University of Wisconsin–Madison

England: Lily Bloch (A Home Away from Home in London)

A Home Away from Home in London

Almost every Friday night, my best friend Sev and I will meet outside the PhotoCafe in Shoreditch to catch up on the week’s activities. We sit on the same bench, in the same spots every week. We chat and watch the hustling people for about an hour before walking down the street to The Book Club, where they play RnB music the whole night. We dance until our legs ache and they usher us out of the building to close.

A black wallet with a candid photo of two people making kissy faces towards the camera, sitting next to a pink, crocheted sweater.
The picture above is a photobooth picture taken in The Book Club kept in my wallet.

I met Sev on the train. I was trying my best to meet new people and in the most obnoxiously American way I know, I’d decided to strike up a conversation with her by complimenting her nails.

“They’re so cute! Where’d you get them done?”

“… in… I think”

“What do you study?”

“Photography.”

And that was that. Now she’s one of my closest friends. I don’t want to move back to a world where our bench is no longer a 30 minute commute on public transportation and instead over 3,900 miles away.

Lily looks downwards, brushing back her hair, surrounded by flowers and other greenery.

Lily Bloch

Majors: International Studies and Spanish

Hometown: Madison, Wisconsin