Study Abroad in London, England

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Study in London, A Truly International City

Imagine looking out the window as your flight dips toward London’s sprawling suburbs on a descent into Heathrow, which handles more international passengers than any other airport in the world. Stepping out into this global city, the immense and beautiful diversity of nationalities, languages, races, religions, and economic backgrounds will likely be your first impression. More than 300 languages are spoken here, and you’ll hear them regularly on the Tube, in the shops, and on the streets when you study abroad in London. Let’s explore.

A couple enjoys rainy romance on Parliament Hill in Hampstead Heath by Stephanie Sadler

Fish and Chips and Okonomiyaki. While the city has its share of American food (you’ll never have to go too far for your Lucky Charms), there is an abundance of new tastes to try. Walk through the Sunday UpMarket off the East End’s infamous Brick Lane, and you can pick up colorful Ethiopian salads, Turkish Gözleme, Japanese Okonomiyaki, Spanish paella, Tibetan momos, Peruvian quinoa stew and French crepes — not to mention some of London’s best salt beef bagels just down the road.

British Melting Pot. This area is fascinating for its eclectic mix of cultures — its long Jewish history has faded to allow for a modern Bangladeshi community mingling with urban hipsters. You’ll find plenty of street artists at work around the corner from a new mosque. There are curry houses and vintage clothing stores, Pakistani sweet shops and posh contemporary art galleries, all meshed into a network of ancient streets with Georgian homes and snippets of Jack the Ripper stories floating up from walking tours. Just around the corner is the Columbia Road Flower Market where you’ll hear Cockney accents shouting about roses and daffodils from stalls passed through family lineage.

Learning in London. The best study abroad programs in London will encourage you to explore and interact with local communities. For example, CAPA International Education takes students out of the classroom and employs the city itself as the textbook from which to learn. It also offers internships, which allow for opportunities to network and engage firsthand with the U.K.’s work culture.

Some 58,000 international students study abroad in London every year, and with good reason. They are in great intellectual company in a city that’s home to some of the world’s top universities and research centers. There are opportunities to enroll directly or mingle with those who attend Imperial College London, London School of Economics, University College London, SOAS, and King’s College London. There are also options, like CAPA’s, to enroll on a shorter program for a semester or a couple of weeks on a summer course. The advisor at your home university will be able to help make sure the credits you earn in London will transfer back, and can answer any questions.

The grading style in London is slightly different from the States. You’ll probably write more papers and take fewer tests. This may take some adaptation, but many students prefer it. You’ll find a welcome atmosphere for writing and studying in London with the vastness of green spaces in Hyde Park, Hampstead Heath, Richmond Park, and others spots ideal for stretching out on the grass on a warm day. If it’s raining, you can duck into a café. Most have free wi-fi you can tap into while you sip on a cup of English tea (or Colombian coffee, or thick French hot chocolate …).

Around London Town. There are bookshops galore, ranging from giants like Waterstones to smaller independent shops like Daunt, in the Marylebone neighborhood, which organizes its books by the country in which they are set. You’ll find secondhand shops everywhere, and on the vibrant South Bank lining the river Thames, there’s an open-air book market.

History and literature lessons are brought to life at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, the architecturally impressive Natural History Museum, and the Horniman Museum, which focuses more on anthropology. There is free entrance to many art venues dotted across the city, like the contemporary Tate Modern or the smaller Halcyon gallery. You’ll walk the same streets as Virginia Woolf, Charlie Chaplin, and Princess Diana.

The icons that represent London in movies will be at your fingertips. You can hear the chime of Big Ben and see the gothic sprawl of Westminster Palace, climb to the top of the Saint Paul’s Cathedral dome, or watch the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. Take a ride on the London Eye, or be whisked to the top of The Shard, the latest (fabulous) addition to London’s skyline. You can always catch a fantastic performance of the latest stage shows to hit England in the West End theatre district.

A Swirl of Festivities. When you’ve had enough of the tourist attractions, the real fun begins. Join London’s South Asian community to celebrate Dwali, the Festival of Light, with fireworks in Southall. Dance to Caribbean music at Notting Hill Carnival, Europe’s largest street festival. Visit Chinatown during Chinese New Year, the biggest celebration outside of Asia. Head up to Camden to catch some live music from London’s best emerging indie artists. Explore the outer reaches of the city and take a bus to Eel Pie Island, a small artist community with a big rock-and-roll history.

Londoners have a creative approach to style and appreciate a bit of eccentricity. This comes through in the catwalks during London Fashion Week, the couture designer shops on Bond Street or the retro collections in Soho, and the innovative projects from London College of Fashion students. This makes people-watching a very entertaining activity, but it’s also fun to join in. Much of London may have succumbed to gentrification, but there are certainly cool, unique and edgy independent and pop-up shops kicking around London.

As you study abroad in London, you’ll often look up to the sky at the constant stream of planes dipping down or soaring up from Heathrow. Those long white contrails painting the sky are another reminder than London is a true global city of the world. There are few better places to study abroad than in the place that prompted Samuel Johnson to say, “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.”

Stephanie Sadler

Author - Stephanie Sadler, a study abroad alumna from New York, has been an expat in London since 2007 with a six-month break in Colombia. She works for CAPA International Education and runs the blog Little London Observationist.

London’s Local Authorities: 10 Best Bloggers

There’s only so much you can cram into one study abroad trip. The best way to make the most of your free moments? Listen to the best local authorities: bloggers. They will tell you where to find the hidden gems, the scoop on the latest restaurants, and much more that you didn’t know you wanted to know until now.

For London’s “underground” by Stephanie Sadler

There are hundreds in London, so we’ll help you narrow it down.

Our favorite blogs are:

1. Accidental Londoner. Twitter: @accidentalLDNr An international development consultant by day and a natural storyteller in her free time, Flora explores her urban environment to find places like the worn-out building at 19 Princelet Street that houses London’s Museum of Immigration. It’s located in an area that has been shaped by waves of immigrants into the incredibly diverse and vibrant place it is today.

2. Emm in London. Twitter: @Mandyist “Emm” is Mandy’s nickname. She’s has dual South African and British nationality and has lived in England since 2007. She may take you to some tourist sites but if she does, she’ll show them to you from a different perspective. One recent example is her tour of the Sherlock Holmes Museum located in a Georgian townhouse on Baker Street. She brought home plenty of photos and thoughts to share on this slice of history.

3. Le Cool London. Twitter: @lecool_London Written by a team who produce the weekly Le Cool London magazine, the blog is a daily offshoot featuring cool London happenings. They regularly interview everyone from comedians to bands to artists. They also write about food; for example, an exploration of international cuisine in London featuring five of their favorite restaurants from the Middle East, the Caribbean, Pakistan, Argentina and India.

4. London is Cool. Twitter: @London_is_Cool William is Scottish but has lived in London since 2009. He often chooses a starting point somewhere in the city and wanders with his camera on a mission to show us London’s secrets and why the city is cool. Magpie Alley, for example, is little known even to Londoners. Near Fleet Street where printing began in the 1500s, the tiled walkway full of images reaches back through the history of printing and publishing in London.

5. London Living. Twitter: @EastVillageLDN Written by Londoners for Londoners, London Living grew out of a project to promote the city’s newest neighborhood, the East Village. You’ll find posts on everything from city farms to BYOB restaurants to Twinterviews with London locals and plenty of culture. Nearby Hackney Wick has the highest concentration of artist’s studios in the world. London Living welcomes us inside to explore this exciting cultural hub.

6. London Unveiled. Twitter: @LondonUnveiled Written by an anonymous author, London Unveiled was started only in May 2012, but has already become a useful resource to discover London’s unusual locations and activities including a bit of history. Ever think about mudlarking in London? There’s plenty to discover on the banks of the murky Thames River, but this article takes us deeper, all the way down to Deptford Creek.

7. Londonist. Twitter: @Londonist One of the city’s most influential blogs, Londonist posts event listings, quirky news (like the city’s plans for a cat café), art show reviews, theater previews and miscellaneous goodness in between. London is a city of diverse cultures. Rio Carnival in happening in Brazil? That means London celebrates too. Londonist tells us where to find caipirinhas, Brazilian food, and live music, and where to take a samba class.

8. Now. Here. This. Twitter: @TimeOutLondon An offshoot of Time Out London magazine, Now. Here. This. offers a daily dose of London news and culture with typing fingers firmly on London’s pulse. To keep things fresh, they invite London’s top bloggers to share the best things to do in London. Thoroughly Modern Milly adds to hers Mad Hatter’s Tea at the Sanderson Hotel and a retro hairstyle at the Painted Lady vintage salon.

9. Spitalfields Life. Twitter: @TheGentleAuthor Written by the anonymous “gentle author,” Spitalfields Life is an in-depth exploration of this area of London, its history, people, and lifestyle. Interviews, photography, and detailed storytelling have brought it to life with daily posts since 2009. A recent visit with Pauline, publican of The George Pub, resulted in many photos of an intimate tour of the building including a dried-out rat carcass, 19th-century tiling, and the owner’s attic studio.

10. The Londoner. Twitter: @RosieLondoner A social media/digital marketing consultant with a loyal following, Rosie frequents London’s best clubs, restaurants and shops, posting photo-heavy reviews, general lifestyle adventures, and recipes. Her favorite place for brunch is Granger & Co., which serves up colorful fresh fruit, ricotta hotcakes with honeycomb butter, and eggs with perfectly cooked drippy yolks.

Stephanie Sadler

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