Submitted by Hibah Khan on the 2018 summer session program in London, England sponsored by the Department of Art and Design …
My first week in London was eye-opening, to say the least. Considering that this is my first time ever living away from home, it’s been interesting to balance figuring out a new country as well as independence in general. The first thing, I noticed when getting here was an increase in diversity – so many people of so many different cultures, all mixed into one large city. The weather this week was BEAUTIFUL, which was unexpected. Everyone assumes that London summers are cold and rainy, yet it remained sunny and pleasant. I hope it stays this way! The people here are extremely polite which makes the city quieter, cleaner and therefore, calmer. Even at the Queen’s birthday parade, the celebration was fairly quiet with an adequate noise level. It’s quite refreshing and interesting to observe. The amount of food options is AMAZING, considering the diversity of people here as stated previously. The coffee here is richer and much less sugary, and has increased my caffeine addiction even more. It’s also interesting to notice the size of everything is much smaller here – a large drink here is similar to many “small” sized drinks in America. Although I’ve successfully gotten over my jet-lag, I still haven’t gotten used to everything being on the left side of the road rather than the right.
