student blogger

Erik Redli is a university graduate from Slovakia who is currently living in London. In the first of a two-part article, he describes five things he initially found unusual and different about London:

London is a city where man can have everything if he is able to take the time and spend the money. It may be paradise for the tourists, but after a few years, some of the permanent residents can start to have second thoughts about the expense and constant waiting, and decide to relocate to the outskirts, or to the countryside.

I have spent 6 months of my life there and could give you a long and boring lecture on the history, customs and politics of this conglomerate of cultures. Instead, I pinned together ten observations- things that I happened to find interesting since I first entered the ‘big world' four years ago. Some of them are peculiar only to London, but most of them can refer to much of the ‘Western World'. In this first part I look at everything from sport to work.

Giacomo Tirelli is an Italian student in his first year at Goldsmiths University in London. Here he explains  why he chose to study in London and why he's learning from the city all the time:

Differences are what make the world a unique place, and it is within these disparities that citizens are likely to learn more about themselves and the people around them. Some cities offer the opportunity to live in this stimulating environment more than others. London is well known for its multiculturalism and its uniqueness.

Here, people willing to broaden their minds are able to share their experiences and backgrounds. In this setting, the ‘others', as the media often relate to them, become ‘us', and the idea of a unity and community develops among people, even if dissimilar from one another. Therefore, religion, skin-colour, ideology, cultural background, sexuality become secondary priorities in choosing your friends.

Angelique is originally from the Seychelles and has recently finished as a Law student at the University of London. Here she looks at the joy of studying in London.

"Dearest London,

"And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any belied with false compare."
"My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun"
Sonnet 130, William Shakespeare

Leaving you has not been easy. I think of you every now and then and all the memories we hold. Three years and you have taught me a lot. How to live on a student budget in one of the most expensive cities in the world. How to pick the right people to trust. How to be strong and choose the library over the ‘bright lights'. You have often caused me distress with suspended tube lines, masses of people during rush hour and losing my shoe on the railway track. I would like to think it was all tough love and now wherever I go I'll be able to survive.

A month ago, we featured a post about a Dutch student studying in America. Tessa ten Cate had started her own blog called IntProblems.com with loads of brilliant images pointing out the common problems and differences that international students face in a new country.

She has recently moved to London and so has a whole new country to pick out the differences for. Here she describes her early experiences of the UK and shows us some of her brand new images:

"So far London has been great! Monday through Thursday every week I am in class, but on the weekends I have been exploring London as much as possible. This isn't my first time in London so I had seen the majority of the main tourist sights before, but it was great going back and taking photos of everything.

It has also been an experience getting around the city on my own this time. I have walked many places, taken the tube tons, and used the railway trains too. Of course one of the main things that has taken a while to get used to is that all traffic drives on the left and that pedestrians stay to the left as much as possible too."

Last Friday I watched the most excellently produced theatre production titled ‘A Few Man Fridays' (above). The plot line is of an ex-rasta in London, Prosper, seeking his history and family heritage to only find out there is little hope of returning to the place called home. As he searches for his ‘roots' the secrets of history hidden for so many years, come to life to reveal what really happened in Diego Garcia, Indian Ocean.

Diego Garcia was part of ‘Lemuria'- the mountain range between Africa and Asia when the world was once one. As the land masses separated, the peaks of the mountains remained above water to form the islands in the Indian Ocean as the mass sunk beneath sea level. For generations, on Diego Garcia, there was a coconut plantation where the men picked the coconuts, the women peeled them and the children helped. The men then went out fishing. There was no cash economy but they were paid in wine and could exchange with those who wanted more. They were close to their dogs and had very tight knit families. Little did they know, they would one day have to leave paradise.