By Julia Ivanova (11th)
Nov. 22, 2019
Recently, I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go on a trip to London. It was my first time abroad ever and I was very excited. I was there with my boyfriend for 10 days.
My experience was ‘colorful’. For starters, this was my first time on a plane and I am very anxious and nauseous when it comes to trips so you can imagine I wasn’t thrilled with the flight.
The plus sides of London are a lot: everything is faster, bigger and better. I was amazed at how big their parks were (and how friendly their squirrels were).
Aside from all of the attractions and landmarks, there were so many other gorgeous buildings, modern and old-fashioned.
The lives of the people there seem so much easier because they are way more advanced In technology. For example when travelling around London there are several different ways you can pay for public transportation. The first is by contactless bank card. If your card allows for contactless payments, you’ll be able to just tap it on the yellow reader and be good to go. The second way is by using an Oyster card. If you can’t use contactless, your best bet is to get an Oyster card. It’s a reloadable smartcard that you tap on a reader. By using cash, credit, or debit, you can load the Oyster as you go or purchase one of the travelcards for it. Fares charged to Oyster cards are also cheaper than those for paper tickets. Another very important thing to mention is that they put safety FIRST. If there is a hole on the ground or a building is being renovated, there are signs, policemen and everything is fenced. However, you have to be very cautious when it comes to your bags, lugagge, phone,money, etc.
Now for the residents – almost everybody is kind and friendly; if someone accidentally pushes you, they will say “sorry”; if you accidentally push someone, they will say “sorry” again. And everyone is willing to help you. Another thing I was shocked by was that even the police are understanding and NOT rude or scary at all: My boyfriend and I were taking pictures in one of the parks and a police car was driving right next to us so we moved aside from the road so that the car could go through and one of the policemen just smiled at us and waved as a sign for us to continue with our mini photoshoot and they calmly waited for us!
I had to use a lot of my English skills to understand signs and to ask for help. I also got to practice my accent, which, to be honest, I don’t think I will ever be able to mimic.
Now for the negatives: it depends on what kind of person are you – if you are calm, slow, mellow, chill, I don’t think you will be able to cope with the city’s rhythm. Everyone is ALWAYS in a rush to somewhere. There is even something like an ‘unspoken rule’ – ALWAYS walk or stay on the right side of the road or even on the escalator so that you don’t get in someone’s way. Of course, the worst thing is the huge traffic, but for that problem there is the subway and the underground metro – the London Underground trains (also known as the Tube) run every 3 to 6 min.
All In all, I think if the traffic, the noise pollution and the huge mass of people aren’t bothering you, you might really enjoy living in London, I know I will! I can’t wait to graduate and go to college there, hopefully!