I don’t know exactly what I had originally expected. Well, that’s not completely true, because I expected a lot. After years of thinking of studying abroad, a full year of actively planning, and months of meticulously preparing, the day had finally arrived. I stood at SFO airport with a nervous excitement buzzing through me along with an unexpected sense of calmness. It’s not that I wasn’t ridiculously excited to embark on this journey, which has been on my mind for a very long time might I add, but it was more that I didn’t quite process the gravity of the moment or that it was actually happening. Instead, my mind was preoccupied. I was focused on saying goodbye to my family, making sure I didn’t get on the wrong flight, or that I didn’t lose my luggage, or lose my ticket, or lose my sanity worrying about unlikely scenarios that could occur to make everything go wrong.
Anyway, as I hugged my parents and siblings goodbye, perhaps clung is a better word, my nerves started to kick in. I was actually going to do this. For someone who had never flown alone or been away from family longer than a week, this was a big deal to me. But here I was, flying across continents to Europe. In a matter of 10 very long hours, I would be in London, England!
The flight was uneventful. Besides being bumped into by the snack cart several times and being awoken by screaming toddlers at 3am and again every half hour, I would say it went quite well. When exiting the plane and checking out of the airport, I was happy to find my luggage wasn’t lost or misplaced, which my brain had so easily convinced me was a highly probable possibility. After inquiring with airport personnel on the best way to get to my campus, I decided to take the tube, which is what Londoners call the underground subway system, rather than calling an Uber. After all, I figured I was fully capable of navigating an extensive subway system while lugging around my bags. I knew where I needed to get off so I assured myself it couldn’t be much different than riding Bart in SF. What could possibly go wrong?
Well, for starters, halfway through the train ride, I remembered that I hadn’t yet gotten my UK sim card installed in my phone yet, leaving me no choice but to find my way to campus the old fashioned way; without data or wifi. This meant, I had to navigate the world without Google Maps. After a momentary freak-out, I diligently reminded myself people had been surviving without smartphones and Google since the dawn of time. I am happy to report that so did I. After finally reaching my dorm, I crashed from sheer exhaustion. It was a rough first night. It had finally hit me that I was alone in another continent without my family and loved ones. Later, I discovered many of the study abroad students had similar experiences. Nevertheless, I knew I could do this. I reminded myself of why I decided to study abroad in the first place. This was my opportunity to explore different societies, expand my outlook, meet new people, and immerse myself in different cultures. With that in mind, the days that followed were far from disappointing.
My first week in London was wonderful to say the very least. I had one week until classes would begin, and I planned to spend those days wisely. I had no idea where to begin in exploring this big city. Lucky for me, orientation week activities for my program took up most of my times. The first day, we had a professional bus tour around the city. My tour guide wittingly described the London attractions with a strong affinity for the royal sights. I was struck by the beauty of London’s architectural design, which is vastly different than what I am used to seeing in San Francisco. San Francisco has a more modern architectural feel, while the structures here are older with a greater traditional gothic feel. We visited the Buckingham palace. It was surreal to be outside of the palace knowing the Royal family stays there on occasion. Guards were standing watch outside gates just like in all the movies! We also saw the tower bridge which was beautiful.
During my first week I also visited and explored the Hampton Court Palace, where King Henry VII resided. The palace was enormous, and the garden, if it can even be considered that, was massive. London has so many historically significant sites. It felt surreal visiting places where historical figures that I have read and learned so much about in class, had lived. Entering the palace felt like living an episode of Downton Abby. However, standing in castle that was home to past royal families made it difficult to ignore the clear economic disparities amongst the English population historically. It has only been a week, but I have already noticed how different class status functions here in comparison to the United States. I am excited to build on my observations in my economics classes to come.
On the next day, I went on a cruise down the river Thames and was really able to see all of the different building types, bridges, and attractions in London. After the boat tour, I had fish and chips for the first time in London. I can honestly say that it was delicious I may be in danger of having it daily, but the jury’s still out on that.
Something that I hadn’t expected before arriving is how diverse the London population is. It truly is an international city. As a Muslim Arab-American woman, I was worried about a lack of diversity in London, but that’s certainly not the case. Overall my first week in London was a success. It was very fast-paced and there was a lot of trial and error involved, specifically in terms of navigation, but a success, nonetheless. Hopefully it’ll be just as great when classes start!
ZJ Abroad 