Adventures & non-adventures whilst studying abroad in London

Don’t look at me like that, London. We both knew this had to end eventually.

I have been bracing myself for a couple weeks now to leave you tomorrow. My bags are packed, heavier than they were in January: heavy with souvenirs and sorrow. I am ready to go home after 5 months, but knowing I likely won’t be back for a long time… That still hurts my heart a little bit.

To think that I applied to study abroad on something of a whim, that I wasn’t completely hell-bent on going like others who plan this sort of thing when they start college, that I never actually made up my mind, I just let the decision deadline pass and make up my mind for me — that all means I might not have done this. That’s terrifying. I very well could have stayed in L.A.! I would have had a great semester, no doubt.

But I wouldn’t have had these months, isolated in the span of my life so far as unique, to live pretty much entirely for myself and no one else. I’ve had my fill of it and am ready to return to a life that involves obligations, considerations, give-and-take relationships with other people, but I’ll return having learned a valuable lesson:  It’s nice, sometimes, to be selfish, because life is a two-way street. (That sounds awful, but I hope you get my meaning.)

I wouldn’t have been able to visit so many beautiful cities across Europe.

I wouldn’t have met so many interesting and wonderful people.

I wouldn’t have had you.

I wouldn’t trade this semester abroad for anything.

Things I’ll miss, among others:

• The tube, even though it breaks down all the time.
• Underground stations — they each have a personality of their own! They’re like people.
• Buskers: musicians playing all kinds of music in tube stations. They have to audition for the part, so they’re actually really good.
• Walking, walking, walking. Looking up and seeing old Victorian buildings.
• Pubs & pub culture. Ordering pints/halfs of beer.
• Seeing Melissa and Marcos pretty much every waking moment. Viva Marlisha!
• People saying “Cheers!” for everything, including hello, goodbye, thanks, you’re welcome, when it hardly even makes sense…
• Groceries marked with a “V, Suitable for Vegetarians.”
• Afternoon tea. Especially the vanilla black tea and scones with clotted cream and raspberry preserves at Bea’s of Bloomsbury. Yummm.
• My split-level flat, and always having someone around, though sometimes 6 people in 1 flat got stuffy.
• Kebab shops with the friendliest Turkish owners ever (particularly Farringdon Grill). Falafels to curb middle-of-the-night hunger attacks.
• Newsagents.
• Accents.
• Knowing that at least one channel is playing Friends, no matter what time of day it is.
• Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut Clusters cereal, available only in the UK.
• How green/environmentally-friendly this place is!
• The River Thames.
• People who might seem standoffish to affable Americans, but who, if you talk to them, are cheery and helpful. I love people like that — people who prove you wrong, people you have to figure out.
• Ridiculous street & pub names, like Lamb’s Conduit and Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese.
• Constant use of the word “whilst,” which I’m particularly fond of. The use of words like “alight” and “query,” which are in danger of extinction in America.
• Banksy Bagels and the really nice Irish woman who works there.
• Portobello Market.

You’ve been terribly good to me, London. You taught me a lot about myself and you gave me plenty of room to grow – something I really needed. You gave me a lot of opportunities. You quenched my thirst for adventure, and in fact, you amplified it. I have every intention of exploring Los Angeles now the way I explored your streets and suburbs.

After all my travels this semester, I was always happy to come home to you. I was always glad I chose to study abroad here (despite your expensive British pound, which is my only complaint). There is nothing, really, that you lack as a great city.

I think you’re a million kinds of wonderful. Your diversity, your history, your humor, your cosmopolitan charm, your good-natured welcoming of tourists and transplants: these are the qualities that endear you to anyone who’s had the pleasure of your acquaintance. I know I am not the first, nor will I be the last, to have fallen unavailingly in love with you.

I sincerely hope one day we cross paths again. You’ll carry on without me, no doubt, and I’ll carry on without you… But at the risk of sounding desperately cheesy: you will always, always, always have a special place in my heart.

Yours truly,
Nimisha

P.S. I love you.