A Letter from London.
from a girl who can't stop talking about the city she studied abroad in
Dear Reader,
Is there a city calling your name?
A city that appears in your life in the most random ways. A red double-decker bus at a cafe near your old apartment in New York. A suitcase with a London decal stamped on the front at the domestic baggage claim. Maybe you’ve been there, maybe you are from there, maybe it’s a place you dream of. I’ve loved hearing about everyone’s places from the comments on the note I posted above. For me, my place is London.
I know it’s a cliche to talk so much about the place you studied abroad. And I know the city has its many cons. Often, when I express my interest in this city, people have a lot to say about how expensive, crowded, overstimulating, dangerous, and gloomy it is. And while some of those may be true, I believe every place to every one of us has different pros and cons that carry different weights. Maybe it has something to do with rose-colored glasses, but London has too many memories and attachments for me to think of it negatively.
My first real love for the city, and more generally British culture, started like it did for many pre-teens in the early 2010s with the British YouTubers and One Direction. I’m so beyond happy I was surrounded by that growing up. YouTuber collabs were the most exciting thing to come home to after school, One Direction played on the radio every few songs, and Zoella was (is) my role model. While not every aspect of the media I consumed was focused on London specifically, there were so many glimpses of the city that intrigued me enough to put it down as my top option for studying abroad.
The place itself is not necessarily the reason for the excitement and joy it brings me to talk about it. It's the memories, the period of change in myself that coincided, the lessons and growth from living on my own abroad. London was the setting for some of my happiest times in life. Not the cause of it, but the place associated with it. Landing once again in the city for the first time since studying abroad felt like a past version of me was coming alive again.
It was so meaningful to visit all the places I used to frequent. Gail’s was one of my favorite cafes for its presence all over the city and an array of delicious baked goods. It’s also the place I brought the best olive bread I’ve ever had on my first solo picnic in Kensington Gardens. We happened to drive past the building on Bedford Square, where I took my classes and spent time with my friends. The V&A museum, which is to this day my favorite museum. I walked through Notting Hill, the place where I challenged myself to my first solo date ever, a little achievement in my journey to finding peace in my alone time. And all of the buildings I had spent hours sketching for my architecture class.
I felt so lucky we got such lovely, sunny, warm weather on both ends of my Euro summer trip in London. Truly, London is at its finest when the sun is out. It felt like everyone was outside, dressed in their spring outfits. People were biking, dining in outdoor seating, and soaking up the warmth in the parks. Even the one late afternoon shower on one of the days was lovely as we were sitting at Maison Bertaux in their open-air indoor seating, enjoying a cappuccino and scone. I will say, the pollen was outrageous the first weekend. There was a symphony of sneezing all around us during the mid-afternoon hours, and you could see the sheets of pollen raining down from the trees.
There’s a bit of sadness in realizing how much time has passed since I experienced those things for the first time. Thinking back, I was so young and full of adventurous excitement. Now I am older, a bit wiser hopefully, and looking back sentimentally. I see that version of me, coming out of a year and a half of managing her mental health and healing from a breakup. In London, I came back to myself fully. Got over a lot of the pain and started living life again. Everything started looking more beautiful and brighter. And what hosted every memory, every solo adventure, every moment of growth, was London.
It’s more than just a city for me.
I am hoping life takes me back there.
With Love,
Sof xx