Yafet Cole
Richmond the American International University
London, England
Spring 2019

My commute to class in London is a whole lot different than my travel to class at Sydney. Surprisingly, it is actually a shorter commute, which is a bit of a surprise when you think about how small Hampden-Sydney is. At Hampden-Sydney, any student can walk to any building within about five to 10 minutes. But, at my school in London, I’m able to get to my classes within about three to five minutes. My classrooms are about a block or two over from my dorm building. Instead of walking out of Venable and seeing open space with nature, I walk out and see multi-million dollar apartments with such intricate but simple designs. As I see all of these buildings, I think to myself that I want to live in one of these houses in the future. Outside of these million dollar buildings are the most luxurious cars. Every other car is a Porsche, Bentley, Mercedes, BMW, Aston Martin, and occasionally I’ll see a Rolls-Royce. That is not a sight that anyone sees every day, especially at Sydney because it is filled with just college students and faculty. The mornings are usually quiet. The only noise I hear is either birds chirping, cars driving past, or people talking to each other. Other than those three, there is not much going on. Also, I usually walk with my headphones in so that shuts out the noise from the outside world. I pass several bakeries on my journey to class, so I smell the delicious pastries that are being made every morning. I normally stop by one of the bakery shops for a croissant, they are always so warm and flaky. Just enough to get me through the day. The smell of fresh air is always refreshing; it gives me the motive to be productive, every single day.