HAMEDY: A letter to my new home away from home

Dear London,

Please excuse the tear drops that are falling on the keyboard as I write this letter to you – I’ve been listening to Adele, packing, being nostalgic and thinking about our time together in these last four months. Like many who feel depressed as a real relationship is about to end, I feel distraught by our situation.

It may sound silly but “Someone Like You” really fits our situation. In a few days, I will leave you. I know: It’s a shock, my departure crept up on me too. And now, just one final, one paper, one “end of semester party” and one full day left here.

Before coming here, I was reluctant – I had just left my ex-boyfriend The Daily Free Press (we couldn’t do the whole long-distance thing). But I didn’t just leave The FreeP behind – I left everything familiar: America, the warmth of my own bed in Los Angeles, the company of BU friends, my usual college routine (class, FreeP, FitRec, GSU, fun, repeat). I left it all for you, all in hopes that life here would work out.

It started out as just a casual friendship. Upon arrival, I did some touristy activities with my mom, got pretty sick and ended up sleeping off jetlag and a cold for three days while my mom toured the city solo. I liked you – don’t get me wrong – but I wasn’t sure if I was ready to be here. Especially when I was still feeling sick and already exhausted from exploring.

But as the days went by, we got to know each other – through rain and shine (yes, the occasional sunshine). And the more time that flew, the more places I saw, the more fun nights I had, the more friends I met – the more I fell in love. Deep, deep love.

I recognized the feeling – I feel it every time I land at LAX and know I’m about to chomp down on an In-N-Out burger and hang out with my family and high school friends. I feel it when I walk into The FreeP office and see the stacks of papers, old beer cans and hard working journalism babies. I feel it when I catch a view of the Charles from the StuVi II study lounge and remember why I chose BU. And now, I feel it when I think of anything and anyone British (including my lovely FreeP Opinion Page Editor).

There were times where I missed home more than I thought I would – like when everyone in California posted pictures of Coachella, when everyone at BU got ready for Marathon Monday, when my family celebrated the Persian New Year and when The FreeP celebrated the middle-of-the-semester “humpfest.” Sometimes, I even missed the little things – driving my car, City Co. coffee, going to see a movie and it not costing the equivalent of $17.

But there were ways to get over the longing for familiarity via exploration. For example, spending Super Bowl Sunday at Imperial College among Brits who apparently love and follow American football, going to the Victoria & Albert Museum for a Persian New Year night and getting on a broom at the Harry Potter Studio tour (that’s like driving – right?).

There will be things, people and places I will forever associate with my life here – and it will be both joyous and sad to look back on them.  Here’s to the walks in Hyde Park, Imperial Wednesdays, each and every historic site, living out all my Jane Austen/“Harry Potter”/“The Only Way is Essex”/royal family fantasies. Here’s to “You alright?”, “Cheers,” “Minding the gap,” figuring out British politics, being British not European, figuring out how to handle Tube traffic, falling in love with One Direction (is it not socially acceptable to obsess over a tween sensation?), making friends everywhere and anywhere. The list could go on for pages.

You just get me, London. And I get you. Or try to. And this is why we work. You surprise me all the time by taking me places I’d never usually go. You introduce me to the most interesting types of people. You show me a different culture – one that has a history far richer than that of the United States.

I wrote in my first column that being here is like living in a dream, and four months later, I stand by this statement. Being able to travel around Europe, making a new friend just because of my American accent, working in an international office environment, getting well acquainted with a different city, having the luxury of living in a South Kensington apartment-style dorm – this is what dreams are made of.

I’ve taken way too many photos and checked off almost everything on my bucket list (It was a really long list – you should be proud, London). But I feel like there is still more to do; more hidden London gems to encounter.

While I’m ready for my two-week Euro-adventure with one of my best friends and of course my return to home, sweet America, a part of me remains here. The second I board the plane from Heathrow, I will be hoping for our reunion in the near future. Hoping to once again parade the streets of Piccadilly Circus in hopes of finding somewhere fun. Hoping to once again eat fish and chips, sip on cider and sit among friends in a pub – or several. Hoping to re-fall in love with you.

I will work really hard to find my way back here – whether that means teaching myself how to apparate without splitting myself in half or job hunting until I find a place that will get me a visa, I plan on coming back to this home away from home.

But I’ll end this letter now – I think it’s safe to say, I, like Mary Kate and Ashley, won you, London.

Saba Hamedy is a College of Communication and College of Arts and Sciences junior, Fall 2011 editor-in-chief of The Daily Free Press and now a weekly columnist. She can be reached at sbhamedy@bu.edu.