I have yet to talk about day to day, mundane but necessary stuff.

For one, public transportation in Europe is not overhyped. It is so convenient, fairly easy to navigate, cheap and good for the environment. I typically take the bus into town 1–2 times a week. I opted not to get a bus pass for the term because I do not rely on it frequently enough to make it worth it. Also, double-decker buses are everywhere — not just in London. I find it weird now when I see a single-decker bus.

Two, in terms of grocery shopping I have found basically everything that I would buy in the States. I don’t need to go into town as we have two outlets on campus. There are specific items that can only be bought in town though, and sometimes groceries are simply cheaper in town.

Three, laundry. Once again kind of boring, but should be considered necessary. There’s one laundrette per college, each ranging in size. Regardless of whether the laundrette is in your accommodation building or not, you still have to go outside to get to it. I first realized this upon my arrival and wasn’t super excited about it. Since living here and doing laundry weekly, I’ve grown used to it and sometimes enjoy not being in my accommodation. My only complaint now is with how expensive it is despite the machines being somewhat unreliable.

Four, modern and “old” forms of communication. There is campus Wi-Fi that we all have access to. In some places, it cuts out but overall seems pretty standard for what I’m used to. I sent a few of my friends back home postcards before the winter break. I was afraid they were going to get lost because it took so long for them to get delivered. Also, international stamps are expensive! They did all finally make it! I did send them over the holidays, which likely caused some delays and there have been courier strikes off and on. Outside of these circumstances, I would hope international mail would only take a week or two.

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Learn more about this blogger’s study abroad program: Lancaster University