Anna P. - London, England - Spring 2010

I’ve been in London for a little over a month now and I have been loving every minute of it. I have done so much since I’ve gotten here, but I still feel like I have a million things left to do. To start at the beginning, my advice is to prepare yourself as much as you can for your arrival. Obviously know where you’re going to stay, in my case it was my program's residence hall, and know how you are getting there. In my case, I even bought my Heathrow express ticket in the US and printed it so all I had to do was walk on the train. Then I had to take a cab from the train station. This is when it is important to have foreign currency with you. In fact I HIGHLY recommend getting a lot of money in the new currency while in the US, many banks give you the straight conversion and don’t charge any fees (I used Chase). I haven’t had to use any ATMs(called cashpoints in London) since I’ve been here since I use my credit card as often for payment. I have a Capital One credit card; I suggest anybody going abroad get one. With any other card you’re going to be charged 1-7% from Visa, Amex, etc. and in addition, a couple of percentage points from your bank, whereas Capital One charges a 1% fee, in other words they eat the fee of Mastercard or Visa. Plus, many of these cards have cash back too. Anyhow, after you plan how you’re getting to point A make sure you don’t have any really tight windows. I think it is really important to be relaxed when you get there, take your time get your bearings and start soaking it in. I had a enormous amount of luggage (still don’t feel like I over packed at all though, only thing I took too much of was dress clothes) and was able to handle it very well since I never rushed myself. I took extra time if I wasn’t sure, asked questions and was okay being one of the last people to get my luggage. When it came time to get a cab, I was upfront. I’m new to this and just gave the taxi driver the printed address of where I needed to go (I suppose this approach works better in some countries then others). I took a 3 hour nap after I got there, forced myself to wake up and didn’t go to bed till 9 that evening (btw I got in at 6:30am).

I haven’t really felt culture shock yet (since I am sure you will have to ask us a question on it), if anything I have skipped to being sad that I am leaving soon already. I miss all my family, friends and my boyfriend, but I’ve never been sad about it and there is not one bit of me that has longed to be home. Like I said, I think now I am just worried I am going to run out of time here. So far I have walked around the city numerous times, gone to a few museums (they are mostly free like D.C. which is awesome). I've been to Stonehenge, seen an African Scops Owl, been to Oxford and saw the Hogwarts Dining hall, went to Wales and had a Welsh cake, seen Bristol, had a terrible hostel experience, “minded the gap” many times, been to the top of St. Paul’s Cathedral, and so many other things that I can’t recall right now. I have gone to class too (not that they are particularly useful here).
I am going to Dublin this weekend and it should be a very interesting trip. I need to leave now for the airport. I welcome your questions, assigned or otherwise. Good Luck!

Cheers,
Anna