London

I think my first year in university made London a traumatising experience. 

At least once a month we would go for a long and gruelling trip to various sites:

we would meet at Victoria or London Bridge at 10, and walk pretty much non-stop until 7pm. 

My lecturer didn't seem to believe in eating or resting, so most times we had to beg him to stop for lunch, which lasts 15 minutes at most if we were lucky. Sometimes we'd be trailing behind him, trying to munch and walk at the same time.

I don't think we have ever taken the tubes either on our trips, so you can imagine we must have walked all over London. And as if a 9 hour trek wasn't exhausting enough, the weather was always either freezing cold or pouring with rain. It was no wonder that we were always so ill throughout first year!

Since then, I couldn't dissociate London from those terrible memories. I couldn't see London through the eyes of excited tourists...All I thought about at the mention of London was wringing my rain soaked winter coat at the lobby of Fosters and Partners (a re-known firm), and freezing to death counting the remaining hours to my warm bed.

Recently though, after going back and forth for my interviews, I've started seeing London in a different light. Maybe because I'm by myself walking at my own pace, I've started noticing how excitingly huge London is in terms of scale. And how alive and manic it is in the city. 

There's too many things to do in London that it's the perfect place to get lost in when you have the space and the time for yourself.

I still cannot see myself living in the heart of the city-- maybe it has something to do with being raised in a coastal city: I like knowing that I'm just by the coast. 

But I'm glad that I've grown to love London a lot more now :)