All settled in

I am FINALLY all settled in to the place that I will be calling home for the next month, and things are starting to feel a bit more normal. We are staying at a place called The Stay Club in the bustling borough of London called Camden. The Stay Club is a student accommodation, so everyone who is staying here is on some type of study abroad or dialogue type trip. I almost always see the ground-floor common area filled with groups of students from all over the world playing Xbox or pool, or gathering around a table studying or having dinner. Another Northeastern dialogue is also staying here, so it’s nice to walk around and see Northeastern logos on t-shirts or laptops and feel a little bit of home in London.

The Stay Club is also in such a great, central location. There are countless restaurants and cafes surrounding us, and we are right across the street from the Camden market. The Stay Club is also in walking distance to the beautiful Regent’s Park, and I have been going there quite frequently to walk around and explore or go on a run. There are also two northern line tube stops within a 5-minute walk of The Stay Club, so it’s really easy to get anywhere you need to go. Between hanging out in the ground floor common area or going out and exploring Camden, there is always something to do.

I am really enjoying my room so far, and it’s a very comfortable and aesthetically pleasing place to stay. The room has all the basics for day to day living covered – a kitchen with a fridge, stove top, and sink (pots, dishes, a toaster, and a kettle are included as well!), a bed with linens, a desk with drawers, two huge mirrors, a good sized closet, and a bathroom with a sink and shower (it’s a bit small, but it will do for a month). For anything that the Stay Club didn’t provide in the room (such as extra towels or extra kitchen supplies), I went to the Primark on Oxford Street, and it was probably the best decision I have ever made. Everything there is super inexpensive, and it really helped to make my room feel more like home. Almost all the students on the dialogue have a roommate, but I somehow ended up in a single (which I am very thankful for!). The doubles have all the amenities of a single – the only difference is the bunk beds and the layout of the bathroom (the shower is closed off and the sink is more compact). While not everything is perfect about the Stay Club (I have had hiccups with trying to figure out the laundry and my stove top, and I also still don’t have a trash can…), I am really pleased with where we are staying, and I have a feeling that at the end it’s going to be hard saying goodbye.

Because I am one of the few people staying in a single, I was really nervous that I was going to have a more difficult time making friends; However, it has been quite easy to meet new people in our group. Since our dialogue is so small (there are only 8 students), making connections was easier than I expected. Everyone on the dialogue has an interest in exploring London, and also needs to eat, so right off the bat there were two common activities for people to connect. Having dinner or lunch, exploring Camden, going grocery shopping, walking to Regent’s Park, getting an ice cream, and shopping around Oxford Street, have all been simple and fun activities that my new friends and I have done to get to know each other better. Also, since we are in such small, intimate acting or voice classes every day from 11 to 4, it’s easy to get to know everyone. The plays that we have gone to as a group have also been a really great way of getting to know people, and it’s been a fun thing to talk and connect about. Everyone on this dialogue is so nice and friendly, and I am so happy with all the new friends I have made!