Hello all! I am officially halfway through my time in London and I figured it’s time for an update! Thank goodness for the internet.
So, let me see if I can cover the important bits.
Wait, why am you there?
I’ve been working towards what feels like a never-ending Master of Science in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. I started classes via distance-learning in 2016. Hopefully this will be my final year, so I applied to study on-campus for a semester (an option open to distance-learning students once they’ve completed core courses). And so, I’m taking two five-week courses while maintaining my online classes and starting my master’s thesis. With a little luck and coffee, I will be done with everything by December 2020!
Where do you live?
I’m in Notting Hill. Notting Hill is great. I get to gaze at multi-million pound flats through the window of my crappy dorm room. It’s aspirational, I suppose. Actually, it is an adorable neighborhood - it overflows with tourists on the weekend so I tend to do my exploring on quieter weekdays, and I’m nice and close to the tube stop. I found a “home-base” coffee shop and I come here often enough that the baristas recognize me, and often they make my entire morning better. There’s also a glorious historic one-screen cinema, where I escape when I feel homesick, and I’m within walking distance to Hyde Park, where watching the city’s dogs romp around in the mud never fails to cheer me up.
How are classes?
Frankly - hard. And different. Spring courses are delivered in 5-week sessions, with lecture and group work two and a half days per week. It’s intense, and the style is definitely different from the US educational system. I’d gotten a taste of the difference through my online classes, but it’s more pronounced in person. Perhaps the best part of my classes is the fact that my classmates and lecturers come from such a wildly varying collection of backgrounds, professions, and countries. It does make for some interesting, er, culture shock. My first course was on family planning programmes. Surprise surprise, the US is not well-regarded. My next course, starting this week, is Human Rights, Ethics, and Health. Perhaps not a fluffy class, but I’m excited for it.
And life?
Oiy. Again, frankly - hard! I’ve been more homesick than I thought I would be. When I step back and look at it, this hasn’t just been an adjustment to a new city. It’s been several adjustments at once: living in a city this big. Living on my own after seven years living with a partner. Living as a full-time student after working + studying simultaneously for so long. Missing my job. Missing my dog! Probably the biggest shock has been how massive and multicultural London is. I’m not ignorant, but it’s a different story in person. When I moved to Geneva I pretty quickly learned the city inside and out - you could walk across the entire city in about an hour. Everywhere I’ve lived, that sense of familiarity has been very important to me - I’m fine on my own if I feel a connection to the town. London, however, is twelve cities in one. My neighborhood is entirely different from the neighborhood my school is in, and each one is large and diverse. Honestly, I also didn’t expect to go whole days without hearing another person speak English. It’s beautiful. It’s crazy. I’m happy and grateful but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t lonely or overwhelmed a lot of the time. And ultimately, I think that’s ok. I know I’ll be fine. This is just what this part of life looks like.
Ok but the weather?
London weather is angry and does not like to categorized. You’ll come out in the morning thinking it’s a perfectly pleasant day, and when you step outside for lunch it’ll be miserable, just to mess with you. No city outside of Chicago has business being this windy. I get migraines when the weather changes abruptly. In most places, this means I get a migraine when it rains. In London, I seem to get migraines when the sun comes out. But, because the weather is overall temperate, rarely getting too hot or too cold, the whole city is alive with trees, parks, green spots, even an odd magnolia tree or Spanish bayonet, which does make a world of difference. Plus, the spring flowers are starting to bloom!
How do you feel about current events?
It’s been a weird time to be studying the UK, I’ll grant you that. I certainly have an opinion on Brexit, but I’m not experiencing any difficulties due to it, so I’d rather let folks who are directly impacted speak on that. The city seems to be protesting in humorous, eloquent, and understated ways - “London is open” is a common refrain. Also, I certainly did not plan to be studying public health during a novel virus outbreak. I’m a little nervous regarding the potential impact on international travel, and my “normal brain” and my “public health brain” are definitely viewing things differently. We have been having specially-scheduled lectures on the outbreak - second one is tonight! In terms of US politics, it’s kind of nice to have a little space. However, I feel like I’m constantly having to catch up on politics updates. It’s like getting your news through a satphone.
What next?
It’s studying all the way down. I’ll be back in the States the end of March/early April (I should really book that plane ticket…) After that it’s cramming for June exams, thesis-writing, and family time. I’m hoping to travel some more following stages of my thesis.
What did I forget to cover? Shoot me your questions, recommendations, letter/souvenir requests, etc. Thank you all for your support!
