M is for money, movies, market, miscellaneous
Money. It makes the world go round and for my first week in London, I had none of it. See I’m a loyal customer of JP Morgan Chase in New York and I was told numerous times over the summer that my Visa debit card would be available for my usage while abroad. But on the second Saturday of my trip, during an outing to Canterbury, my card stopped working. Low and behold Chase, which had switched to MasterCard over the summer, canceled my Visa. I wasn’t as upset as I should have been, which even surprised me. I have recently been incredibly cheap and this would put my frugality to the test, until my card arrived in the mail. So here I was in London with $100 to my name and I am glad to say I survived unscathed. That experience taught me a bit about money management, but it more so taught me that banks can royally screw over the people they claim to be servicing (in addition to obscene ATM and wire transfer fees).
Now that my money is together, I have been going out more than I ever did in Chicago (thank you UK drinking age). As someone who has proudly proclaimed her non-existent alcohol intake, being in London has challenged that more than I would like to admit. No I haven’t done anything irresponsible or dangerous and yes I’ve had a few Snakebites here and there, but the culture surrounding drinking here has made me more comfortable with the idea of having a drink. Being at NU has made me weary of drinking. Yes, age has something to do with it, but it was also just my own self-perseverance that I felt would be in jeopardy if I drank at school. I can drink on my own accord here and not feel like I’m breaking the law. I can go to pub and see a menagerie of activities. Pub culture contains a familial atmosphere, with people bringing their children and having birthday parties. Old men sit and read the paper or watch a football match with a pint and then you have the college kids who just want to go out for a night. It’s different from what I’m used to and I like it.
In addition to the occasional pub here and there, I have been spending money on movies like crazy. I recently booked two film showings at the London Film Fest and I saw Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and The Social Network in the same week. Movies in London are obscenely expensive, but I’ve been lucky enough to have a budget theatre near my campus where students tickets go for 3 or 5 pounds a show. A steal is an understatement. Now that I have to watch my budget thanks to the following section, attending the LFF more than twice is not an option. But having the chance to see some of my favorite actors and directors in person is a priceless and free occasion. Last week I attended the opening night gala of the LFF where the upcoming Never Let Me Go was making it European debut showing. This moving tale of friendship and the limits of science stars Keira Knightly, Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield. Arriving to the premiere at 5:30, I was lucky enough to get a picture with Miss Mulligan who happens to be an incredibly sweet person and I got so close to Andrew Garfield’s face I could slap him (or kiss him like I wanted to). With that said, going to a film premiere where there are tons of obnoxious and anxious fans/press is not something I truly want to go to again in the spectator’s aisle. Being that close to the red carpet, recently has been one of the many reasons that has given me the drive to start writing and hopefully direct before my time at Northwestern is complete.
London is known for its markets. Portobello, Camden Lock, Brick Lane, so on and so forth. Markets in London are more than your typical food market. They are like flea markets, cultural fests, produce stands and vintage stores rolled up into one massive ball of awesomeness. The few markets I’ve been to have given me some of the best deals I’ve ever seen. 15 quid for a Super 8mm camera from 1968? Thank you and here’s your money. 30 pounds for a 35mm from ‘72? Hell yeah, I’ll have that. Feijoada for 4.50 quid? Oh yeah… see what I mean? It really can’t get any better than that. People flock to these market in droves and I love it. It can get a bit overwhelming, but it brings a sensibility of the past to the modern areas of London. Anyone who has anything can sell items, It’s very idealist and comforting to me.
T is for travel
And it is something that I love to do. I love London as a city and being this close to continental Europe is affording me so many opportunities. and I’m taking advantage. I am going to Scotland, Paris and Portugal, which I think is a nice amount of places to travel to. I came to London for a reason, not to just rack up a bunch of stamps in my passport. When I travel I want to have enough time to see how the locals live and breath in the spirit of the land. Traveling to one country every weekend for three months doesn’t allow that to happen. That is one of my issues with travel during study abroad. There are some students that go away too much and others that don’t. I think a nice balance has to be found. Remember you are here to study and experience life in the country you are studying in, but also take advantage of the fact that you have so many countries with various traditions, languages, customs, etc. at your disposal and within close reach (gosh, now I sound patronizing and pretentious, sorry, not my intention at all).
As much as I love London, I have had a difficult time interacting with Brits outside of my flat-mates. I consider myself a relatively friendly and nice person, and I have yet to become good ‘mates’ with the locals and that is upsetting. I came to London to start a network (specifically in the entertainment industry), so that when I decide to move here I won’t be at a total loss. This is just incredibly hard to come by and it’s disheartening. To make matters worse, Londoners have a tendency to be ‘rude’ (not my words). I haven’t heard thank you/cheers often or excuse me, as someone pushes you out the way, which is a little surprising, but I’m used to it now. I still have as many manners as I did when I left, if not more. And dealing with the manner-less just comes with the territory. Sometimes in Rome, you have to do what the Romans don’t.
F is for food
Food. Something you love, something you need, something that causes hours upon hours of exercise because you had too much. This is the first time I’ve had the ability/availability to cook for myself and It has been wonderful. I knew I had the potential to cook good food, just from my sheer interest in the Food Network. But man, not to sound egotistical or anything, my food is awesome. With that said, here is a photo of the food I’ve cooked up.
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