You know how Prime Ministers and Presidents do their 100 days in office review after being elected? Well this is my 100 days of 365 days in London; I am not in any way comparing my experiences to an elected person. I may have, however, been influenced by my recent private tour of the Houses of Parliament. I’ll avoid bragging about this, but there is one thing I have to say; there is more to the Houses of Parliament than the iconic and historic outer building so I highly recommend anyone to go inside for a tour. My tour, was rather prestigious having been showed around by a member of Parliament and not just a tour guide; the visit was organised by the Labour Party Society, one of many societies I’m part of (join the societies the benefits are plenty!).
Mind the gap
Back to my 100 days’ review. At this point getting lost on the tube is a distant memory; Citymapper no longer appears under my most frequently used applications because, well, I know my way around now. I have heard “mind the gap” over a 100 times; this and the whole tube experience has now made me a typical Londoner on a tube – blank face, headphones and head tucked into a book. Come to think of it my tube reading used to be for leisure; now I use the time to squeeze in Uni readings. I have read more in the past 100 days than in my whole 17 years of schooling; I have probably read over a 100 articles and had a 100 cups of coffee (South African Rooibos tea doesn’t cut it anymore) and spent on average a 100 hours (a week) at the library.
100 days of administration
With the 100 days came the collection of so many ‘essential’ cards that must always be carried around, to name a few; student card, oyster card, rail card, room card and NUS card. Then there were, what felt like a 100 days of doing administrative things like waiting days to get appointments with the doctor and the bank; in fact, I think there should be a special visa for coming to the UK just for sorting out admin.
The painful bank account process is ironic because very little money stays there; in all honesty life in London is expensive, which is why, as a student, free events applications should appear under your most frequently used apps. Free, amazing events are in abundance here; I take advantage of them and my pound has stretched much further; Halloween parties (my first one ever might I add), bonfire night, Remembrance day events, gin tasting, poetry nights, walking tours, black history month events, talks and seminars these are just some of the events and experiences that were my highlights and even better because they were free.
Dear London, it has been a 100 days and I love you in a 100 different ways!
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