Hello for the last from London! As promised this is my love letter to London and to all my housemates.
Dear London,
I’m not even sure where to start, but how about with a big ‘thank you’! It’s truly been a magical, amazing, and life changing semester. I made more memories and had more laughs than ever before in my life. I ate way too much food and perfected cooking for eight people or more. I’ve washed more dishes and cohabitated with more people than I could have ever imagined. I visited nine different countries and managed to find myself at home in London.
I really loved you London. You are so diverse and hold so many secrets and history it’s astounding. I love your free museums and art galleries, your fish and chips, and your markets. I love the way the old is weaved in with the new in different and interesting ways. I appreciate your differences and these differences have taught me a lot about myself and American culture. I hope to take this new knowledge with me and apply it to everyday life. There are definitely going to be some differences. I’m a litter more quite (regardless that I just won the ‘loudest’ award in the house!), I don’t mind just sitting and thinking for a bit. I’m not afraid of quiet the way I used to be. Public transportation doesn’t scare me anymore. I’m a little more adventurous and a little more curious.
While you were great London, what I found was equally beneficial were the connections I forged with my housemates.
I found a family with 15 of the most wonderful people and we made ever-lasting memories.
I haven’t been that close to friends since high school and being in this house really changed that. Taking all the same classes, seeing people in their pjs and their just-rolled-out-of-bed hair, dressed up, stressed out, crying, laughing, thinking. We saw every side of each other and managed to not kill each other, which is quite a feat for so many people stuffed inside a relatively small house. It’s going to be so quiet going back home and not being able to come down to our huge kitchen and eat breakfast with four or five people. Or walk anywhere and see at least another person to chat with. I’m used to living in noise and controlled chaos, so going home is going to be a shock. Nevertheless, I’m excited to be going home.
London you made me appreciate my home more as well. There are few things America does better (very few things) but I’m going to enjoy going back to them! Things like free water at restaurants and free public bathrooms, trashcans, and Mexican food, just to name a few!
I don’t want to get too sappy because I have already cried enough today (saying goodbye and watching my housemates leave is tragic) but I had the most amazing time and regret absolutely nothing. I plan on coming back and expanding on my experiences, I just have to figure out how.
Thanks for helping me grow, London. You have changed me in many ways, some that I am still discovering.
So let’s call this a ‘see you later’ rather than a goodbye because I will be back.
Thanks for going on this journey with me readers, it means the world to me. I’ll be interning in DC next semester in the midst of the presidential election which I expect to be a whole different experience. This has been an amazing opportunity and I encourage everyone who gets the opportunity to study abroad to go because who knows if it will ever come knocking again? For me, the door is now wide open.
Cheers and love,
Paige