Tokyo and Japan. Tokyo is a busy city like London where the time passes so much faster than in the countryside in Japan. But this speed of people and things made me learn and experience more new knowledge and life lessons.
The answer to how to prepare is to keep challenging yourself and enjoy the moments. I have tended to overthink about the future and this destroys my plans because I start worrying about things. I personally believe there are no such things to prepare logically, but important things to prepare for our mindset and how to be yourself no matter where you are. It is because this program is a second study abroad for me and I thought I have prepared so much more than other people, but I think being prepared too much gives you anxiety which causes fear to jump into something new.