I think everyone has a moment where they feel they’re connecting dots in their life. Or you might refer to these dots as turning points. Coming back to London after eight years is definitely one of them for me. It was winter 2007 when I embarked on a journey to London from Toronto. Everything was new and challenging since it was the very first trip I had taken alone. I will never forget the day of wheeling my suitcase down a silent street at dawn, buying an Oyster card with the help of a stranger (which by the way still works after all these years) and, due to arriving early in the morning, finding myself sleeping in the tube with my mouth open, with a child staring at me.

London has not changed a bit in the meantime. It is still the vibrant city I remember – I love it! Coming back to London was as if I were time-travelling. Every now and again, I surprise myself by how many things I remember from that trip eight years ago. It might be partly because at that time there was no such a thing as a smart phone and I had to solely depend on a map and my sense of direction which was in many cases not very trustworthy. It was no problem at all. With tourist attractions located at the center of the city that tell you roughly where you are, it was okay to just get lost and walk miles and miles toward something I didn’t even know existed. Shifting my status from a tourist to a student in London, I sometimes forget the city is full of different adventures to go on. So, I decided to do it again: be a tourist in the city.

The other day, I departed from my place as a total tourist with light shoes that I can walk anywhere with. Speaking of my place, I’m staying in a LSE residential hall called Northumberland which boasts a great location adjacent to Trafalgar Square and Buckingham Palace, so it was such a perfect starting point. Plus, it was fantastic timing, with beautiful Christmas lights sprinkled everywhere. There, I discovered that the musical Billy Elliot is still playing in that same place in Victoria, that the British Museum is selling the same Rosetta Stone key chains and, most importantly, that London still has a lot to offer. I know I will have more discoveries during my stay in London and I’m sure this dot that marks my life at LSE will be connected to something wonderful in the future.