While studying abroad in London, I’m living in a dorm, or flat, as it’s called here, on Queen Mary’s Mile End campus. It’s odd being back in campus housing after living in an off-campus apartment for the past three years, but there are several comforts that make the adjustment easier. I have six other flatmates, and we all have our own rooms and bathrooms (the bathrooms are each the size of a closet but definitely better than sharing with six other people). I definitely prefer it to the traditional American dorm room, with double bedrooms and a bathroom shared by the whole floor. We don’t have a living room area here but we do share a large kitchen, and that’s where we tend to hang out if we’re not in each other’s rooms. There’s one other study abroad student in our flat, who’s from Australia, but the rest are all Queen Mary first years, who come from England, Serbia, Saudi, Greece, and Russia. It’s odd and exciting being the only American in the flat, and I love that we’re all from different parts of the world—like Northeastern Queen Mary has a high percentage of international students, and our flat definitely reflects that.
In addition to my flatmates, most of the people I’ve met here have been other theatre students. I wasn’t too interested in a lot of the orientation activities we could pay to attend, so I haven’t really made that many connections with other study abroad students so far. I’m taking one theatre course called Adaptations, and I’ve met both British and other study abroad students through that course (it meets for several hours a week so we’re spending a lot of time together). I’ve always gotten along best with fellow theatre people (shared interest, similar mindset, understanding of obscure musical theatre references, etc.), and I was hoping that the student theatre societies would have started by now so I could get involved with a play, but most of them won’t be starting for another week or so. I made some of my closest friends through a play I was cast in my very first week of freshman year at Northeastern, so I’m hoping to have a similar experience here. Societies seem like the best way to meet people here, and I’m thinking of joining a few others (Playwriting Society, Shakespeare Society, Harry Potter Society, etc.) to meet other like-minded/nerdy people. It’s been nice having a friend from Northeastern here with me (we’re actually living in the same building), and the transition would definitely have been a lot more difficult/lonely without him.
Closing with by far the best part of my week: seeing Hedda Gabler directed by Ivo van Hove at the National Theatre. Completely brilliant—I’m getting spoiled rotten on theatre here, it’s going to be very difficult to come back!
