Cochise College student Celeste Morales is spending a semester abroad at London Metropolitan University. This is Morales’s most recent report on her experiences in the United Kingdom.

 

When does school start? Have you met many others in your program or your teachers? There are six in my GLS program group; two of them are from Texas, two are from California, and one is from Hawaii. I have also met people from other countries, including India, Norway, Spain, Germany, Africa, and Italy. There is so much diversity! My classes started on Monday, Sept. 29.  Here in London, the instructors are called “lectures.” In my psychology class, there are about 50 students. What most surprised me was the quantity of books for the class; I have three books for just this one class. My module has been split into two sections: the first couple of weeks we are going to be taught personality psychology, while in the following weeks, the lectures will be about social psychology. I can say that there are certain words that I cannot understand completely, but I can get the conceptual idea. I’ll be learning many new words not used in U.S.

Do you have a guide? Global Semesters has provided us with a guide to show us around. His name is Duncan, and he is Scottish and already has a master’s degree at the age of 22! He is in charge of making sure we experience the best in this city and arranging trips and events for us.

What significant things have you done since you last provided an update? I visited Buckingham Palace. The place is incredibly beautiful. The crystal chandeliers are enormous, and the architecture is breathtaking. The antiquities that you find in this palace are of great value; it is like you have traveled back in time. Even though they don’t allow complete access to the whole palace, the parts selected for visitors are the grand hall, the quadrangle, the guard room, the green drawing room, the throne room, the picture gallery/lobby, the silk tapestry room, the state dining room, the blue drawing room, the music room, the white drawing room, the ministers’ staircase, the marble room, and the bow room. Every single room has its own history and marvelous design. They don’t let visitors to take photos inside the palace. Finally, when walking along the gardens, it feels like you are walking through the forest. It has gigantic trees, lakes, and flowers.

Describe where you live. I live in Nido Student Living, a glass building with 12 floors on the south side and 14 on the north side. We have a cafeteria, entertainment area, lobby, screening room, and laundry room, better known as the launderette. Nido is a cashless student apartment; we are given a card that allows us to get around the building or buy food and goodies in the building. The around-the-clock security here is very good. If we have visitors, we need give to 24 hours notice. If we fail to do so, our visitors are not allowed to enter the building. Unfortunately I don’t have a roommate, but I have made some acquaintances on my floor and on other floors.

What is your residence near? The university that I am attending has two campuses in London - City Campus and North Campus. My classes are mostly at the City Campus, which is quite far from where I live. It probably takes me about 20 to 30 minutes to get there if I take the tube.

What is the weather like? What about traffic? Do they take American money? How about pesos? The weather is, in fact, unpredictable. It may rain for three days. Then it stops and for another three days there is sun with a little bit of cold wind. On those days you can go outside with no jacket; however, you always need to bring it because at night it gets quite cold. They don’t take any American money or pesos. The official currency in London is the pound (£). The pound is subdivided into 100 pence. The symbol for pence is “p.” The euro is a currency accepted in all of Europe; however, in London, it is very rare to find places that will accept euros. The traffic is truly busy. Even at night, I can hear the cars, a sound which is really unfamiliar to my ears, and sometimes it is just difficult to go to sleep. It is quite frightening to cross the streets of London, especially if the walk signs are not working. You literally need to look both ways before you cross.

How are you getting around the city? I mostly use the tube, an underground train that costs about two pounds a trip, depending on what zone you are trying to reach (The city is divided into zones with certain streets in Zone 1 and so forth.). It is recommended to always be accompanied by someone. Once in a while, I walk to places that are near. There is no use taking the tube, cab, or bus when the destination is only a couple of blocks away.

How is London different from what you’re used to? Everything is fast-paced, even in the checkout line in the grocery stores. Punctuality is very important here. You must always arrive 10 minutes early. If you are right on time, you are already LATE!!