Northeastern students make a fast start to London life
More than 1000 students arrive from across the world to start their Northeastern journey in the historic center of Britain’s capital
LONDON – New arrivals at Northeastern University London are making a fast start to a new life in the British capital. For those who arrived with full suitcases as check-in opened at 10AM, move-in was all but complete by midday at Chapter Spitalfields, one of three partner residence halls.
Arriving from Toronto, Canada, Max Balzer and his mother Sarah Balzer said registration had been effortless, thanks to on-site staff who had also offered a guide to the local area. But with a whole city to explore and a busy schedule of social events, unpacking would be an ongoing project, joked Balzer, 18, a first-year communications and media student. “That doesn’t stop today or tomorrow – that’s going to keep going.”
The 1000 new arrivals include about 800 London Scholars, students enrolled at Northeastern’s Boston campus, who will spend their first year in the British capital before moving back to the U.S. The incoming cohort started arriving from across the world on Monday – some fresh off flights from Europe, Asia and the Americas. They were joined by about 200 U.K. undergraduate students who will spend three years studying on the London campus.
On his first day, Balzer was happy to be reunited with Nidhi Vankawala from Dallas, Texas and Daisy Sanders from the Bay Area of California. The trio met at an induction event in Boston in July. All had been in London for a few days, exploring the city with parents and buying everything they needed to settle into their new digs, including power adapters, toiletries, and groceries. Top priorities, now, are “meeting people, making new friends, sightseeing,” said Sanders, 18.
Vankawala said she was looking forward to meeting others from her residence hall at a mixer event Monday evening and she’d registered for opportunities offered by student services, including shows at the West End theaters and a chance to explore London’s legendary music scene.
“It’s my favourite city,” she said. “The best one in the world, if you ask me.”
Smooth landings
Northeastern University London has partnered with three residence halls, Chapter Spitalfields, Chapter Aldgate and Scape Shoreditch, and live-in staff at each location help new arrivals to get to know the area and continue to support them through the year. Each residence is on the edge of the historic City of London and students can walk to the London campus by Tower Bridge on the river Thames.
While halls were open for registration from Monday Sept. 7, large groups were scheduled to arrive on flights booked by Northeastern, departing from Washington, D.C., New York, Houston, Boston, Dallas, Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco on Sept 8. A luggage transfer service meant fliers were able to drop off hefty luggage at their departure airport in the U.S. and be reunited with it in their halls, where each student also received packs of bedding and cookware.
As the flood s of new arrivals dried to a trickle on Tuesday afternoon, Anna Heyse, community supervisor in Chapter Spitalfields, labelled the move-in a success. Despite the rush of students as each group flight landed, “it has been remarkably smooth,” she said. “I’m glad we were prepared,” with more staff on site than ever before, and games such as the physical skills pastime jenga, and craft activities on site to help break the ice.
Connected by Northeastern
Arriving from Munich, Sophia Luft said she was the only person from her school who came to Northeastern and was “definitely excited” for her busy Welcome Week, which runs through Sept. 13 before classes begin Sept. 14. Luft had signed up to join Northeastern Welcome Week trips to Tower Bridge, Mamma Mia, and Hamilton. Northeastern University London’s Husky Fest, a festival of music and live events held on the university’s campus at St Katharine Docks, and the annual Societies Fair, where students can join campus clubs and sports teams, follow on Sept. 16.
When Luft was considering colleges, she didn’t have to look far for inspiration for a university offering a chance to make connections from across the world. Her parents met as seniors at Northeastern, in 2000, when they were both business majors on the Boston campus. Her father, Alexander Luft, was on an exchange programme from Reutlingen University in Germany when her mother, Leonor Gonzalez Luft, returned from a year in Madrid. “And that’s when we met,” said Gonzalez Luft.
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Luft begins her own Northeastern story a short flight from home, before moving on to Boston in 2027. She was initially attracted by the combined major in Business Administration and Psychology, “and I’m also very excited for the co-op programme,” which offers a chance to spend time at a work placement anywhere on the planet,” she said. For now, she’s looking forward to “just getting to know the students, getting to explore London.”
For parents, the new beginning was also an emotional goodbye. Luisa Smith, Daisy Sanders’ mother, said it was “a little overwhelming” to send her daughter to university in another country. “But it’s also really exciting to see what she’s going to be doing here – I’m a little jealous as well. What a great city, what an incredible place to be,” Smith said.
Sarah Balzer said the smooth check-in has helped ease the “parental rollercoaster” of emotions from seeing her eldest leave home.
“I’m thinking about living without him every day but at the same time, it’s so exciting,” said Blazer. “The setup is great, the dorm is great, and so I know it is going to be wonderful for him.”
For her son, it’s a homecoming of sorts. Max was born in Wapping, near to the London Campus, and had visited the city on family vacations but was looking forward to really getting to know the city of his birth.
“I’m back in my hood,” he said. “It’s so fun to be out of my comfort zone and in a new place.”
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