American Student on Living in London

By Macy Ellis

I met up with Em (pronouns: she/they) at Europe’s largest bookstore. We went to the Waterstones Piccadilly café, where Em ordered a matcha and I ordered chai. 

Once we sit down with our drinks, Em smiles pleasantly at me, anticipating the questions I have for her. We’re both American students who have studied abroad in London for the past four months, and I want to get their full take on the experience. 

We both sip our warm drinks, commenting on how good they are. Em takes in the design of the café with its warm wood and lively plants, and she looks relaxed in her whimsical dinosaur sweater. I feel a sense of calm, too—bookstore cafes do that to me. 

I start at the beginning, wanting to know why Em chose to come to London in particular. There are many study abroad program offerings, what made this one stand out? 

Em tells me that they had actually considered transferring to a London school after their first year in college. She always wanted to study in London, so why not? Her mom had different thoughts, though, and ultimately Em decided to stay where she was. Plus, she would still have the opportunity to study in London for a semester, which seemed like a good alternative. And anyway, the required internship as part of the program was appealing to her. 

I ask Em about their internship. She actually has had a very good experience, which she seems to be surprised by. She works on customer visitor experience for a museum but said she “would rather be in curation.” Even so, Em enjoys their days at the Courtauld. The people there, she explains, are more comforting than most of the people she attends class with. 

Working where she does, Em has found that people can be casual about spending extraordinary amounts of money. She connects this to other study abroad students, who come from wealthy homes and aren’t aware of their privileges. “Sometimes, people don’t bat an eye that the print for sale is, like, 2,200 pounds. Which is a lot of money for a piece of paper, in my opinion.” 

Em knows that their coworkers feel the same way. “It’s wild that people can essentially throw money at something, and I’m not being paid, all of us are just working and watching people do that.” She continues, saying of the museum’s guests that, “Also, it’s wild they don’t view you as a person, they view you as a problem-solver. No, I cannot fix the fact that [the museum is] five floors.” It’s hard for her to keep these thoughts to herself when there are ridiculous complaints aimed her way. “I’m like… I can’t fix that.”

Em enjoyed spending time seeing some Shakespearian plays for one of her courses. However, she found herself people-watching on some occasions. She recalls to me that for her class viewing of Othello, she noticed how many attendants were white and upper class. The type, she theorizes, that go to the theatre just to say they went. 

Em loves to talk—she tells me so, that small talk is her strength—and we skip around from topic to topic. When asked about what they’re taking back to the US with them, they pause. She says she’ll be taking back a lot—things she wouldn’t have access to back in the states. She lists off books, figurines, K-pop stuff, even plushies. Though she has many physical items she’s taking back, she also brings up the incredible friendships she’s made that will outlast the time she spent abroad. She learned a lot about herself, too—she’s leaving feeling proud of herself given the amount of stress she went through this semester. Em then wears a wry smile and picks up her matcha, “I’ll miss this glorious tea.”

I ask Em if she has any final comments, and she mentions something about a K-pop group’s lore. I roll my eyes, and she says, “Don’t put that in.” But I have to!