Secret Life in a London Hostel

During my first month in London I lived in a hostel run by nuns. Technically it's a student residence. There's a curfew, the kitchen shuts at 11 pm and my roommate and I had one key between us.

It's better than couch surfing though for the following reasons:

1. You make friends from all over the world. My new friends are from Spain, Peru, Italy, India and Mexico. My Spanish needs improvement although I feel as though sometimes people got strangely excited to talk to me because they got to practice their English. I've learnt to speak slowly now!

2. I missed out on the boarding school experience as a kid. For some reason it's strangely comforting being surrounded by girls all the time. There's always someone to go to Kensington Gardens/Hyde Park with or someone to drag along to Sainsbury's. No texting required.

An Indian feast in Brick Lane

3. The kitchen is really a cooking school. Everyone shares their homemade dishes and culinary prowess. Unfortunately no one believed me when I said there's really no such thing as a typical Australian dish. I'm being forced to hold a BBQ before winter sets in!

French crepes! Pronounced "cr-ep" not "cray-ape"

4. There's a shared sentiment that we're all in this together. We're all far away from our friends and family back home, temporarily in London hoping to string together a life of our own - jobhunting and flathunting and eating rice bubbles for breakfast.

5. The nuns are very sweet. So yes, I will say hi to the nuns for you!

Farewell cakes, Australian cupcakes and Spanish no-baking required cake