We took a hiatus from the South Bank today and ventured up North of the Thames to visit The London School of Economics and Political Science-- where I will be studying over the next year. Walking around the different academic buildings, I was reminded of how urban the campus is. I inevitably started thinking about my undergraduate years at Columbia. I wondered how one school, one city, one experience, would compare to the other.
On a surface level, the two schools are similar in that they are both located in the middle of extremely large, fast-paced, expensive, cosmopolitan cities. But I think that is where the similarities end-- at least in terms of what my experience at Columbia was and what I think my experience at LSE will be.
Columbia's campus was designed to be a bit of an oasis within New York. Once you walk through the gates into the main campus you can almost forget you're in the Big Apple. I remember my father, during Orientation week on campus, saying at several points that we needed to make a trip "into the city." I had to remind him and myself several times that we were in the city.
My experience at Columbia was very much shaped by how self-contained the spaces I existed in were. I lived on campus housing through all four years. Three of those years my dorms were inside the main campus, so I didn't even have to cross a street to get to class. During the week, I almost never left Morningside Heights. From the dorm, to class, to the library, to the Spec and back, all within a 7 block radius.
I would go downtown by myself during the weekends to walk around the Village, Soho, or the Lower East Side (what my friends started calling 'Sergio time'). Some of my favorite memories of my Columbia days consist of those solitary walks, discovering stores, cafes, and parks. But those moments seem very separate from the bulk of my college experience. In retrospect they seem more like brief weekend trips, as opposed to a continuation of my college life.
I can already tell my experience at LSE is going to be radically different. For one thing, I won't be living on campus. I have to take two different tube lines to get to school. I will have to deal with the morning commute and rush hour crowds. In college all I had to do was roll out of bed and walk a hundred steps to get to my class.
Also, LSE's campus is more integrated into the city. It would be inaccurate to say that the buildings are completely dispersed, but they are also not contiguous. Walking in between buildings one passes pubs, shops, even what seemed to be a plastic surgeon's office! My day to day school life will be so much more a part of the city than it ever was at Columbia.
I find this change in pace and space both intimidating and exhilarating. Intimidating perhaps because of its unfamiliarity. But exhilarating because change means being able to reconfigure your life in a whichever way you want. For instance, I harbor romantic notions of studying at cafes around the city, jetting off to different neighborhoods, depending on my mood. It's exciting to wonder what part I will play in the life of the city, and what part the city will play in my own life.
