London at Fordham

Before attending Fordham my freshman year, I was assigned a random roommate. The only characteristics that I knew about this girl was based off of the roommate survey that I took a few months before. I knew from the survey that she liked to go to bed early and that she was neat and organized. A week before school began, I received an email from Fordham stating the name of my roommate. Her name was Laura Mahmoudian. Just like any other student who was assigned a random roommate, I went on Facebook to try to find pictures of her. Unfortunately, she did not have a Facebook profile at the time. She was nowhere to be found on social media. At this point, I started to freak out. A few days before school began, I received an email from Laura introducing herself. She is originally from London and moved to the United States when she was 10 years old. Her mother is from Ireland, her father is from Iran, and they met in London at university. She has a twin sister that also attends Fordham with us. I was so excited to hear that my roommate was from London. I thought it was going to be the coolest thing that my roommate is European.

On the first day of freshman year, I met Laura for the first time. The first thing that struck me was her accent. Even though she has lived in America for half of her life, her accent was so strong at our first interaction. As she started to decorate the room, I noticed all of her pictures were from London. Her family still owns a flat in Ealing Broadway in West London, where they spend every summer. She has pictures at Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, and on the London Eye. One day, she asked me to grab her "trousers". At first, I was confused. However, in London, pants are called "trousers". At the end of each text she sent me, she replied "Cheers!". Instead of saying, "That sounds great" to going out to dinner, she would say, "That sounds grand!". In small and subtle ways, she brought the atmosphere in London to our room on Fordham's campus. Each day I spent with Laura, I learned more and more about London. She was one of the many reasons why I chose to study abroad in London. She would tell me stories of her days in the city and the magic she felt while walking the streets of London and I couldn't wait to cross the pond. 

Above is a picture of my roommate Laura and me in London. 3 years after our first day of freshman year, we became best friends. She was studying abroad in Paris when I was in London. At the end of October, she came to visit me for a weekend. It was so interesting to see her interact in London. She always spoke about the city, but I never had the chance to see her in London. Her accent was strong and she was so happy. She was truly in her element during our weekend in London.  Our dream is to move to her flat in London in 3-5 years for a short amount of time and enjoy the city in our 20s. Wouldn't that be grand?