If my previous blog posts haven’t made it clear, I once lived in London for three weeks, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since.

Like most children born in the late 90s, I was obsessed with Harry Potter from the start of the first book and the first film. I memorized and recited them all to the point of irritation. I had obsessions with other British literature and YA novels set in seemingly fabulous preparatory schools in the city of London.

This city is what has been stuck in my mind for years and years: the accents, the fast-paced movement, the monarchy and the public transportation. Yup, you read that right.

I have loved trains since I first watched Thomas the Tank Engine, and the prospect of so many of them above and below ground conjured an image of the most industrious beehive. I knew geography from novels of the Romantic era, and slang from shows like Skins. I knew every part of London and had all but purchased the plane tickets to get myself there.

This last summer, I studied abroad for three weeks in the heart of Greater London, and mapped my way through so many neighborhoods I can still mentally direct myself up and down major streets.

What was particularly special about this study abroad experience was the class itself or, really, the lack of a class. Most of our learning took place walking the same streets Oliver Twist ran down in the Dickens novel and literally following the Thames from one end of London to the very other.

Our mapping project and walking expeditions helped me understand and experience the city better than any I have ever before. Even my own hometown.

And the best part — what I had anticipated the most turned out to the be the most memorable part of my trip: The London Underground and Rail System. I may have walked for about six to seven hours a day around the London Metropolis, but I spent what could have been half that time learning the Tube routes to the minute.

I became so comfortable with the public transportation that I was easily taking the Overground to Zone 6 all the way out to Kent, on my own, in the first week. For the first time, I was able to both maintain my public vigilance and enjoy my time riding the public transportation. I (quietly) squealed with excitement when I sat on the top side of the famous red London double-decker buses.

I learned the movement of the city — which train would have full carriages and to wait just a minute longer or arrive a minute earlier to miss the one train with the post-work mob and which pubs and hang-outs would fill up at which time with the corporate crowd.

I could even tell the time of the day when the newspaper stands would pull out half-way onto the sidewalk while walking back from getting bananas from Tesco.

I didn’t understand at first why and how I fell in love with London as quickly and dramatically as I did. And then it hit me. I was actually *living* in my city.

I am a fourth year in UCLA and I have barely ever gone past the boundaries of Westwood except to get Thai food from the next block over. Ubers and Lyfts take me to and from my further-away destinations, and most of the time I spend with my face fixated on my phone screen. I am terrified of taking public transportation around Los Angeles because of all the stories I’ve heard about the metro rails and because I may get lost.

What I’ve begun to realize, maybe a little later than I should have, is that I have never really *lived* in LA for the entire time I have been here. I didn’t walk to get waffles and kebabs at midnight with my friends just because or taken the five minutes to map out my bus path to get to USC.

I never felt the need to get to know where I lived and didn’t think I would want to until I went to a completely different country and did exactly that.

Now I have just a few months left in my undergraduate career and I have decided, rather abruptly, that I am going to enjoy my city just as much as I did London. Whether it be Los Angeles or my hometown or even get to know my neighbors a little better.

I lived in London for three weeks and still think about it to this day. Now, I have six months to try to fall in love with Los Angeles all over again. I can’t wait to go back and start doing just that.