Welcome to an urbanites reflections

So I did it again.. Re-transplanted myself to another country, another city, in the pursuit of education, experiences and based on plain, ol’ curiosity. It appears that the physical move is the most troublesome of switching dwelling area. I feel oddly at home here already, even though I have only previously been here in London a few times, visiting friends. Now, and at least for the next couple of years, it’ll be where I have my home.

It is striking to me how dissimilar London is to Rotterdam, my last 1-year experience. The scale is so different. Even though the city is massively big, there are tons a smaller towns within the city, local communities with their own take on that English, quaint, cosy style. I absolutely adore the old buildings, coming from a city, where old-time history has been effectively erased by WWII-bombings. I assume it’s just a case of being blinded by that newly-found object of interest, because I really appreciated the pragmatic and high-tech, “honest” buildings of Rotterdam. Anyhow, the local feel of wandering up Upper Street, or any of the smaller, local markets sprinkled throughout the urban fabric in my opinion really adds to the value of the city. I guess it might be the smaller scale of pockets in the urban fabric that makes the city easier to relate to… Rotterdam’s buildings and spaces were so massive, so monstrous, that you could easily loose yourself in the inhumanity of it all. At any rate, I’m sure it’ll please you all to know that I am feeling quite comfortable here in the UK.

Also, this whole studying-in-another-country-thing has got me all jittery! I’m getting excited to know who will be on my programme, what sort of classes we are going to do, all that kind of stuff. I’m even beginning to feel quite motivated to do coursework, essays, design work. Amazing what a 3 month break from designing/work can do for your motivation! Unfortunately it’s not surprising what that sort or slacking will do to your bank account though.. I am seriously considering getting a job alongside my studies, however little I feel like doing so. I do prefer to focus on my studies while I’m in the middle of them. We’ll see how busy I am between studies, basketball (up to 4x/w!), seeing friends and boyfriend.