My experience studying abroad in London has been the epitome of a learning curve. When I first got here, I didn’t know how the London Underground Metro system worked, so I couldn’t go anywhere without navigation from my maps app. I struggled to understand how my class schedule worked, and… read more
United Kingdom
British Food: It’s Not That Bad
Before coming to London, I counted myself lucky for never having tasted “mushy peas.” I recoiled at pictures of beans on toast and something called “black pudding,” a type of blood sausage originating from the U.K. and Ireland. There’s a sort of universally accepted stereotype that British food has less… read more
Finding Solace in the Unknown
Tomorrow marks exactly two months since I left Texas for Scotland, and it’s so hard to come up with the words to accurately describe this experience. I feel like I’ve been living in a fever dream, and I think I’ll need at least another year to process everything. Honestly, if… read more
Adventures Come in All Shapes and Sizes
One month before I left for Edinburgh, I bought a journal so that I could record my adventures abroad. I loved the idea of reflecting on my personal stories later on, but I also feared that my time in Edinburgh wouldn’t live up to my imagination. What if something bad… read more
The Walk: My London Ritual
It is currently October, and I have yet to go to a single class here in London. After a long summer at home, watching my friends pack their bags and head back to Austin, I was finally on the plane headed to Heathrow, hoping everything would be OK while I… read more
Living Without Regrets
People around the world wonder what their lives would have been like had their past selves chosen something other than what they ended up doing. Regret permeates the human condition as much as any emotion, and reflection on the past, such as what I write here, has the ability to… read more
Gratitude Across Borders
My abiding feeling while studying abroad has been gratitude. The opportunities I’ve had this semester while studying at Sciences Po in Paris, France, are mind-boggling. A text I sent at the start of the year after bombarding my friends with the new and beautiful things I’d seen so far… read more
An Overexcited Student’s Guide to London Public Transportation
Anyone who has talked to me knows it. It takes about five minutes, on average, for me to bring up public transportation in a conversation. From the ease of not having to deal with traffic to the unique experience of sitting with a bunch of strangers going somewhere, I could… read more
Worries Don’t Disappear, But Excitement Offsets Them
I desired to study abroad ever since the summer of 2019, when a wide-eyed freshman me arrived at the great University of Texas for orientation. Among all the sessions for clubs, organizations and societies over those two days, “Devin of the past” felt most intrigued and inspired after talking to… read more
The First Month Abroad
I have been in London for just over a month, and it has been the longest month of my life. Nothing could have prepared me for the first week. Between the chaos of registering for classes, making sure I was following COVID-19 protocols, and unpacking, I found myself wondering if… read more