Hello everyone! I am living across the pond this semester and wanted to share some tips on how to ‘do London’. What I mean by “do London” is basically how to fit into the culture and learn the ways of the typical Londoner. I have been here for about a month now and wanted to share some things I picked up on while being out of my element here in Europe.
How to Do London
1.) DRESS TO IMPRESS — Once you step into the land of fashion, you will observe every single person walking past you and you will cry just a little on the inside as to what they are wearing opposed to what you are wearing. I have learned that every person here dresses to impress all day every day. My tip to you: do not wear sweats, sweatshirts, or pajama looking clothes while you are out and about in London. I know you are all used to wearing yoga pants with a baggy shirt or sweatshirt but stay away from those habits due to the fact you are living in one of the most expensive cities to live in.
2.) STAY TO THE RIGHT — Whenever you will be on an escalator, always stay to the right hand side. I call it the fast pass lane in which all the people who are in a rush run up/down the escalator on the left hand side and all the lazy people stand to the right hand side. If you do not do this you will have some angry person glare at you or ask you to move ( there are signs all throughout the stations telling you to stand to the right incase you forget).
3.) KEEP QUIET– You will need to take the tube/train from time to time if you are not in walking distance to places you want to go to. What us Americans didn’t realize was that no one talks on the tube, it is pretty silent the whole time and it is weird. I can’t go a long time without talking to someone or having some noise surrounding me without it being utterly boring or awkward so being on the tube was a weird experience for me. You get occasional talkers who just chat with their mates but the overall community on the tube is silent with a hint of international kids yelling across the cart to their friends.
Hope these helped!
youngbrokeandinlondon 
Great tips! Despite relentlessly Googling “how to live in London” before I left for this trip, I didn’t find these kinds of points anywhere. I guess perhaps that’s because these are observations that Londoners find so common practice that they neglect to include in their own guides. It’s certainly interesting to see these small differences that are still so importance to London’s culture.
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