I still remember the excitement that I felt when I finally received my housing assignment, it’s when the whole program started to feel real – I was going abroad! I got placed into Richmond Courts, which is a nice set of flats in the Kensington/Hammersmith area. There are three rooms in my flat: a bedroom with one regular bed and one set of bunk beds, a bathroom, and a kitchen/living room area. I requested to live with two of my close friends from home, and luckily we were all placed together. I was originally hoping that we would be in a flat with anywhere between 4-8 girls so that I’d have friends that I knew, along with meeting new people, but overall I’m really happy with how it turned out. Also, the classes that I’m taking are small enough to where you can still easily meet people and I can say that I probably know everyone’s names in all my classes.

I absolutely love the area that my housing is in. There’s a Tesco Express, local coffee shop, and salon right under our flat. This lets me grab groceries, have a good study spot, and get my eyebrows done with just a 30 second walk outside my door – perfect for a lazy person like me. It’s also a 10ish minute walk to two tube stops running the District/Circle and Piccadilly lines. These (in my definitely biased opinion) are the best stops, as they stop almost everywhere I need to go without having to transfer.

The biggest challenge of living in Richmond Courts is definitely the amount of stairs you have to go up to get to my flat. There’s no elevator and I’m about 3 flights of small and steep steps up. You would think that after living there for a few weeks my legs would get used to it, but I often find myself panting as I reach my door. Although I always dread going up the stairs, there is one positive – this means I don’t have to go to the gym… right?

Overall, I’m really happy with my housing assignment. It took a little time to adjust to being in a small area with two other people, but we quickly found our routines and rhythms and now I couldn’t ask for a better flat or roommates. I haven’t left London yet and I already can feel myself missing this place.