Learning in and about UK

AYSON

MY DEAR United Kingdom,

It has been three months since I first stepped onto your soil. The gust of cold air that greeted me at Heathrow [airport] should have been fair warning to my tropical senses of how unpredictable your weather can be.

Autumn has set in and with it golden orange leaves littering the gardens and parks. I do not mind that you have such lush green space where I can easily get a whiff of fresh air, especially when studying begins to take its toll.

But my shoes take a beating on your cobblestone pavements. And my hair cannot seem to adjust to the humidity nor my ears to some of the unique  accents.

Usually, however, the rich, mellifluous voices all around are like music that can soothe a tired soul.

The rainy days afford me a good excuse to have a drink of ale and feast on fish and chips in any of your public houses. They can also be the opportune time to hop on a double-decker bus or the Tube (subway) to catch a great theater act in the West End, or savor the magnificent collections in your numerous museums, galleries and monuments.

Your storied edifices give a glimpse of your history, like why the sun never set on the British Empire.

Simply fascinating is the dynamics of governance through a parliamentary democracy with a sovereign as head. But politics I realize is the same everywhere. You are bedeviled by the same  social issues we have back home—job creation, health, transportation, immigration, etc., solutions to which I predict are not forthcoming.

On a personal note, I confess I have had to rewire my brain to fully understand   the workings of the common law system as well as the tutorial method of learning, which is definitely more academically rigorous.

My palate though greatly appreciates the delight that is afternoon tea, which has its own etiquette and is a proven icebreaker when socializing. Dry humor sometimes manages to break barriers in this multicultural landscape.

But the gentility of your citizens must be viewed in a different light. Underneath that veneer of reserved British civility is strong empathy that manifested itself recently in the overwhelming outpouring of support for victims of Supertyphoon “Haiyan” (local name: Yolanda).

London, the cosmopolitan capital, stirs in me a different kind of longing—to know more about its nooks and crannies, and not “minding the gap,” and enjoy its cultural offerings to the hilt.

My own eccentric version of the city shall be gently woven one thread at a time. Perhaps I will witness the shooting of “Sherlock” at nearby Gower Street. Or spot JK Rowling in any of the thriving preloved bookstores around the corner. Maybe I shall be able to wave to the Queen from a distance.

Yours affectionately,

Grace

(The author is currently taking up LLM in International Banking and Finance at University College London under the British Chevening Scholarships. She has worked both in the government and private sector, most recently with UBS. She was an overseas Filipino worker  in Singapore for a few years and has done her fair share of traveling around the world. She loves to do volunteer work and read up on current events and celebrity news.)