\u201cIt\u2019s a little bit funny. This feeling inside.\u201d I watched the movie Rocket Man with my friend Leila two weeks ago when I visited her in Hamburg Germany. It is funny. Until two days ago I really didn\u2019t think I\u2019d be feeling anything for London. I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d feel attached to it or the people I met here. I thought I wouldn\u2019t miss it a much as some of my other study abroad friends say. I didn\u2019t make many friends who are local. My flat mates were nice and taught me some things about Britain and I met some people who I really liked in Korean Culture Society (KSoc). For the most part, I made international friends who were also studying abroad here. They say that they had the best time of their lives here in London this semester. I don\u2019t think I\u2019m impacted as much as them. My transition from Japan to Florida was much greater. Here, I felt like I had a long Summer break. I went out a lot, messed up a lot, and slept a lot. I don\u2019t know if I learned a lot here. Couldn\u2019t wrap my head around how I\u2019m living what dad keeps telling me is the \u201cdream life\u201d in London. Now, this feeling inside, that probably only came right around yesterday; its telling me I will miss this place. I will miss these people. I will look back on these days and think it was one of the best times of my life. I probably felt most like a college kid here. It was good. Sometimes I wondered if it was worth it studying abroad. I thought maybe I would\u2019ve learned more academically if I stayed in Winter Park at Rollins. But now, honestly, what I learned most here, is about myself. I learned a lot about myself and also about diversity. What it means to be truly accepting of diversity and differences. I came thinking I would learn about British culture. I\u2019m leaving having learned about the world. I\u2019ve made friends with and became closer to those I\u2019ve already known, who have extreme political views. Now I feel like I understand them better. I understand how I think better, and still accept those who are so different from me. On one side, Leila. On the other, Alex. Getting to know very liberal and conservative people but enjoying time with both. Understanding who I am and how I need to speak up even more. Understanding my own gender identity better, questioning it more. Understanding that I am competitive and have high pride. Understanding my weakness and flaws, that I need to improve self control and be less vulnerable to persuasion. Understanding that I don\u2019t need to have makeup on everyday. Understanding that I easily get attached to people and often I am scared of that. Understanding that I can spend an awful lot of time alone in my flat and be okay, and also understanding that I love people. Getting to know Ronnie, Jay, Jinny, Vitoria, Apoorf, Emma, Sarah, Laura, Esther, Aron, Martin, Frederica, Katherine, Michael, Dylan, Dane, Hana, Mingda, Camilla, Pranoy, Ariana, Mina, Carla, CJ, Alex, Aaron, Thi, Dian, Kursley, james, Berchman, Michaela, Nikki, Nayima, Jhan, Brian, Ken, Ashwin, Joshna, Tahsa, Nia, Kejsi, Vidhi, and so many more.
\nUnderstanding that there are so many of those, underprivileged and on the streets, all over Europe. Understanding that I am privileged and that I must give back.<\/p>\n
After all, I may have learned a lot. But the things I expected I will learn was so different from what I truly learned.
\nNow, here\u2019s a checklist of things I expected to pickup in London from my first blog post:
\n\u201cCulturally, I assume the U.K. to lay somewhere in between Japan and the U.S. I should be fine. If anything I should feel comfortable there. If I like it I might want to live there in the future.\u201d -Yup. True. I was comfortable. Much more liberal and diverse than Winter Park though. I thought it was a little too cold to live here permanently but we\u2019ll see. Always lots to do. Never a boring city.
\n\u201cWhat if its not like what I imagined it to be though? What if I have to struggle again? Will I at least learn from the experience? What if I don’t struggle at all? Will I come back without having learned as much as I hoped?\u201d-I struggled because I felt lonely at times and didn\u2019t feel like I had close enough friends. Missed my boyfriend until and after we broke up. Emotionally struggled a bit, blaming myself for a lot of drunk mistakes. But, didn\u2019t struggle in the cultural way I was expecting. I didn\u2019t learn what I hoped to learn, but maybe learned more valuable things about myself and the world instead.
\n\u201cI hope to make friends from all over the world with all sorts of backgrounds and learn from them.\u201d-yes. Did that. check it off. Be happy. Great. YAS.
\n\u201cI hope to meet new humor and learn to enjoy their humor, maybe be able to crack a few British jokes by the end of the semester.\u201d-nope. Joined comedy club but didn\u2019t go to any of their events. Didn\u2019t happen.
\n\u201cI want to take the tube and explore the city.\u201d-YAS. It was great. I might prefer the bus tho. Better view and less ear stinging track noises.
\n\u201cMaybe get into photography, learn to appreciate sight seeing more than I do now.\u201d- Still don\u2019t appreciate sightseeing as much as I want to but I did take bunch of photos. Travelling got me into Instagram.
\n\u201cI want to learn how to dress well in rainy cold weather.\u201d-not too sure. Warm thick boots do miracles though. And a scarf. Probably a hat would’ve been good. It didn\u2019t rain much.
\n\u201cI want to learn how to share a kitchen among seven people.\u201d- You just get used to having a nasty kitchen and people yelling at each other or talking behind their backs quite often. The shower and toilet I felt was worse than the kitchen. Learned how not to shower everyday.
\n\u201cI want to explore restaurants and bars in London and find good Asian food I miss.\u201d- Yes. Awesome Asian restaurants. Somehow struggled to find miso and other Japanese ingredients until later in the semester. Love Chinatown though. Someday go back and go to Misato, Assa, and Eat Tokyo. Wanted to go but didn\u2019t get the chance.
\n\u201cI want to figure out what the appropriate amount of interaction with strangers is in Britain. Do you talk to strangers on the public transportation system? Do you talk to the lady behind you when you’re in line at Publix? To what extent are they “mind-your-own-business” oriented?\u201d-strangers don\u2019t talk to each other on public transport. Drunk people do talk to you though. Bars get filled pretty early in the evening everyday and apparently there are some weird people in London. Non-Londoners say London is full of weird people. The other day a guy was sunbathing on one of the beams of Tower Bridge so they had to shut down the tourist attraction.
\nSam Selvon\u2019s book, \u201cThe Lonely Londoners\u201d makes a little more sense now. We\u2019re all lonely in this crowded city, but somehow you get attached to the city itself, and you don\u2019t want to leave.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cIt\u2019s a little bit funny. This feeling inside.\u201d I watched the movie Rocket Man with my friend Leila two weeks ago when I visited her in Hamburg Germany. It is funny. Until two days ago I really didn\u2019t think I\u2019d be feeling anything for London. I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d feel attached to it or the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":517,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-qmul"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/517"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12948"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13259,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12948\/revisions\/13259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}