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I studied abroad at
@ucl one semester during college and I never imagined it would be 25 years before I’d return to London.
People were curious to know the biggest ways London has changed, but it’s overshadowed by the ways I’ve changed.
Back then, I lived in a dorm in Camden with inconsistent heat and hot water, rarely ventured to posh areas like Kensington (where I just spent four days) and traveled in the most budget way possible — snagging cheap flights to neighboring countries to pack hotel rooms with multiple other students (
@josh.fields77 @mariannamoliver @tmegdal remember Dublin?).
It’s the little things that trigger memories: that pervasive smell of coffee in the streets (what America lacks is this convivial outdoor cafe culture), the supermarket and drug store brands I haven’t thought of since, the way people are so polite, honest and densely concentrated — how you can overhear snapshots of their lives in passing, because everyone is just so close to each other.
