Living in London

My experience of being a newcomer to London

I never initially thought I would be living in London. I thought due to my university choices that I would be living in a secluded campus university somewhere either south or in the midlands, not one of the busiest cities in the world. Somehow I found myself enrolled into UAL and looking for places to live in the areas surrounding LCC. I was looking for places to live and making plans without having ever been to South London. I spent early September frantically looking for halls to live in, and obsessively checking my email inbox for any new updates. As the 27th of September loomed closer, I was having to organize UK quarantine, vaccinations, PCR tests, and passenger locator forms; once again without having traveled to London since 2018.

The deadline of my flight was inching closer and I had no choice but to worry about accommodation when I was completing my quarantine in the uk. September 15th arrived and I was arriving at my quarantine hotel in Heathrow, still with no accommodation. Eventually I found a place to live in Elephant and Castle on the same street as my university. Once again I had never even heard of elephant and castle, but alas it would have to do.

As I have now lived in London for around 4 months I have mixed feelings about here. While I have enjoyed my course immensely and look forward to coming onto campus, living in e&c and adjusting to London life has been somewhat of a challenge. While Dubai is a metropolitan city the way of life couldn’t be more opposite to London. In Dubai, driving is the main way of transport, and the crime rate is little to none, meaning that adjusting to London life would be a strenuous task.

However I felt that one of of the most glaring differences between the two cities was the duality in response to the pandemic. In march 2020 Dubai enacted a lockdown for 3 months in which we commenced online school and were completely housebound, being unable to even walk our dogs. As time passed restrictions were eased and before I left for London in September last year we were in a state of somewhat normality, but masks were mandatory everywhere, even while outside and at the gym, as social distancing was imperative. However, these restrictions worked, as the UAE has a minuscule infection rate and is currently the nation with the highest vaccination rate in the world with 99.9 of the population being vaccinated.

Hence why coming to a different nation and experiencing covid was an enlightening experience. Here it almost felt like a sense of life before the pandemic. I was taken aback by the opposite stance on mask wearing here, as they were only mandatory on public transport yet no one would actually wear them to my surprise. This enacted a sense of anxiety for me, as I felt I was somewhat at risk as I was around so many people where I didn’t know what their vaccination status was for example, or wether they had been close contact, all things you would know in the UAE.

However, as the pandemic causes tighter restrictions I am beginning to see more and more similarities between the two countries, and I can finally say I have well adjusted to the life here.

If anyone has ever been to London or currently lives here, I’m curious on how it compares to where you’re from