The first order of business upon arriving at our dorm was to check into our rooms, meet our classmates, and get settled in before a brief orientation and neighborhood tour in the afternoon. Stamford Street Apartments, which serve as dorms for King’s College, are arranged in four towers and walls around a paved courtyard with some trees and planters that serve as benches.
The rooms were, much to my delight, singles with their own bathroom, arranged five to a flat. The rest of the flat was just a kitchen with a dining table and a tiny tv in it, but it was perfectly sufficient, and mine even had what you could claim as a view of the Shard from the kitchen window.
Finding out I would have a private room and bathroom was a big relief when I was getting ready to go on my study abroad trip. I’d been out of undergrad for a couple of years, and had gotten used to not having to share. (I recognize that this is a glorious luxury, but it is one of my favorite luxuries that I try my best to hold onto.) The bedroom was tiny, and the bathroom was just a raised cubicle with a shower, toilet, and sink crowded into one tiny space with a drain in the floor. The bathroom was essentially a shower stall with a sink and toilet in it. It was about as basic as it gets, but I didn’t have to share it with anyone, so I was happy with it – even if there was no shower curtain and you had to balance your shampoo bottles on the edge of the sink so you could reach them while you were washing your hair. I know I’ve said “tiny” several times, but that is really the best possible way to describe it. I’m not emphasizing this to complain, just to prepare you, because it can be a bit of a surprise when you aren’t expecting it.
After checking into my room and dropping off my bags, the next order of business was to go shopping. I packed the skincare products and makeup I normally use, but I decided I could save space and weight in my bag by waiting to get other toiletries in London. I’d have to restock travel-sized shampoos and soaps anyway, so there was no reason to have to keep repurchasing. I also needed to get some food so that I could have breakfast in my flat every morning.
We had been given information about the area around our dorm by our study abroad program, so we had a little bit of guidance as to what was nearby, and some time before our neighborhood tour that afternoon. One of my new flatmates and I decided to make the most of the time we had to prepare ourselves for the next couple of days of life in London.
Armed with only the barest knowledge of the surrounding area, we picked up a fellow student in our class who lived in a different flat and set out. Fortunately, we didn’t have to go far; we were about a block away from Waterloo Station, which had, in addition to access via Tube to anywhere in London, a large Boots.
Boots is a wonderland of pharmacy essentials. While of course you can get toothpaste, band-aids, soap, and deodorant, it is also filled with all variety of drugstore beauty finds, including a store brand that offers very nice products for rock-bottom prices. I was able to stock up on shampoo, conditioner, and soap, and even luxury lotion without breaking the bank, though I did resist the siren call of many niche items that I would’ve loved to have tried but knew I should pass by (but not all of them).
After we had wandered the aisles of Boots for a bit and finally left with what we couldn’t live without, we made our way out of Waterloo Station (trickier than one would expect; there is a moment when you choose a staircase and find yourself on a completely different level of street from the other) and down the street to the Sainsbury’s.
I must specify, this is a Sainsbury’s Local, a sort of mini-market which fulfills all of your dorm food needs, but not the vast cornucopia of bounty that was the full-sized Sainsbury’s that we came across later. It had a surprisingly large selection for a small shop front, and I was able to acquire everything I really needed. There were a variety of baked goods, including English muffins and crumpets; I had previously labored under the delusion that these were the same thing (they’re not). There was apricot jam and fancy butter. Crunchy bread rolls, cheese, spicy mustard, fruit – everything you needed for a dorm breakfast or picnic lunch. They had ramen noodles in decidedly un-American flavors like curry, a delicacy I dream about now that I’m back in the States without it. Walker crisps in salt and vinegar flavor, also known as the best potato chips in the world. Digestive biscuits. Magnificent.
After our excursion, we had a bit of time to go back to our rooms and freshen up, unpack, and get settled before our next scheduled activity. In my case, I had to submit the book reviews that were assigned before our program started. I might have finished mine on the plane, peering uncomfortably into my half-shut screen under the laid-back seat of the sleeping pill woman. Not the best writing experience I’ve ever had, but it got the job done.
My academic commitments fulfilled, I put my clothes away in the wardrobe, arranged my school supplies in my desk, and put my food on a shelf. It was tiny, and it was a little weird, but it was home for the summer.
A few tips for studying abroad or an extended trip:
Grooming:
If you’re traveling to the UK and don’t want to spend the whole trip washing your hair, get some Boots store brand dry shampoo. It’s cheap as dirt, and easily my favorite that I’ve ever tried. It’s another thing I’ve been dreaming of longingly since I ran out back in the States.
Sleeping:
Air conditioning is not widely used in the UK, so if you’re going to be there in the summer months, you’re probably going to want to pick up a fan. It will serve the dual purpose of cooling off your room and covering up distracting city sounds from outside, since you’ll be sleeping with the windows open and probably aren’t interested in the nighttime activities of the teenage parkour enthusiasts who enjoy wandering about in the wee hours.
Eating:
The UK doesn’t use as many preservatives in their food as the US does. This means it tastes better and is almost certainly healthier. This also means it spoils more quickly. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you’ll be able to buy a month’s worth of food at a time and it’ll last. Of course, some things will, but there are many more that will not. Our Sainsbury’s had an aisle of discounted items that had swiftly approaching sell-by dates. On our first grocery trip, I embraced these bargains, but soon discovered that I couldn’t eat a package of aged crumpets before they molded or a basket of overripe peaches before they transitioned from overripe to rotten. That doesn’t mean these items aren’t a good value; they are perfectly fine at the time you buy them. Just be sure to split them with a friend or buy them for a gathering where you will use them all immediately so that they don’t go to waste.
