About life and thoughts on London
I am living in a brand new apartment building about a thirty minute walk from the school. Most days when the weather is nice, I try to walk. I can also take the tube (London's underground) or a bus. There's a huge grocery store just a few blocks away and the apartment is in a really beautiful, quaint, quiet residential area. On my walk to school I can hear anywhere from two to five languages. London is one of the most international cities I've ever lived in. It's such a melting pot, it has me constantly wondering where all the Londoners are!
I like it a lot. The weather has been remarkably good, but I expect that to change any day and that many miserable rainy days are ahead. There are about fifteen other Pepperdine students that live in the building with me and about forty students in the program all together. Pepperdine rents out a huge house that hosts two large classrooms, two student lounges, a big kitchen and library and living spaces for about forty undergrad students. The undergrads and law students don't really mix too much, but I expect the library will get a bit territorial around finals time. The schools location is great- in the heart of a nice walking plaza and museums galore just two blocks from Hyde park.
London food isn't nearly as terrible as everyone always says it is. But what it absolutely is is mediocre. It's almost like someone comes around to every restaurant tasting the dishes and saying, "nope, it's too good. remove the pepper and that one ingredient so it's merely mediocre." Everything we eat is completely edible, but it's just not great. Food is really an afterthought- many of the restaurants are merely take-away cafeterias catering to people who want to walk in, grab something quick, walk out and eat while on the way to doing something else. Sound familiar??
I feel that calling this experience a "study abroad" is a misnomer for many reasons. In no way does it meet any expectations you carry of a typical "study abroad." I am not studying at a University in London, I am still enrolled completely at Pepperdine University School of Law. I will not have transfer credits, and my professors are Pepperdine-employed. There are three visiting students in our classes, but they're all Americans, and it's in no way an "international" school. I haven't met any real Londoners, have hardly any interaction at all with the culture (by comparison to living or traveling anywhere else) and haven't had any culture shock at all whatsoever. Of course, there are differences between the US and London, and there are things about living here that really manage to irk me. For example, the fact that the toilet flush handles are usually inconviently placed in a way where you have to SHUT the toilet lid in order to flush - like, seriously? WHY? Or that ATMs = cash point, cents = pence, buggy = stroller, chips are fries and chips are crisps. The guy at the PETROL station yesterday straight up laughed audibly at my "so funny accent." The lack of RUBBISH BINS in the city is appalling, and will leave you carrying your trash for over thirty minutes. Indeed in three months, I will be able to list on two hands every single trash can in this city. No doubt. But annoyances are prevalent anywhere you live, and the opportunities to meet Brits and to do all the amazing things that London has to offer are endless. However, I am a law student and its all I can do to work hard from sun up to sun down during the week, and let my gypsy side run wild on the weekends.
view from the roof of our building
Proof we do actually work. Occasionally. (Taken in Pepperdine's Library preparing for our Internal Moot Competition)
At Hillsong (a major producer of phenomenal worship music) London
