Now that I am 3 weeks into London life, I have found myself adjusting to London’s culture faster than I had originally expected. I enjoy the “go-go-go’ of London and the use of public transportation instead of driving everywhere. Drivers are even subject to  a congestion charge of 15 pounds if they are driving within central London. The tube is surprisingly clean and I find it easy to navigate. More often that not, there is no phone service while commuting – I honestly enjoy not being ‘reachable’ during that time and use it  to listen to music or read for class. I also love the ‘neighborhood identity’ aspect of London’s culture. Each neighborhood is unique, and there are different energies in each one. So far I’ve been to Brixton, Hackney, Soho, Kensington, Camden, and more. I love how you can find so many different experiences in the  same city and within a 30 min tube ride of eachother. 

Another huge aspect of culture is food – London has almost every kind of food you can imagine. Because London has so many people from different parts of the world, we aren’t stuck with only traditional English foods (sorry to black pudding fans). However, I have noticed  how much I am eating ‘pub’ food. This means fish and chips, meat pies, and Sunday roasts. Sunday roasts, as you can expect, are served on Sundays usually in the afternoon and consist of roast meat (chicken or beef), potatoes, veggies, and Yorkshire pudding. The ones I’ve had are pretty good, and I appreciate the tradition of gathering with friends to eat them. 

There are, of course, little things that are hard to assimilate to. For example, I’ve had my coworkers or others ask me “Are you alright?”. To me this means  they are asking if I am okay, almost like something is wrong. However, people here mean this the same way we mean “How are you?”. It’s a way to start a conversation instead of a worry.  Overall, though, I find that most of the culture here is similar to the United States and that it has been relatively easy to adapt to life here. I think my program offers the unique opportunity to experience London as a local instead of a tourist, which definitely excels my assimilation to the city. In terms of navigating cultural crossroads, I find that is easiest to just ask people around you. Maybe not strangers on the street, but your coworkers, professors, and peers are there to help you. I find that bringing up cultural differences have actually been some of the most interesting conversations with coworkers and other locals – they have questions about Americans too!