I can’t believe it’s already that time of year again: the leaves are changing, students are bundling up just to go downstairs and pick up their Postmates, and we’re still living through a middle of a global pandemic of apocalyptic proportions. I just love fall, don’t you?
Last semester, I had the pleasure of studying abroad in the U.K. It will definitely be one of my most cherished memories of BU, but there are some things I wish I’d known going in that might have changed my experience a bit. Hopefully, I can impart some of this knowledge on you and live vicariously through your perfectly curated Instagram photos.
DON’T: Go in the middle of the biggest worldwide epidemic of the century.
This one’s pretty self explanatory. Even if there’s just an inkling, save yourself the heartache of buying tickets to Romeo and Juliet at the Globe only to go home days before.
DO: Bug your EUSA contact about internship updates.
This one isn’t as bad as it sounds. BU outsources the heavy lifting of finding an internship abroad to a company called EUSA. Good news? That means there’s very little work to do on your end to obtain gainful employment. Bad news? They’re dealing with about 30-40 other students at the same time. It’s easy to get lost in an email chain, so don’t be afraid to speak up about a) what type of internship position you want and b) when you can expect to hear back about whether or not you got it. The internship can make or break your abroad experience. Take a lesson from the 5 year olds I babysit: never settle.
DON’T: Talk on the tube.
Yes, I still catch myself calling the MBTA the tube. No, it doesn’t make any sense. If Londoners love one thing, it’s silence. Well, maybe also tea. And beer. And a good English breakfast. But silence is definitely in the top 5. The easiest way to out yourself as a tourist to the locals is through boisterous discussion on the tube. Anything above a whisper is taboo. And if you’re whispering, you better have an absolutely incredible reason, like a fire, or seeing Robert Pattinson. Besides, if you were talking, how could you hear the absolute gems schoolchildren drop on their way home? (“Nah, mans, it ain’t like that. I’m different, mans want bodies, I’m built different.”)
DO: Learn a few basics about tea.
I’m by no means an anglophile, but it’s pretty universally known that the English love tea. I’m not a big drinker myself, but regardless, in an office space, it’s an easy way to make friends and win goodwill. A few important points:
- Try different kinds, as your employer will surely have a bevy. Try different teas at different times of day; it might improve your workflow. Show your boss you’re ~adventurous~.
- Always offer to put the kettle on. Even if you’ve never done it before, I promise it’s not that hard, and it’s a guarantee to make you an office favorite. Maybe practice at home before your trip if you’re a little nervous.
- Bring a pack of biscuits (cookies, for you American heathens) along for sharing. For the cost of a single biscuit, you have just made a lifelong friend. My recommendations are Digestives and Hobnobs.
- There are specific preparations for different types of tea based on who’s consuming it. Learn how your office mates like them, and they’ll do the same for you. One I became intimately familiar with is builder’s tea: heat water to a boil, put the teabag in for the minimum amount of time possible, then add milk until the tea becomes cloudy. Never order your tea this way.
- DO NOT LET THE TEABAG SIT IN THE CUP FOR AN EXCESSIVE AMOUNT OF TIME.
DO: Call it football.
We all know you mean soccer. Just take one for the team and do it so we don’t get bum rushed by the lads outside the pub, okay?
DON’T: Root for Arsenal.
You know, unless you like heartbreak.
DO: Bring a European passport (if you have one).
Brexit is a reality (and no one seems to like it), but that doesn’t mean you won’t have access to the rest of the EU! I’m fortunate enough to be a dual citizen to Spain, so my Spanish passport has gotten me around some long lines in the airport. Be sure not to burn yourself out travelling too much, though. It’s unlikely that you’ll have weekdays off, so your window of travel is probably Friday evening to Sunday evening. Those are tough trips to make. More than a few consecutively, and your bunk bed might seem a little more inviting than mandatory attendance in statistics.
DON’T: Get a cast if you intend to fly home.
How did I break my wrist, you ask? Oh, you know. Just a nasty petting zoo accident. I know, the NHS just seems so inviting. But as blood vessels swell at higher altitudes, your injury might get stuck in the hard plaster and keep blood from your extremities. A really sticky situation 30 minutes into your 8 hour flight home. Finally,
DO: NOT GO TO LONDON DURING THE PANDEMIC.
I really cannot hammer this one home enough. My time in London was absolutely life changing, but I still can’t shake the feeling that it would have been better somehow if I just, I don’t know…wasn’t there in the middle of the end of the world.
Here’s where you can really let your style run wild. Have a little fun expressing your personality and showing how unique you are by wearing the same Pulp Fiction shirt as every other film bro in COM! A good place to pick these kinds of shirts up is in the boys' section at Target or the dad section at Goodwill. The best part about these graphic tees is they help you make friends. The more obscure your reference, the more likely you are to have an instant connection! And if your reference is too obscure, I guarantee that at least five people will come up to you pretending they know what it is, so it’s always a win-win. Bonus points if the shirt is ironic. Double bonus points if it references you in a familial role you clearly do not occupy (i.e., “World’s Coolest Grandpa”).
Okay, even if you’re not trying to catch Spielberg's latest blockbuster this weekend, 
Looking at films today, it tends to become a little difficult to see why, as a whole, we’re so obsessed with Tom Cruise. However, after taking a look at his breakout success in the 80s, we’re reminded of what he used to be and what he represented in a time when actors weren’t just pigeonholed into one type of character. That being said, he really did make a damn good action star, and there’s no better example of that than his performance in 
Oh man, it looks like we’ve reached peak coolness. 
I’m bringing it all full circle with our last film on the list. Based on a story by Steven Spielberg, Goonies tells the story of a group of friends trying to find a hidden treasure so they can keep their houses from being destroyed to make room for an incoming country club. This movie holds a special place in my heart; it’s one of the few that I truly loved as a child. I remember watching it over and over for hours on end (and my parents were surprised that I’m a film major...), and that’s why I think we still love it now. It reminds us of what it was like to grow up. In reality, the Goonies are trying to save their innocence from being lost by losing the only group of friends they’ve ever had to a country club, the EPITOME of adult-ness!!! They’re just a group of outcasts and misfits (not unlike the group of outcasts and misfits most of us were a part of growing up) simply trying to spend what could be their last few hours together going on an adventure. And if that doesn’t break your heart, I don’t know what will.
Everyone has heard of this semi-autobiographical masterclass in storytelling and cinematography by Italian director Federico Fellini. But has anyone ever really seen it? Doubtful. When talking about it, though, you can be sure to bring up a few key plot points to trick your friends into thinking you have. Just talk about the steam bath, Guido’s love triangle, and that weird sequence where he meets a prostitute when he’s eight years old. Don’t worry if it doesn’t make a lot of sense either; you’re much more likely to see Marcello Mastroianni’s ugly mug (with a jawline that could cut glass) on your roommate’s poster than in the actual film. The beauty of 8 1/2 is the universal fact that no one has seen it, which means no one really wants to talk about it. So as long as you practice your “Oh yeah, I’ve 
We all know the broad strokes of this Spielberg classic: an alien crash lands in this kid’s hometown and, for some reason, it’s this literal child’s job to help an extraterrestrial being to return home, possibly altering the future of humanity in irreversible ways. Also his bike flies? Anyway, the Big Thing™ to remember when discussing this movie is that you can 
There’s really no reason to have skipped this one. It’s a short film that won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2016. Following a snapshot in the life of a small town police officer after his mother passed away, 
Especially after the recent success of critical darling 
A trend that we Film and Television majors love to brag about is the fact that more and more “arthouse” filmmakers are being signed on to make big budget flicks with some of the biggest studios in Hollywood. The biggest example of this occurrence in recent memory is Rian Johnson hopping on the Star Wars train to write and direct Episode VIII. While it’s easy to think that Johnson is a filmmaking prodigy, handpicked from obscurity by JJ Abrams himself, we can’t let ourselves forget that, not that long ago, he was just a kid with a camera (like most of us). This is best seen with his first feature, 
I’m calling it early; this film is the John Hughes, coming of age story that’s going to speak for all of those geeky film kids growing up in the 2010s. Adapted for screen by Desiree Akhavan (a gifted actor in her own right), 