Housing and Classmates

June 28, 2017

While in England, I’ve been lucky enough to be staying right in the center of the action-the Eastern corner of Central London, in the Whitechapel area. Whitechapel itself is particularly interesting for the Criminal Justice major in me, because I’m walking down the same alleys where the infamous Jack the Ripper killed his victims. Aside from the murder mystery, Whitechapel is home to hundreds of local shops, markets, and restaurants. As someone who prefers small, family-owned businesses to larger chains, I’m in my element. I couldn’t possibly run out of things to do, but if I could it would be an adventure in and of itself to walk down any nearby street and explore. One of the main differences I’ve noticed between London and the U.S. is the architecture and decoration of the buildings-each one is beautiful, colorful, and completely unique. Many of them are covered with the most incredible graffiti I’ve ever seen. Add this to the mix of local and cultural markets held most days, and I could not be happier just to stand back and take it all in.
Part of my coursework is to complete a 30hr/week internship, and in doing so I spend a considerable amount of time in West Croydon, a more residential area an hour or two outside of Central London. There is less to do here, but still much to see, including some great family-owned restaurants and markets. The plus side of my two-hour-long commute is that I get to take the train (or the Tube, as they call it here) to the end of the line and watch the landscape change as I travel further and further outside the center of the city.
Since each of the students on this Dialogue have their own separate internships and their own private apartments (a really big change from spending the past year in Boston with a roommate) I wasn’t expecting any of us to have the time to meet up all that often. To my surprise and excitement, so far that hasn’t proven to be true. Although we all work pretty much all day Monday-Thursday, there’s always someone who wants to meet up for dinner or go run errands afterwards. Because we all live in the same building, we spend a lot of time in the common room on the top floor, studying and enjoying the view. And of course, we still have the weekends for ourselves to enjoy the magnificent beauty that is the city of London.

Written By

Danielle Dottor

Hi! My name is Danielle Dottor, and I am a double Criminal Justice and Human Services major and a double Cultural Anthropology and Ethnomusicology minor at Northeastern. I've just finished up my first year, and this will be my first Dialogue. I've never actually left the East Coast, nevermind the country, so I'm really excited for this experience! I'm very interested in and passionate about working with children and adults who have experienced trauma and all of the difficulties that can arise from that. In particular, I've worked with domestic violence, sexual assaults, hate crimes, and human trafficking cases. In London I will be working with older youth who are struggling to find, afford, and/or maintain housing, which includes addressing the domestic violence/abuse concerns that may accompany this need. I will also be taking a class called Intercultural Studies through Human Services, which focuses on understanding how the culture, politics, education, and economy of a country affect and inform their social services. Since this will be my first time abroad, I am particularly interested in learning about how London's nonprofit systems and client needs differ from those in the U.S. I plan to use this knowledge to inform and improve the way I work with clients in the nonprofit system back in Boston and beyond.