London is a catalyst

Welcoming you to London, KCL, Roar! and the Culture section, with some inspirational words about our great capital.

“I came to London. It had become the centre of my world and I had worked hard to come to it. And I was lost.” – V. S. Naipaul

London is a catalyst. Yes, it is coarse with grime and vast in British ennui; a homeless man ignored outside the third Pret A Manger you’ve seen this morning. But there are rich pockets of the vivant, if you know where to look, and looking is half the fun.

Each basement gig where you self-consciously tug at your new jacket from Brick Lane, each late night film screening you attend surrounded by whipping alien tongues, dripping with assurance and gravitas, every exhibition leaving your eyes darting and a silent, internal “…what?”. They will mould you. So from all of us at the Culture section, we welcome you to this great city, this flea market of thinkers and thoughts. You have arrived at a cultural centre, a conglomeration of artistic enterprises ranging from the fine to the fun. What you’ll also be pleased to know is that, by becoming a KCL student, you have set your base at the epicentre of the bustle. We are sure you will be somewhat aware of the bombardment of experiences you are about to face, and naturally, you will have planned ahead. Some of you may have even lived here before or visited regularly.

Yet still, becoming a uni student in this place is entering into all of that confusion with a haste unimaginable to those on the outside. Suddenly you are independent, alone, and completely responsible for how you spend your time. At the same time, you are surrounded by people of all kinds of artistic persuasions, flocking en masse to the promised land.

So, we send you this culture section with the intention of providing a reliable place to touch base with other students’ impressions and advice on the matter, from those who have been in exactly the same position as you, perhaps even the same halls. Slowly you will settle and learn to appreciate, as opposed to feigning passion in what the cute girl a few flats down affirmed in drawling tones was “just…like, so organic”, and you’ll realise why these people snaking around looked so much cooler than you ever thought you could hope to be. Because they crawled through it all.