As this semester comes to a close and we swap our Oyster Cards for Metro Cards, cancel our Pret subscriptions, and break out the luggage scales, we have been reflecting on all we learned and achieved during our semester abroad. Spending this fall semester at NYU London has been such an enlightening and rewarding experience. We were so happy to share it with our whole NYU community through this platform. To the students who will be taking our place, we all wanted to leave behind a few words of wisdom to help you enjoy and immerse yourself in London as soon as you arrive.
Take advantage of trying European food while in the UK! You might find your new favorite dish here. Don’t stress too much about needing to travel all around Europe. There is an entire semester worth of things to do just in London alone. One experience I believe everyone should try is watching a football game (either in a pub or in-person), even if you are not a fan of the sport, something about European (particularly, English) crowds makes the atmosphere electric. One tip I wish I figured out earlier would be to get a 16-25 rail card, even if you don’t plan on taking the train around the country, you can still get 30% off the underground fare if you link your rail card to an oyster!
-Gabriel Vasconcellos, CAS '24
Being abroad is such an incredible experience full of opportunities to push you out of your comfort zone in the best way; my biggest piece of advice is to let that happen! You are in a new city with new people, so you are bound to have some worries. Everyone is in the same boat, so welcome the discomfort and do not let it keep you from trying so many new things. Something I really worried about when going abroad was how I was going to be able to do what I wanted on a budget, but it is absolutely possible! The majority of the London cultural experiences (like museums, art galleries, etc) are totally free, and this is so necessary to take advantage of. Traveling outside of London can get expensive, but you can also do this on a budget. Buses to cities in the UK (I personally visited places like Manchester, Taunton, and Cardiff) are often less than 20 pounds round trip. A huge lifesaver for me has been getting an account on TrustedHousesitters.com, which is a service that matches you with free places to stay in exchange for watching someone’s house and/or pets! Using this, I got to go places like Malta and have a free place to stay where all I had to do was feed some cats.
Overall, just take the time to fully immerse yourself in this city that is so full of life and culture, you won’t regret it!
-Lena Olson, CAS '25
If you ever read any of our articles this semester, thank you! Your support keeps us going and helps us grow in confidence as writers and humans. And that goes beyond our NYU circles as well, as I know some of our family and friends from out of town read these articles. I’m so grateful for everyone at BSN and our wonderful editor Allie for giving us the freedom to write pretty much whatever we wanted. This has been one of the friendliest communities I’ve ever been a part of.
My #1 piece of advice is to put yourself out there and welcome people in with open arms. Going abroad naturally forces you to become more social because there is a lot of opportunity to have conversations with people you’ve never met before. From the London man at the pub who offered me insight to the lady from Santander who told me about her beautiful life, these conversations allowed me to see strangers in a different light. Prior to studying abroad, I thought that everyone was doing better than I was at everything, but having these moments abroad reminded me that we’re all human and everyone has their unique struggles.
-Shreyas Inamdar, Stern '24
As everyone says, studying abroad truly is one of the best experiences you will ever have. Whether you’re going into the semester extremely excited or terribly nervous, you will adjust and everyone is in the same position. The semester can be exactly what you want it to be: traveling around the UK, visiting all the European cities you’ve always wanted to see, meeting new people, trying new food, immersing yourself within new cultures, stepping outside of your comfort zone…all the above? However, I would mentally prepare yourself for the intense balance between constant traveling (or exploring London) and school work, especially during midterms and finals season. Definitely don’t overwhelm yourself with your travels (week after week is extremely exhausting, both physically and mentally), and plan ahead of time with your work and travel itineraries. The time will go by so fast, but by the end of the semester, hopefully you get the feeling that you’re ready to go home because you made the most out of your time in London and beyond. It’s impossible to do everything in the amount of time we have but think of this as a preview of what more you can do in the future and a time to have some fun making memories abroad.
-Carolyn Xue, Gallatin '24
It can definitely be tempting with so many incredible European cities and destinations just a cheap flight or train ride away, but London is a huge city offering tons of culture and experiences right at your door step. London is almost twice as big as New York City with distinct and diverse neighborhoods full of history, cheap theater, art galleries, museums, and outdoor spaces (most of which you can access for completely free!!!) so it could easily take an entire semester to see it all. While I definitely recommend taking advantage of the international travel opportunities, just don't feel stressed out if you don't have a trip planned for every single week because there will always be plenty for you to do right here and staying local for a weekend is a perfect way to give your budget a much-needed break. Choosing to do a semester abroad in London gives you the opportunity to immerse yourself in the life of the city and have a more rewarding experience than a tourist rushing to do everything in a few short days. Take the time to explore the neighborhoods and enjoy the unique architecture, cuisines, and culture that each one has. Even if you're not sure where to go in London, the NYUL student life team has incredible cultural enrichment programming and neighborhood tours for you to tag along on and you'll probably get some free food out of it. I'm so sad to be leaving London so I highly, highly encourage you to take advantage of this incredible city while you're here.
-Allie Bushue, CAS '24
Something I wish I had done earlier was finding joy in doing things by myself. London can be a pretty intimidating place, so for the better part of the semester I was hesitant to go exploring on my own. Once I started going places on my own, however, it was like a whole new world was opened to me. Don't be afraid to put yourself out of your comfort zone. If you want to go see something in London that no one else is interested in, go on your own! Sometimes being alone is the most enthralling feeling, which I wish I had learned sooner. The last thing I wish I knew about studying abroad here was that it isn't always feasible to catch a flight or train to other countries. While I would recommend taking advantage of Ryanair's cheap flights, don't feel bad if you have to spend weekends studying instead of traveling. Lastly, explore the U.K. alongside the rest of Europe. Don't ignore Scotland, Wales, and Ireland in favor of France and Italy!
-Grace Muskovitz, LS '26
The best piece of advice I could give is don’t stop trying to find things that make you happy. I felt very disconnected from things I used to be able to do, like playing sports and volunteering. Later I realized that opportunities to do these things are all around me. London is a gigantic city and probably anything you could think of will be available to do somewhere within 20 minutes on the tube. Another thing I definitely recommend is to take advantage of your location. London is so close to so many other countries and it is pretty easy to plan and take a vacation for less than 150 dollars. There are so many fun pubs, clubs, places to travel, markets, museums, parks, and so much more, but don’t let it overwhelm you. My favorite place to go is The Court, it’s lively and fun, and it is full of other students that are looking to socialize. Overall, adjusting can be hard, and there are endless things to see and do, but 4 months is a good amount of time to figure it all out and do everything you want to do.
-Bella Manes, LS '26
If you’re coming here, take advantage of the trains. As Grace said, there’s so much you can do on your own–and here you don’t need a car or pre-planning to get somewhere. Just take the trains! But if you do want to do some pre-planning, look up places that might be interesting or look up what you can day-trip within your budget. If you’re smart about it, you can day-trip or one night pretty much anywhere in Great Britain and even parts of Western Europe. I still need to do some traveling to Europe myself, but now that I’ve learned more about what the travel dynamics are like, I feel much more confident doing it next semester.
The other thing I would recommend is get your steps in. If you make a habit of it, it’s really easy (and much safer than anywhere in the U.S.) to walk around this metropolis. Sure, you might wear your soles out, but you’ll never be able to get this much walking done at home. It’s one of the best things you can do for your health and wellbeing, so even if you don’t go anywhere or it’s just to the supermarket or class, try and walk there if you can.
-Benjamin Schnirman, LS '26
If I can offer any piece of advice, it would be to not let your fears stop you from exploring the unknown. Adjusting to a new environment will always be challenging, but if you stay optimistic and trust yourself in the journey, everything will turn out alright. Studying abroad allowed me to express myself in a way I felt I couldn’t back in New York. It was the scariest and most life-changing experience of my life. I developed a feeling of independence I didn’t think was possible to obtain at such a young age. I didn’t think I would travel to other countries by myself. It’s scary, but I learned that when you have confidence and trust yourself, the journey becomes more exciting. So, don’t be afraid to go on a solo adventure because the truth is, some journeys are meant to be traveled alone.
-Shirley Cajamarca, Steinhardt '24