Living In London

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London Living…

Unshockable, Multicultural, Intellectual, Introverted, Liberal, Theatrical, Historical, Reserved, Proper, Exciting…..What isn’t London?

Living in London for an entire academic year was quite the experience. In no other place can you witness a wide amount of cultural diversity working together in one crammed mecca. The way the city operates from riding the underground, shopping at the supermarket, walking on oxford street, etc., is something completely different to any other place I lived before. At first I was really tired and couldn’t keep up with the high speed of things and would be very exhausted after coming home from school. Sooner or later I adapted into the way this metropolis operates and enjoyed its special charm along with the rest of its 7.4 million people.

London is the world’s largest multi-lingual city with more than 100 languages spoken. The large variety of ethnic backgrounds come from Britain’s commonwealth, Asia, Australia, the European Union, and also South America. Americans arrive in London expecting a silver platter of tea and crumpets when really all they find is an impressive collaboration amongst the different cultural backgrounds and an overabundance of fried chicken and curry kebab stands. The UK has such an important foreign cultural influence that according to the BBC, it has now adopted ‘curry’ as its national dish. The UK not only exposes itself to best of the world’s cultures but celebrates it.

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London Peoples

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Friends From London…

Studying abroad in London was a great experience and opened a new door for making friends from around the world. I was really fortunate to meet such good peoples who came together from all different backgrounds and countries. I even had a neighbor from Burma.

London is a great place to study because of the different array of people you meet and how everyone I met was interested in each other’s backgrounds, culture, and views of the world. It was truly an international and multicultural enriching experience and I learned so much just by making friends with people who were not American. I was really fortunate to break away and embed myself into a different surrounding and learn about myself and my country by listening to my friends and what they had to say.

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The Queen’s Golden Jubilee

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Long Live The Queen

A four day celebration marks 50 years of glorious reign.

London celebrated The Queen’s Golden Jubilee commemorating 50 years of a glorious reign with parades, parties, concerts, and a thanksgiving service at St. Paul’s Cathedral. The Celebration attracted more than a million people to Buckingham Palace, Green Park, St. James’s Park, through The Mall to Admiralty Arch to Trafalgar Square. This event has proved the strong relationship between the people and Sovereign through the past 50 years of British history.

The celebrations and festivities displayed the unreserved British pride with more than a million spectators waving the Union Jack, singing “Land of Hope and Glory”, and uniting with other British of all colors. Multiculturalism and diversity were themes expressed by the events with a parade of 36 organization’s representing Britain’s ethnic minorities and ambassadors from its 54 commonwealth nations. Accompanying the parade was a gospel choir of 5,000 singers belting out uplifting soul. The finale was a crowd pleaser with a red, white, and blue low-level fly-by with 27 Air Force aircraft.

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Cambridge

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Cambridge

A day at peace at one of England’s premiere universities

Cambridge and its consisting college campuses are absolutely beautiful. Students enjoy a tranquil environment ready to focus and to get on with their academics. Flore, Juliana and I, enjoyed the day by relaxing near the canal and watching people punt down the water.The student environment in Cambridge is special and so are the traditional activities in which take place. Students spent their sunday afternoon playing cricket, rugby with friends, reading outside in the short time of good weather, or inside making notes for the upcoming final examinations. It felt like a totally different student life from Westminster. I thought it would be challenging to readjust into this slower paced lifestyle from already adapting to the bustle of London.

Unfortunately my camera was stolen last week so there are no pictures of Cambridge.

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Bright Times In Brighton

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Brighton

A fun day out to the ocean with friends from Wigram.

Brighton is definitely a place to see in England. Its a city with a special charm that even on a bad cloudy miserable day you’ll be happy to have visited. Christian, Rie, Richard, Johannes, Emily, Chris, Flore and I spent the day having a ‘good ole time’. The Brighton pier supports a huge amusement center with some fun rides above the ocean. The city reminded me of Benny Hill & other old English television shows; but of coarse, the Beatles with its hip hippy vintage store appeal. Surprisingly,Brighton holds the largest gay club in UK and probably all of Europe. It’s a free expression feel kind of city with its 70’s style hippies and laid back atmosphere. The music played at the fair was house music, and I am starting to understand how dance music is an instrumental part of the complete UK culture. Along with this taste of music, there is a great nightlife ‘right-on’ the boardwalk, a nightlife you cant find anywhere else with local Fat Boy Slim poppin in to spin at the clubs every then and now..

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A Daytrip To Oxford

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Oxford

Yes. Oxford as in the finest University in England.

I’m not quite sure if Oxford would suit my University lifestyle. It felt like bunch of preppy college chaps who enjoy to all wear sweaters around their necks. And like always, a tennis racket was quite common. Crew and Rugby fields seemed to be a favorite and it is ultra conservative. But very very nice.

Actually, Oxford is quite a nice place if you want to study in a remote and suburban focused environment. Its only an hour, via British Rail, from London and there’s allot of fresh air. It’s spacier and serene. I see the wonderful beauty of being a college student in this English college town environment and would have loved to study here. But then again… very quiet.

Aside from the University, the city is nice and quiet. We guided ourselves with a tour and saw the little places of Oxford.

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Hampton Court Palace

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Hampton Court Palace

Hampton Court Palace was a great place to go for the day. It was quite fun. The palace was fairly enormous and had a great park-like backyard that included a maze. The history of the palace was explained during our tour. Apparently King Henry VIII had lived in the palace once upon a time and the palace was restored at different time periods hence the differences in architecture.

Inside the palace were the artifacts that depicted the overly luxurious lifestyles of a King’s life. Large paintings, magnificent décor, along with the other excessiveness were on display. Unfortunately nobody was allowed to take pictures of the ambiance inside, so I was limited to only the Tudor Kitchen and had ran out of memory space. Taking into consideration the idea that the common people were not allowed to enter during its age of use makes me wonder what our government is holding from us to this present day.

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