Halfway through my study abroad experience at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), I find myself pausing to reflect on just how much has changed since I first landed at Heathrow Airport in January. A new city, a new campus, a new routine, and somehow, in the middle of East London, a neighborhood that has become surprisingly like home. If you’re considering studying abroad, here’s what I wish I had known before my first couple of weeks.
Coming from DC, I expected London to feel familiar. What I didn’t expect was the sheer energy and business of this city. The tube is packed at all hours of the day, whether it’s the 8 am rush or midnight after a late-night adventure. The campus at Queen Mary is compact in a way GW’s urban-spanning city campus never felt. Living in the dorms brought back a real freshman-year feeling, similar to my Vern experience. East London itself surprised me most of all. I hadn’t anticipated finding a vibrant immigrant culture, with chai shops and the best South Asian food spots right around the corner. The Desi community here made this corner of London feel immediately warm and familiar.
Before classes even started, a group of us, with GW friends and other QMUL exchange students, spent our first days doing the full tourist sweep: Big Ben, Tower Bridge, Abbey Road, the Paddington statue, Trafalgar Square, and more. It was the perfect introduction to a city where everything is just a tube ride away, with Central London just 25 minutes away. The whole city becomes your campus.
The first couple of weeks were rainy, cold, and honestly a little hard. As someone who thrives on routine and a busy schedule full of classes, org events, and more, the lighter course load of four classes, each with a lecture only once a week, plus seminar sessions, threw me off at first. But that adjustment turned into one of the best surprises of the semester. I’ve had the time to actually explore. London’s major museums are free, and my “London and its Museums” class gave me the perfect excuse to work through all of them. My Japanese Film class has me watching films I never would have picked on my own, but I find myself enjoying each one and learning so much about Japanese culture. Through my International Business and Communication and Networks classes, I have been able to meet and work on group projects with full-time QMUL students, from first-years to third-years.
As the weeks passed and the weather slowly got warmer, the city opened up in a whole new way. Afternoons at Borough Market, tea and scones in Notting Hill, Wednesday discount movie nights at our local cinema, Genesis, and an endless rotation of incredible food, from sushi to Vietnamese banh mi and pho to a variety of Indian food. Fish and chips and Sunday roast, though? Not my thing. Also, budget flights and hostels have made it very easy to travel around Europe on the weekends.
Overall, the biggest adjustment wasn’t the city itself, but learning how to balance being in it. In my first week, I was walking around a lot, exploring the tourist spots, and trying every coffee shop. Then classes started, and suddenly I felt anxious about missing out on the city while doing classwork, but also about potential work piling up when I was out and about exploring. Though the assignment load was exponentially less than GW, due to the class weight being mostly on final assessments, I make sure to stay disciplined and not procrastinate, since I wanted to keep the weekends free for day trips or traveling. I chose cafes or study locations based on a new area of London I wanted to explore, which kept it fun and productive.
Study abroad is equal parts exciting and uncomfortable, but that feeling of being out of your comfort zone is exactly the point. This is the time to explore, ask questions, learn, and embrace the unexpected while creating the best memories.
Niyati Shah
Spring 2026
GW Exchange - Queen Mary, University of London
School of Engineering & Applied Sciences
Computer Science Major