A Day in the Life of an NYU London Student

By Jordan Feast

One of the first things I noticed about London is just how expensive it is! Despite my money-saving woes, London is one of my favorite cities because of the moments of tranquility I experience here that I struggle to find in New York. I love London and would definitely recommend it as a study abroad site; there are great class options and it is easy to travel all over Europe! I hope that by reading about a day in my life, you can gather some insights on what it is truly like to be an NYU London student and pick up a couple of money-saving tips.

My Course Schedule:
Monday 1-4pm: Management and Organizations
Tuesday & Thursday 4:30-5:45pm: Organizational Communications and Its Social Context
Wednesday 9am-12pm: Media, Culture, and Globalization
Thursday 9am-12pm: Health Policy in a Global World

Monday

7:00 am
I am not an early riser but I like getting my day started relatively early. I am most productive when the sun is out and since the sun is setting at 4:30 pm I like to get a head start. After quietly getting ready and making breakfast to avoid waking up my flatmates, it’s off to the gym!

8:00 am
My gym is about a ten-minute walk from my dorm and I usually go about five times a week. I take a 30 minutes abs class and make myself run on the treadmill before leaving. Since we have to pay for our own gym memberships (mine costs about £23 a month with a student discount), I try to take advantage of the free classes my gym offers.

9:00 am
Before going back to my dorm, I stop by Waitrose for my weekly grocery shopping. I spend about £30-40 a week on groceries and eat out a couple of times on the weekends. I grab ingredients to make sandwiches for lunch and a pasta-bake for dinner. I also go to a Korean grocery store once in a while to stock up on everything I need to make Korean dishes. I found a small family-run store that offers a 10% student discount!

9:45 am
I put away my groceries and realize that I still have to unpack my suitcase from my trip this past weekend. My flatmates and I went to Edinburgh and got back on Sunday night. So far, I have been on four trips this semester: Madrid, Paris, Brussels, and Edinburgh! We always leave on Friday mornings and get back on Sunday nights. Compared to the US, travel is very cheap in Europe. We take the train when we can and booked all of our trips at the beginning of the semester when prices were still low. For train travel within the UK, there are great 16-25 discounts. You can buy a one-time £30 railcard and get 1/3 off all rail travel within the UK! For accommodation, we stay in hostels which are very popular and nice in Europe. The NYU London staff has a list of recommendations that helped us find budget-friendly hostels for most of our destinations. Next weekend, I am off to Amsterdam and then I only have one more trip to Italy before the semester is over.

A day trip from Brussels, Bruges is one of my favorite travel experiences!

11:00 am
After a quick shower, I brush up on my management reading and make lunch before heading to Management and Organizations with my flatmate.

1:00 pm
Management is my favorite class in London; the professor is amazing I am never bored in her class. Today, we are talking about designing teams and do an in-class survival simulation to test out our teamwork (my team did not survive).

2:15 pm
Finally, our coffee break! Most of the classes here are once a week and three hours long so most professors give a thirty-minute coffee break about halfway through class. My friend and I head to Gail’s; it is not as cheap as my usual Pret a Manger, but they have great hot chocolate and coffee and are right by campus.

4:00 pm
After class, my flatmate and I make the fifteen-minute walk back to our dorm. It is raining, a constant here in London, so we huddle under my umbrella. When we get back to Byron Court (our dorm), I start practicing for my OrgComm presentation that I have tomorrow. My presentation is a corporate reputation analysis of Disney and I have to get my part under two minutes. OrgComm is my other Stern class in London and my second favorite after Management.

6:10 pm
Before I know it, it is time to head to see Matilda the Musical! My roommate and I got tickets for only £5 thanks to another 16-25 discount that I found online. For cinema and theatre discounts, google is your friend and you can get amazing deals.

10:00 pm
The musical was amazing, and we take the tube back to our dorm. I usually prefer the bus because it is a lot cheaper than the tube but sometimes you can’t pass up the proximity. It has been a long day so I grab a quick snack and go to bed (after lying in bed on my phone for an hour, of course).

I hope you enjoyed my Monday! Please reach out if you have any questions about studying abroad in London; my email is jef480@stern.nyu.edu.