A Day in the Life of a Student in London

Feature Photo: Valentina Volavia, Photo: Fin Fahey

Part of Matadors Day in a Life of an Expat account series.

6:00 a.m.

My day begins with a alarm ringing loudly. you place a duvet covers even some-more resolutely over my ears. Its a Sunday, nonetheless you need to conduct to a library. My mother, who accompanied me from Kolkata to London, has left back home today.

At seven, you amble out of bed, brush my teeth as well as check my backpack. Wallet, check. Notebook, check. Oyster card, check. Seminar paper, check. Good, everything you need. Before you conduct out, you need to eat breakfast. Ive made a habit of skipping breakfast as well as have positively no intention of fainting mid-morning.

I lay down upon my bed as well as proceed to eat a banana as well as a suffering au chocolat, which is just a whim name for a chocolate-filled croissant. Im longing a home cooked breakfast, nonetheless you comprehend thats not starting to happen in a prolonged time given a contribution which you wont be starting home as well as you dont know how to cook.

8:30 a.m.

Ready to leave, even nonetheless you am intoxicated eyed as well as slightly sleepy. you have to lapse a book to a university library, as well as you tremble meditative about a fines which will amass if you dont lapse it upon time. In Kolkata, my father regularly teased me about my over-anxious personality.

My walking commute takes half an hour. you walk toward a vast grey petrify buildings which have been right divided informed terrain, as well as my first port of call is a university library.

9:00 a.m.

From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., my time is spent during a library. The university website emphasises a need for self study. you see thousands of students pouring over textbooks as well as laptops, scribbling down notes or lying down upon beanbags, trying to read. Even noneth! eless yo u dont know anyone yet, you can roughly clarity oneness with them.

LSE library, Photo: Mark Kobayashi-Hillary

2:00 p.m.

I comprehend Im inspired as well as conduct out for a lunch break. Sitting down upon a play ground bench, you see bits of lettuce strewn about as well as coffee stains. Someones crumpled Tetra Pak lies upon a floor.

Although it rains occasionally during this time of year, theres regularly a pleasant gust of wind blowing: nothing which a comfortable head cover or cardigan cant handle. This park, upon Sardinia street, is very close to university. you mostly find myself during a park, Subway sandwich in a single palm as well as orange purse in a other.

A mulch of green, yellow as well as flaming orange maple leaves adorn a wooden benches. you collect up a vast immature root as well as inspect it. As you look through its veins, a root feels alive.

2:30 p.m.

Needing a nap, you lapse to a halls of residence. Ive done a lot of walking around, taking down notes as well as reading. Even while Im sleeping, you can listen to a receptive to advice of cars whizzing by underneath my window.

4:00 p.m.

My Chinese flatmate, Sui* walks in. While she tells me about her day during university, you put upon a electric kettle to decoction us lemon as well as ginger tea. We lay down as well as speak about culture, university, a religious as well as devout beliefs. The review takes a light-hearted turn when you proceed to speak about lovable boys in a class.

Eating alone, a bizarreness of a situation strikes me. you was complaining about being stifled in Kolkata as well as right divided Im failing to encounter someone, anyone, who asks forward questions, is over-friendly as well as overbearing.

6:00 p.m.

I answer emails, discuss with my parents upon Skype, speak to my grandparents as well as contend hello to my dog. My dog licks my! fathers mechanism shade in appreciation as well as delight. you roughly forget which Im distant divided from home, divided from a hubbub as well as noise which is Kolkata, in a bizarre city which hasnt utterly embraced me yet.

6:30 p.m.

When you go down to eat supper, you see many faces in a dining gymnasium which have been nonetheless unfamiliar. Some people, similar to me, have been sitting alone. Others have been sitting with their friends as well as chatting discreetly. In my head, you consider about how opposite a cooking table review in Kolkata with my friends would be: loud, boisterous as well as full of giggles.

Eating alone, a bizarreness of a situation strikes me. you was complaining about being stifled in Kolkata as well as right divided Im failing to encounter someone, anyone, who asks forward questions, is over-friendly as well as overbearing. you miss a nuanced annoyances which have been inextricably related to my hometown.

I havent been in London prolonged sufficient to know a cooking rituals.

9:30 p.m.

I lay down in front of a mechanism shade as well as start listening to my iPod. Its starting to be a long, prolonged night.

*Not her genuine name.