This city is my classroom - 5 years in london
This blog pairs nicely with Charli xcx and Sam Smith's song, "In the City"
I never thought I would find it, but I found what I was looking for ... I found it in the city - Charli xcx and Sam Smith
When I first came to London for a study abroad programme, I didn't live on a proper university campus. In fact, I had something better: the vibrant, bustling city of London. I'd have class mostly in coffee shops, museums and historical landmarks. I'd learn Shakespeare at the Globe and bible history in the British Museum. While I did occasionally find myself in an actual classroom, that never seemed to be where the real learning took place; the city itself was and continues to be my teacher, the classroom and homework all in one.
I've spent the majority of my young adult years being formed and transformed by London. Since officially moving to this city 5 years ago, I've developed an awareness of British social cues that grows stronger each year. I've learned slang and cultural norms. For example:
Football lads get a bit too rowdy and need separate pubs on game day to keep them from fighting the opposing team's fans.
"What's for tea?" (aka dinner)
You MUST stand on the right and walk on the left of the escalator, or else someone will tell you to move out of the way by passive-aggressively saying "Sorry!" before mumbling under their breath.
You should always have tea available for guests. (Not dinner, actual tea.)
Biscuits are actually cookies; chips are french fries and what I would call a chip is actually called a "crisp."
But more than that, I've learned about being a human being -- and to be human means making mistakes and questionable dating decisions but moving forward in confidence that you don't have to be defined by them for your entire life; it means holding friendships with open hands because in a city as transient as London, you never know when they will be leaving; knowing you have to be true to your own calling, even if it means making sacrifices that others don't always support or understand. It means being confronted by the fact that there are many lifestyles, struggles and lived experiences vastly different from your own, and the exposure to those different cultures, traditions, and stuggles greatly increases your compassion and understanding. I've learned more about being a true friend, how to be a present yet long-distance sister and daughter. I've learned about being a girlfriend then a fiancée and wife. But most of all, I learned how empty life is without Jesus.
During my time in London, I've experienced both immense joy and unparalleled heartbreak. I have a plethora of memories to remember this city by and emotions to associate it with, and rather than tainting my experience of this city, it has only further enriched it. Because no matter what I have experienced and learned, this city is always there to comfort me just as much as it is to challenge me. 5 years ago, I was a 22-year-old, doe-eyed woman with an itch for a life very different from the one I'd always known. And I found exactly that in this city. 5 years later, I know a little more about the world and myself, but my eyes are still wide and full of awe. I've yet to lose that affinity for this place that exposed me to so many incredible things.
Strap me up to a lie detector test when I say that there is no other place on this earth I dream of living in but London. I try to visualise myself in other places — back home in the States or in the mountains of Norway, the English countryside, Cornwall, Edinburgh, Florence — but no imagined life is as great as the real one I'm living right here in London. My roots may be relatively new but they are firmly planting themselves in this soil.
Sure, there are things about this city that aren't ideal, people I miss and wish were closer; money seems to always fly out of my pocket faster than the time I spent making it. But hey, I live in London. I have to be careful not to place my identity in that though; it's easy to fall into the trap that what makes me interesting is that I moved abroad to start a life in another city. If I wasn't a London girl, who would I be?! What would be interesting or unique or cool about me?! And I'm still trying to separate my worth from where I live (and what I wear, my job, etc.). but it's just another one of those lessons this city will help me learn. I know she's got a lot more to teach me, and you can count on me to share all the lessons with you. But today, I can honestly say that I am proud of the woman I am becoming by living in London. Here's to another 5 years (and beyond) in the greatest city in the world.
I created a playlist of songs that captures the past 5 years of life. It's somewhat chronological (I gave up at some point) with a dash of songs that I just loved at different times throughout the years. Some are songs I love walking through London to. Some are high-energy to get you through rush hour in Central London; others a bit more pensive, the kind you play while strolling solo through a museum. Some speak to specific experiences I had and are songs I turned to during difficult times. Some songs were the background music of significant moments within these 5 years like meeting Caleb at a Maggie Rogers concert then walking down the aisle to one of her songs or getting on stage at a local pub to dance chaotically to Mr. Brightside with my friends while the security guard tried to usher us off. It's a playlist that is as diverse as my experiences in London have been. If my words have failed to relay how beautiful and diverse these last 5 years have been, then hopefully these songs can better convey it.
Comments