East London living

One of the most daunting parts of moving abroad is finding a place to live before you get there. As a planner, I couldn’t handle the anxiety of arriving in a new country and spending a few weeks in hostel or hotel accommodations, frantically searching for a suitable flat. So, I signed myself up for a place within postgraduate student halls. The most enticing part was the fact that I’d get to live alone for one whole year, a rare treat for a millennial like myself!

I chose a hall very close to City, as I figured if I’m going to shell out the extra money for student accommodation I ought to make it worth my while – a.k.a no extra transport costs! I walk ten minutes to class, or the library, or to my on-campus job, and never think twice about being late because of a missed/delayed bus or train.

As City is located in east London, I was also keen to learn about this part of the city – the opposite end of the city from where I’d studied abroad before. Without a doubt I can say I made a great decision. I love the area I live in and the ease with which I can walk almost anywhere – 10 minutes to Angel, 5 minutes to Shoreditch, 20 minutes to the City (the proper City, and my frequent haunt the Museum of London), 20 minutes to Spitalfields Market, etc. The neighborhood around me is young professional by day and young partiers by night. The classic London stereotype about a pub on every corner is no myth – there’s 7 pubs within a 5 minute walk of my flat.  But it’s not all party and pints – there’s a school next door and families intermingle with the young people in a way that you would only see in London.

I see or learn something new every day in my own neighbourhood, and I choose one new place to go out and explore each week. Whether that means a museum, Kew Botanical Gardens, Hampstead Heath, Borough or Camden Market, or Chinatown. Getting places is easy on the bus or tube, or my own two feet, and there’s plenty of free things to do. A few hours spent each week taking in the many faces of London has helped me appreciate and develop my own sense of belonging within this massive city.

 

But, as my choice of programme would clue you in, my favorite thing about this neighbourhood is the food! Two markets surround City –  Whitecross and Exmouth Market – that set up every day for lunch, an array of local vendors looking to feed the masses with their international flavors. There’s restaurants all around, classic pub food often for cheap, Kennedy’s fish and chip shop on Goswell Road  and F. Cooke’s pie and mash are favorites of mine, and don’t even get me started on the endless turnover of inventive pop-ups in Shoreditch.

London has something to offer for all interests, often within the same neighborhood. There is no one place for food, or clubs, or bookstores, museums, cafés, the theatre, etc. The city has an endless supply of entertainment in every borough, and plenty of Londoners are eager to showcase their home. All you have to do is get out and explore.