The author documents their experience traveling to London from their home country. They found that while the English language is spoken, the dialects and many sayings are unfamiliar. Clothing terms also differ, such as calling sweaters "jumpers" and sneakers "trainers". The author notes it took some adjustment to understand these cultural differences and to overcome jet lag from the five hour time difference. However, the author quickly felt at home in London and encourages traveling during college to expand one's perspectives.

1. From London With Love
London is a different world: from the speech to the clothing and many things
in between; I have traveled quite a bit but I have never experienced a place like this,
I think I’m in love with a city.
Although we both speak English, the English here speak much faster and they
slur it all together, I swear they hardly pronounce consonants. But, I must say they
have the cutest sayings: ‘cheers’ is used as a goodbye or a thanks/goodbye in
passing when someone has moved out of your way, and of course it is used when we
‘clink’ our glasses together before taking a drink. When asked what I would like to
do today by a Brit, they say, “Well we can do whatever you fancy”. Anyone you are
accompanied with, male or female is a ‘mate’. One of the strangest sayings, and one
that I needed clarification on, was “I couldn’t be bothered”, which if I understand
correctly it means that you really don’t want to do something or you would rather
not, etc. Here, when you are waiting in line, whether it is to get into a club or at the
grocery store, it is called a que – you are in the que. Last but not least, ‘pissed’ means
you are drunk, where we would use it to symbolize anger. Not only are there a
variety of new sayings to get accustomed to, but there are also different terms for
articles of clothing!
What we call a sweater, whether that be a pullover, knit, sweatshirt, zip-
down, etc., they call a ‘jumper’. Also, sneakers here are called ‘trainers’. Even though
it rains here more often, people don’t wear rain boots; I was wearing mine and
everyone was staring at me! My homestay brother asked why I was wearing my

2. “welly’s?” I guess they really only wear rain boots here when there is snow on the
ground, which is not very often.
Although there are a lot of differences, I have found it fairly easy to get
acquainted here; the hardest part was getting used to the time difference! They say
it takes you a day per hour time difference; well, there is a five hour time difference
and it definitely took me at least five days to feel well rested again. Besides that, it is
just taking time to learn what daily life is like here, but its not any different then
adjusting to a college or new school.
I’ve always loved the city; because of this my family was incredibly surprised
when I chose to go to Westminster. This summer I lived in NYC and I absolutely
loved everything about it. But, after just a few hours here in London, I felt
completely at home. I would advise traveling during your college years to find out
how different we live, who knows what you’ll discover about yourself in the process.
Until next time, cheers mates.