Category: Elsie in London

I Survived Oktoberfest and Week One of Classes

Published on by Elsie BuczkowskiLeave a comment

 Oktoberfest

This was a whirlwind of a weekend. It started Friday afternoon on my tube ride to the airport. I have found it very easy to navigate the underground in the city with my friends, so I was only a bit nervous about taking the train to the airport alone. It was very simple. Three stops on the Bakerloo line, then transfer to the Elizabeth line at Paddington station for seven more. I was so content on the Elizabeth line — it wasn’t crowded, I was pacing well on time, I was excited to get an airport snack, and above all, I was so excited to see all my friends I had missed so much. I was two train stops from the airport when I reached for my chapstick in my small bag and realised my passport wasn’t there. My stomach dropped. I remembered that as I did a scan of the dorm room to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything, the maintenance man was fixing my broken heater and was blocking my view of where my passport sat. 

I immediately got off the train, walked to the street and ordered an Uber back to my dorm. I calculated the time it would take to Uber there and back and thankfully I could pace to make it 30 minutes before boarding started. I was so frazzled I was shaking. I had no more room for error and worse, no time for an airport snack. 😦 I asked my Uber driver if he thought I could make it and he reassured me that I would be just fine. I still didn’t feel better though, just because I was so disappointed in myself. 

I made my way through security smoothly, until my bag had to be double-checked by a security agent. Of course. Once that was resolved, I was delighted to find out my flight had been delayed and I had time for an airport snack! I got a mango. It was so delicious. 

I felt insurmountable relief when I stepped out of the taxi and was finally able to hug my friends and lie down. That evening, we got dinner and went to a rowdy pub near our hotel. It was so nice to spend time with people that felt like home. 

Saturday was the opening day of Oktoberfest. The crowds were insane. I hadn’t got my dirndl yet, so I had to quickly get one in the morning before we went into the festival. This was not an easy task. Walking to the store, the roads were roped off for a parade and there were masses of people on the sidewalk. Max and I had to weave through the crowds with our big weekend backpacks. Once at the store, I was running around like a crazy person because I had no idea what size I was or how to assemble the full outfit. I forgot to get a ribbon for the front and an apron so I looked a bit silly. 

We changed at our hostel and then made our way to the Oktoberfest grounds to meet the rest of our friends. There were masses of people lined up to get into the festival. Max and I got so lucky, we didn’t have to wait in line. We were following people to the end of the line when we turned to the left and saw that security had opened another gate. We squeezed right on through. 

We found our group of friends outside the Hofbrau house tent. The beers were flowing and we had a great time talking, laughing and making friends with the people at neighbouring tables. Everyone I encountered at the festival was so joyous and friendly. 

I’ve noticed that I only take pictures of my friends, not anything else. Unfortunately, I don’t have many pictures of the fairgrounds or the scenes inside the tents. I need to be better at capturing my surroundings and not just the people I’m with. 

I woke up on Sunday with a cold. I was bound to get sick at some point, and being around such huge crowds did not help my chances of staying in perfect health. I walked 15 minutes to a pharmacy to get some type of cough medicine to help me feel better for the big day we had planned. I stared at all the German products for much longer than I should have while I worked up the courage to ask the woman working what I should get. She hooked me up with some gross cough syrup. This was my first experience where I could not speak the language and needed help from a local. Like everyone I met in Germany, she was very kind and spoke great English. There was no need to be scared to ask for help. 

The second day was great because we snagged spots inside two different tents throughout the day, not outside in the heat. We made more friends, stood on the tables and cheered for the band. 

Journey Home to London and Homesickness

My trip back home to my dorm in London on Monday morning was much smoother than my trip to Munich, except for the pit of loneliness in my stomach. Solo travel is hard. There is no one immediate that you can rely on to double-check you are doing things correctly. If you want help, you have to ask strangers. This can be super intimidating in general but especially in a foreign country. 

I successfully navigated the tube from Heathrow back to my dorm in Marylebone expecting to feel completely relieved and relaxed after my morning of travel. I felt nothing of the sort. After only six days in London, I have not been able to feel fully comfortable like it’s my home. It was a really sad feeling, leaving all the people who feel like home only to return to my actual home which was still cold and strange to me. 

I’m so lucky to have Sydney here with me. The same Monday I got home and was feeling super lonely, she invited me to see an indie film at a unique theatre. After the movie, we went across the street to a cheap pub and talked about how we might feel scared at the moment, but said we were confident that we are going to get the hang of things here. Above all, we are lucky to have each other and we know that we are not completely alone. 

First Week of Classes

My first class was on Monday afternoon. It is just an intro to sociology course, I anticipate having an easy time getting through it. I met some girls from London in my seminar and we talked for a while about all the different American fast foods they want to try, and they gave me recommendations for the fast food that’s here, but not in the U.S. Nandos review incoming!

My second class was on Tuesday and is the course that goes along with my Internship. It’s about building skills to have in the professional workplace. I anticipated that it was going to be kind of a useless class, but it helped me a lot with problems that I encountered in my internship this week. After class, I was able to fit some fun in by going to a Chelsea game. I have never experienced anything like it before. I got to see two premier league goals on the attack side with my own eyes. We were so close you could smell the grass. 

My third and final class was on Thursday, Photography in London. I’m excited to see all the field trips that are planned for this quarter. Overall, I am really, really proud of myself for making it through this difficult week. The best is yet to come!

Notes on Abroad Preparation and First Week

Published on by Elsie BuczkowskiLeave a comment
  1. Preparing for abroad so far has yet to be a walk in the park. It has felt like applying to colleges all over again, but this time you feel even more stupid and clueless because if I’ve done this before, shouldn’t I be better equipped the second time?
  2. My war with my student visa. The stress of this experience feels like it took years off my life and it was no one’s fault but my own.
    1.  I have a bad habit of either procrastinating or panicking and completing tasks much before I actually need to have them done. Somehow I did both in the process of applying for my student visa. 
    2. I scheduled my biometrics appointment — where you send your fingerprints and photo to the visa processing center — very early in advance. All you need to do is upload your supporting documents proving that you are a student, that you have the necessary finances to support yourself abroad, insurance, and things like that 24 hours before your appointment. Surely this can’t be a hard deadline, right? Wrong. I spent 2 hours, 3 robocalls, and $80 worth of assistance fees solving that problem late at night the day before my appointment. 
    3. On the day of my appointment, I finally felt at peace after the harrowing night I had prior. I only had two tasks. 1) Bring my passport and the paper with my reference number. 2) Arrive 15 minutes early to my appointment. I was driving down the freeway on my way to the Portland USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) building without a care in the world, singing my music, on track to be an additional 10 minutes early on top of the 15 minutes before my appointment. I looked over to my passenger seat, and all I saw was my purse. No passport or papers. It was too late to turn around, I was already almost there. I immediately exited the freeway and called my mom to make sure they were where I left them. My beautiful mother, I cannot thank you enough for saving me and bringing the papers to where I was parked and panicking. 
    4. After I secured the papers, I was on track to be 10 minutes late for my scheduled appointment. I was absolutely panicking. I walked into the government building with tears in my eyes and spoke to the first person I saw. I didn’t even recognize recognise my voice when it left my body, it was so high-pitched. I asked if it was okay that I was 15 minutes late for my appointment. The literal ICE officer looked at me, looked at my paper, and said, “Oh you’re totally fine, they don’t care that much about these.” In my state of panic, I did not realize realise that he had begun putting my stuff in a TSA-style bin and I was being ushered through what looked exactly like airport security. The immigration officer was right, once I got to the right room the woman working the desk immediately stamped my papers and gave me a number to wait for my turn to get my fingerprints and photo taken. I cried tears of relief in the USCIS waiting room. 
    5. I hope sharing this story will help at least one future study abroader. Please be more responsible than me. But if you’re not, it will likely turn out okay anyway. 
  3. I want to prepare for the gloomy weather and I am confident in my ability to do so, as I have survived 18 Oregon autumns. Still, I think it will be hard to forget the Colorado sunshine. Yesterday was also the first rain of the summer here in Portland and I canceled cancelled my plans and stayed inside all day. I don’t want to fall into that habit this fall. 
  4.  I’m wondering for this blog if I should use American English spelling or British English spelling. I’m leaning towards the latter, you know, to really immerse myself. 
  5. More tears today. I got an email last night containing the details of my internship assignment through the University of Westminster and it was the exact magazine that I wanted. I’ve been grinning like a fool ever since I read the email. I will be a part of the editorial team at Cent Magazine — a London-based publication that covers fashion, culture, art, design, literature, and much more. I am so beyond excited to learn from the staff there. 
  6. I spent my last few days in America not at home but in Denver, moving out of my storage unit I had over the summer and into my house I will share with my friends come January when I’m back on DU’s main campus. I spent time catching up with my roommates who aren’t going abroad this quarter and reflecting on how we are halfway through our college experiences at DU. Things feel much more grown up in a house compared to the dorms we have been in together the past two school years. 
  7. On the way to the airport, I was feeling petrified.  The unknown is oftentimes terrifying, and this is the biggest leap into the unknown I have ever taken in my life. It is really difficult to imagine what the next three months are going to look like for me.
  8. My mood shifted dramatically when I was through security with a Diet Coke in hand. My nervousness completely transformed into excitement.  
  9. My first moments in London were surprisingly calm. Customs was a breeze and getting a taxi to my dorm was super easy. I immediately met up with my friends, Sydney and Ava, and we set out to shop for essential items for our rooms like pillows and sheets.
  10. Walking on busy streets here is extremely difficult. My initial reaction was, “Wow, people really do not know how to walk here.” And then I realized that I’m the people that don’t know how to walk here. Working on it!
  11. London has been super interesting to me because it seems that everyone here is from somewhere else. In my research and preparation before coming here, I learned that over 300 languages are spoken in London but I had no idea how apparent that would be in my day-to-day life. 
  12. Orientation week has been very laid back with lots of free time. After a few short information sessions/lectures, I’ve found the time to explore Portabello Market, Notting Hill, Brick Lane and more. My favorite favourite was shopping around the vintage market that is under Brick Lane. 
  1. I saw someone online say that there is no such thing as a good deal in London. Unfortunately, I have found this to be very true in my six days here. Another thing that makes budgeting difficult is the exchange rate from UK pounds to US dollars. 20 pounds doesn’t seem like a significant amount of money when out and about, but in reality, it is $26.40. It might not seem like a big difference, but the costs have been adding up. For the rest of my time here I want to work on finding more affordable places to eat and shop.
  2. Tomorrow, I am off to Munich to celebrate Oktoberfest. I am very thankful to have this time to travel before my classes and internship begin. Stay tuned for my next post with updates on my experience in Germany and my first week with actual responsibilities!