The first time I had ever been to Europe was when I was 14. In complete honesty, I did not enjoy it all that much. The intense heat of Italy in July is not something I recommend for a first-time traveler. I remember seeing my shoe leave a print on the melting concrete sidewalks in Rome, wishing for some air conditioning and ice water. And I could not understand how my parents were so enthusiastic every day of our trip. Now that I’m in London, where the sun only sticks around until 4 p.m., I wish I hadn’t complained so much about the weather then.
It was that trip where I first learned what it meant to travel. Trying new food. Getting lost on public transit. Taking pictures of everything you see. Learning to say things in different languages (you may not think this one is important for me now, but don’t let the British fool you, their English is actually quite different from ours). A combination of complete wonder, excitement and chaos. That’s what traveling is. A mix of ups and downs. What I started to learn after I was 14 was that traveling is also learning. After that trip, in hindsight, I found the urge to travel again to grow within me. And so, studying abroad had become a life goal of mine, something that I had dreamed about for almost six years.
As I have now spent almost a full month in London I can say that it is definitely a city worth dreaming about. My first few weeks were filled with very exciting excursions like finding the cheapest grocery stores, navigating the Tube and purchasing all the things I forgot to pack in my suitcase at local convenience stores. It was after the adjustment to living in a new country that the pressure of what it means to be abroad began. My next few weekdays were spent on Booking.com and the Ryanair website. The weekends were filled with exploring pubs and venturing into other areas of England. Just about every street in London has at least five pubs, and I’m pretty sure it’s impossible to go to all of them. Similarly, there is no shortage of fish and chips places to go to. I had gone to the Borough Market when I first tried fish and chips. My takeaway was that British food is very much underrated.
Of all my adventures in England, my personal favorite was an afternoon trip to Bath, courtesy of Fordham London Centre. If you are looking for a place that feels like the pages of a storybook, Bath is where you need to go. Our tour guide, who also happened to be a massive “Bridgerton” fan, happily took our group through the caramel-colored stone buildings of the city, pointing out both the historical significance of each building and their significance in filming the popular Netflix original. Did you know they filmed the Modiste shop in a deli?
Most recently, I spent the weekend in Paris. After three buses, a plane and an Uber, I spent two days exploring what may be my favorite city in the world (although I’ll keep you updated the more I explore). The best advice I could give you about Paris is to go with a French person. While I wandered around looking confused, my French roommate happily navigated through the city, acting as our personal translator. The next best advice I can give is to go people-watching. French cafés are quite literally meant for people watching, with chairs and tables on the outside all turned to face the street. My friends and I sat down with our coffee and croissants looking at all the passersby, wondering where they were off to. You would be surprised at how much you can learn about a culture through people-watching.
After roughly 15 miles of walking through Paris and ending our last night with a view of the sparkling Eiffel Tower, my friends and I journeyed back to London just in time for Monday’s classes.
Overall, this month has been filled with adventure. Somehow, I feel as though it has both gone on forever and was over in the blink of an eye. I’ve learned more than I ever expected about both myself and the culture around me. I am very much looking forward to what more this semester has in store.
