Foreign Things
My London liaison, Lucy from API, said something that surprised me enough that it stuck during orientation. She said if you’re lost, don’t just ask someone on the street to help you in London because chances are they’re a tourist and they’re just as lost as you. Go into a store and ask an employee. I didn’t realize what a tourist destination London is. It really is though! They’re absolutely everywhere, taking photos and crowding sidewalks. So I found that I actually ended up meeting more tourists than native Londoners on my dialogue. Sure, there are lots of Londoners in my office that I had the pleasure of meeting, but out of the office I found myself talking to people from Sweden, Canada, Northeastern (there are three different dialogues in London!), and France.
I met a girl from Canada during the Harry Potter tour that I ended up becoming friends with. She’s backpacking through London, Berlin, and Prague before going to Spain for a study abroad program. She and I ended up spending a lot of time together while she was in London. She lives in Montreal which is just about 90 minutes from my home in Vermont so I can’t wait to visit her when we both get back from Europe. It has been really cool to get to know other travelers and even to hear about all the travels my fellow dialoguers are planning after our time in London ends. I have so many friends from high school and Northeastern that are traveling this summer. I’m actually going to meet my best friend in France for a week after I leave London because she happens to be studying abroad there. And what’s amazing is nearly all the travelers I know are able to explore because of school. Many of them, like myself, are using study abroad as a springboard into other cultures and taking extra time to continue their adventures either before or after their programs.
The one thing that is really limiting for everyone that decides to travel is money. For me it was really scary to end work in April and think, “Okay, I’m not going to get another paycheck until the beginning of July. And in the meantime I’m going to be traveling around four countries including two of the most expensive cities in the world. How do I budget for this?” I haven’t calculated it exactly (because I’m a little terrified) but I think that when it is all said and done I will have spent about $2000 on my European adventure. That includes my food and spending money in London and elsewhere, my extra flights and hostel stays after my trip, my Eurail pass, any busses I have to get in Ireland, train reservation fees in France, everything. But don’t let that deter you! Between my financial aid and GEO Scholarship, Northeastern actually paid for me to come to London! And my dad was kind enough to pick up the tab for my visa fees, so I ended up taking only a tiny fraction of the overall costs (about $19,000 between tuition, dialogue fee, visa expenses, and post London travels) out of my savings.
No matter what your budget, a dialogue is doable and it can be your gateway into further traveling. That said, I haven’t really bought any souvenirs. I got one ring at Camden Market, but other than that all my money has gone towards transportation, food, and a few nights out. For one thing I packed light because I didn’t want to lug around a big suitcase in France and Ireland so I don’t have room for anything else, but I also value experiences over material items. Doing a boat tour in Luxembourg and getting a ticket to climb to the top of Sacre Coeur to see all of Paris was worth a lot more to me than an “I heart London” shirt so I’ve made sure to spend my money where it counts. That said, it’s kind of impossible not to find yourself wasting money on some things. You end up buying a crappy meal for way too much, or buying the wrong electrical outlet converter, or being forced to take out cash from an ATM that charges lots of fees. It happens. It’s part of the experience and it’s a lesson in going with the flow and not sweating the small stuff.
