A Piece of the London Life

The land of diversity

First day. It’s a late Friday evening and I just arrived in London. The airport is very familiar to me. I don’t feel like I am thousands of kilometers away from home. As I learned at one of my favorite courses at Uppsala University called European Media Spaces, the globalization phenomenon, that’s very accentuated in the airports, transformed these places in non-spaces — all the airports look the same.

I am supposed to meet my boyfriend at the subway station. The problem? Well, I am very bad at orientation and, even though I love traveling, the whole process of finding my way through a completely new city is more than exhausting for me. Therefore, he wrote me an email with all the stations and trains that I need to take to our meeting point (I totally recommend this trick for those who are in the same situation with the orientation skills).

Thus, I am carefully reading again the email and manage to find the right train. I feel calm and the situation is under control. The train is not crowded. In front of me is a Romanian mother with her son having small conversations, I can see a blonde girl watching some YouTube videos and other tired and quiet passengers that are either deeply involved in their thoughts or sleeping.

I arrive at the subway station, where I can see considerably more people than on the train. They are much more alive, agitated, like in a constant rush. I am confused, I don’t understand why everybody is running. I stop at our meeting point and I observe.

People coming from various backgrounds, different cultures, foreign languages — it’s like somebody took one or two representatives from each country and put them together in London’s subway station. Having a few minutes to just stand there and observe was an incomparable experience.

I finally meet my boyfriend and we take the subway. Well, that’s different. Taking the subway for 20 minutes, on a Friday night (because it was already 11 PM), it felt like a journey in space and time. Here is the place where people stop running, and the subway is in a rush of collecting unique individuals, from various cultures, with different styles and personalities, bringing them all together until the next station.

There are a few people from that subway that I remember clearly. There's a tired businessman, proudly wearing his suit and reading a book. In front of me are a group of young people who are going home from a party. They are tipsy and full of energy, talking loud and joking around. Next to me is a group of Italian seniors who seem to be colleagues and they are going home from an after-work party. They are very happy, laughing loud and speaking in their native language. The rest of the subway — which was very crowded at this point — was quietly waiting for their destination, most of them scrolling on their smartphones while the others were sleeping or reading books.

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Second day. In the morning, we had a proper English Breakfast. The weather is quite Londonese — cloudy and windy. The sun is constantly fighting to send away the rain and to shine. After many tries, it succeeds.

I am completely in love with the streets. There are little houses with facades made of brick, a small yard in front — all green and with trees full of flowers — and the adorable Londonese doors are giving a specific vibe to this city.

Getting to the center, there’s the majestic London Eye watching over the city like a giant soldier. Its impressive size is breathtaking and it’s no wonder why it became a symbol of the city. Morning, afternoon or evening, the London Eye offers a great view to its tourists and it managed to totally impress me.

The red buses that are driving around the city are bringing a touch of color, making the streets look alive. They are perfectly matching the telephone cabins, making the whole London very stylish, put together and unique.

The immense green spaces can be easily considered the lungs of the city. The massive trees are strongly grounded in the center of the city, supporting it with their roots and freshening up the air. Beautiful flowers are spread all over the parks, helping the urban scenery become more organic and acceptable for the human. Little squirrels, graceful swans, colorful ducks and exotic parrots are giving this park the feeling of a fairytale.

The nightlife in London on Saturday is as alive as during the day. People love to enjoy their lives, to spend some time in the city, to celebrate their free time and to have fun. Despite the fact that the restaurants are quite big, they are all full in the evening, being very difficult to find a free table. However, everything is part of the real London experience, strongly marked by the diversity of the big population.

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Last day. Usually, when I really love a place I am a bit anxious when the last day of the trip comes. However, something about London made me feel like I am going to be back soon.

We are enjoying a long breakfast at Shakespeare's Head with my childhood friends who are now living in London. Right after breakfast, we are planning to go to Oxford Circus to explore what I call the London Extravaganza.

Oxford Circus is a very colorful and extravagant experience. Streets are full of all kind of shops. You can find everything you can imagine here. It was very interesting to observe the consumers’ behavior, but also the attitude of the sellers.

After walking around the streets and exploring the shops with our friends, we enjoyed our last hours in London having a good coffee together in a very nice cafe. I noticed that London offers limitless options of cozy and beautiful cafes, pubs, restaurant — this city is prepared for a wide variety of tastes and preferences.

Before going to the airport, we enjoyed a beer and a burger while sharing impressions and feelings about our London experience. It took me a while to interiorize my opinions about this city and to process everything I’ve seen.

This is how London made me describe it!