The GCC London study abroad was my first time in Europe, and I met many different people throughout this trip. The people I met in Britain were certainly kind, and while there was some sense of sarcasm whenever I spoke to a British person, it was never in a negative manner but more playful than anything. I remember how my group went on many walking tours of London, and we enjoyed every tour guide we had. They were all open to talking about past and current events and were very knowledgeable on the general history of the UK. In class, we had a guest speaker who talked to us about the history of the National Health Service in the UK and was able to answer every question we had regarding that topic. All of those people allowed me to learn a lot about the health and health care in the UK, and I was excited to be experiencing all of it within London itself.
On a less positive note, one thing I always notice as an Asian-American is when people who are unaccustomed to Asian people stare at me. Given I was in London, a huge and vastly diverse city, I didn’t notice this on too many occasions. However, in certain areas of the city where there was noticeably less diversity, I often felt out of place from my group and from the region as a whole. It was nothing new to me to be the only Asian in a group, but in a large and unfamiliar place like London, I felt uncomfortable. Again, it didn’t happen too much on the trip, but it was enough to make me notice and recall the experiences that my other Asian friends had when they were in similar situations. I still had an amazing experience exploring the city of London, but there were both positives and negatives on the trip that should be accounted for.
