Local Living

June 16, 2016

A particular way to meet the locals is to walk outside your door. British people generally are very personal and blunt so they are not afraid to come up to you and speak. They can overhear you talking about the Tube and share their opinion on how the transportation in London is 10 times better than it is in the US or how our accents are funny and try to impersonate them! People’s lives here are extremely interconnected and that can lead to very positive interactions within the community as well as with members of other communities, like tourist.
Budgeting has been a little difficult abroad mainly because London is an expensive city to live and the dollar is weaker than the pound. When I see a burger that cost 5 pounds, in my head I think it’s reasonable because I truly think it 5 dollars but in fact it’s equivalent to a little over $7. It’s been difficult because of this but I am doing my best to allot a certain amount of money to food, clothes, souvenirs and excursions. One of the most interesting things that I have purchased abroad was about 15 pounds (About $22). It was from Camden Market where numerous local vendors could sell items like henna, tapestries, CDs and jewelry. What I bought that I particularly liked was a hoodie from the market that says the word “underground” on it. It displays the symbol for a location where the underground transportation system is running. I wanted to purchase some item of clothing from London without it being the typical touristy ones. I chose this hoodie because it gave me the sense that I studied and truly lived in the U for this short time.

Written By

Cynthia Orofo

Living in America for the entirety of my life has blanketed me in a shell of American culture and lifestyles. I aim to expand my limited view of the world that I live and learn in everyday and in having the possibility to study abroad, an individual is granted the opportunity to broaden his/her global outlook by experiencing every aspect of that nation’s civilization, culture and society. With this dialogue, I wish to be thrown past my limits and experience first hand what it means to live, work, and learn in an environment completely different from my own. One of my long term goals in life is to better the lives of the deprived and disenfranchised, essentially helping those who may not have or have lost the ability to help themselves. This I aspire to attain later in life by constructing a free health clinic in impoverished villages in Nigeria. This dialogue gives a global prospect on health care systems which can broaden my way of thinking in progress towards a better understanding of the differences in health care systems.