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? 

Pros and Cons to London

The idea of “studying abroad” stood out to me from the moment I took my first college tour and my tour guide discussed her experiences when she went abroad. She, too, packed her bags and shipped off to London for a semester and had a fabulous time in the city. I was so moved by the way she spoke about London that I knew I wanted to have the same experience that she did. When I decided to attend Fordham, one of the reasons I was attracted to the school was the study abroad program in London. Fordham University has a campus in the middle of the city (High Street Kensington, shown below) and students have the opportunity to apply for an internship at one of the Big 4 Accounting Firms, KPMG. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to embark on both of those adventures.

After my stay in London, I am biased on which city a student should choose when deciding where to study abroad. However, there are pros and cons to the city. London is the perfect location for travelling to other cities. There are numerous airports near the city that allow for inexpensive travel to any European city of your choice. The three airports are Heathrow, Stansted, and Gatwick. If you truly want to immerse yourself in British culture, you can travel to the outskirts of England, such as the landmark Highclere Castle (for any Downton Abbey fans) and The Warner Brothers Studios where Harry Potter is filmed. I wish I had the chance to see Oxford, Cambridge, Bath, and Liverpool, but there is only so much you can do in 4 months! Another amazing aspect of the city is the subway system, called “The Tube”. The Tube is incredibly simple to navigate and is a great resource to utilize when getting to know the city. On every Tube stop, there is a voiceover that states what famous landmarks are in the area where the tube is stopping. In this way, there is never anyway to get lost, you can never fall asleep on the tube, or miss your stop (very different from New York). There are beautiful and engaging museums, such as The National Gallery and the Imperial War Museum that truly bring history to life. That is one of my favorite parts of London: how all of the museums and galleries give history a meaning and show visitors the aftermath of events such as World War II or Princess Diana’s death. My entire semester abroad, I was learning something new with every area of London that I visited. For example, when I visited the Churchill War Rooms, I didn’t realize how much those working for the government had to sacrifice during that time until visiting the bunkers. That experience made me grateful for everything I have and all of the experiences I have had the chance to encounter. I wouldn’t have had that had I not gone to London.

If I’m being completely honest, there are a few downsides to studying abroad in London. To start off, London is incredibly expensive. This is coming from a girl who attends college in New York City. If you thought a grande vanilla latte at Starbucks was expensive in America, just wait until you get to London. For anyone interested in living in London, save up as many pennies as you can. With my internship at KPMG, I was paid in pounds, which was a lifesaver towards the end of my trip! Additionally, London’s public transportation train, called the “Tube”, shuts down at 12:00am. If you are out late at a show or are spending some time with friends at the pub, beware that you may have to wait for a bus or take a black cab instead of the Tube.

As you can see, there are many positive aspects of London that completely outweigh the negatives. Once you get to the city, you will realize just how lucky you are to be visiting one of the greatest cities in the world.