Figuring out how to use one’s cell phone when abroad is a point of stress for most students, and I’m lucky enough to 1) be studying abroad in a major city with plenty of mobile phone stores and 2) have a tech-savvy dad who did research about this topic before my departure. A few days in London after arriving in London, I went to the Three store (a U.K. mobile phone network) at the mall one tube stop away from campus (which is actually the largest urban mall in the U.K.) and bought a SIM card. I had to return to the Three store at a later date to get the SIM card put in because I didn’t realize my phone had to be unlocked (which took a few days plus several phone calls from my dad to AT&T—this is a really important detail that most phone carriers don’t make obvious in their information about international SIM cards). I pay £25 a month for 500 minutes, 3000 texts, and unlimited data, which is great because apps like Google Maps (which I’m using a lot as I figure out the city and public transit) eat up data really quickly. I’m also not on a contract, I just pay every month, and Three has relationships with most European countries so I can still get service and data when I travel. I’m really happy with this plan as I’m getting good service throughout the city, and I’d say most study abroad students here also got a SIM card from a U.K. provider (it’s just much easier than an international plan).
As far as technology on campus goes, Queen Mary is fairly comparable with Northeastern. There are lots of desktop computers in the library (though I primarily use my laptop), and the whole campus has WiFi, which I’ve found to be really good even in high traffic areas like the library or the dorms. There are also printing kiosks in most academic buildings, and you upload documents through a webpage and then tap your student ID at the printer. In short, even though it’s a smaller campus, Queen Mary still has a great deal of technology available to students.
Some highlights from the week: participating in the Women’s March On London with thousands of men and women from around the world (which culminated in a rally on Trafalger Square which was utterly insane), visiting both the Tate Modern and the British Museum (and having high tea at the latter!), and seeing The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime in the West End, which is one of my favorite books and a play I’ve been wanting to see for a long time (it was brilliant, as is everything I’ve seen thus far. They really know what they’re doing here).
