Although not even two weeks have gone by, my time in London seems a lifetime away. Sometimes it doesn’t quite feel real, that just 11 days ago I was in a different country, separated by thousands of miles and the Atlantic Ocean.
I had not had many preconceptions about what London would be like, even so, I was still surprised. I was surprised by not the differences but rather the similarities between London and many large cities in the U.S., more specifically, how many things we had in common. Thinking about it now, it makes sense. Cities, generally, all work the same way, so it would be logical that the big/basic stuff is the same. They have roads, we have roads. They have parks, we have parks. They have T.K. Maxx’s, we have T.J. Maxx’s.
Yet there were differences. One of the most intriguing differences for me was where they put their street signs. Instead of on a post like we do, they slap them on the side of a corner building. I wouldn’t say there is anything particularly magical about this, but I realized, upon seeing their method of sign placement, that I had never thought about how there may be a different way to do such a thing. Perhaps that is what a study abroad allows you to see; it forces your mind to open up to new ideas, methods, and ways of life that you had never conceived of before.
Me at Stourhead
Looking out at the City from St. Paul’s
Group selfie on a double-decker bus
Me and Tyler at Salisbury
Me and Casey at the Queen’s House