Tottenham.

To Koreans, it's famous as the football team where Son Heung-min plays.

But how many people know about this area besides its football team?

To be honest, I didn't know much either. Even now, I honestly don't know a lot.

Still, since I've come to live here, I thought I'd try to summarize what I've felt.

Tottenham is a district located in London Zone 3. If London were Seoul, Zone 3 would feel like the outskirts of Gyeonggi Province, which might make it easier to understand. And Tottenham belongs to the borough of Haringey.

As soon as I arrived in London, the first thing I had to do was find a place to live.

But the housing prices are insane.

It was already known for being expensive, but experiencing it firsthand really brought it home.

So, most people live in shared houses.

I searched for rooms using shared house apps, and even living with others, it was much more expensive than in Korea.

I thought it might be okay to live a bit further from the city center if the room condition was decent.

After five viewings, I chose a house in Tottenham.

The rent was relatively the most reasonable? It was recently renovated and clean, and the flatmates seemed nice.

Above all, the name 'Tottenham' felt familiar.

It was also familiar as the place where Son Heung-min plays, and crucially, it only took 10 minutes to walk from home to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

"I'll have to go watch football often later!"

With such expectations, I decided to live here.

So, I ended up living in this small room.

I pay 570 pounds a month, plus 40 pounds each for electricity and gas.

A total of 610 pounds (approximately 1 to 1.05 million Korean Won).

The most expensive room in my life.

Not even a whole house, just a room.

I share one kitchen, one toilet, and one shower room with four other people.

This is London life.

To live alone in London, you need an enormous amount of money. So most people have no choice but to opt for shared housing.

What can I do, I'm already here. I was prepared for this much.

Actually, all I needed was a bed and a desk.

But the fact that this price is on the cheaper side in London... haha

My goal was clear. Get a job quickly, earn money, and live alone in a flat costing at least 1000 pounds. I resolved that from that day on.

My flatmates came from different countries.

Germany, Ecuador, Hungary, Romania, and Korea.

Each had different cultures and lifestyles, but in reality, there were hardly any clashes.

We would just exchange brief greetings and a few words when we occasionally ran into each other in the kitchen. Well, sometimes we'd talk longer, haha.

At first, the different nationalities and backgrounds were interesting, but ultimately, the core of communal living was simple.

Keep your own space tidy, use shared spaces cleanly.

As long as those rules were followed, there were no major conflicts, and thanks to that, I was quite satisfied living in this house.

Over time, I became very close with my Ecuadorian flatmate.

We'd go out and hang out together, and even though neither of us spoke English very well, we strangely understood each other well.

After living in Tottenham for a few months, I felt that it's generally pretty good. But it's a bit scary at night.

On the streets, you can often see people gathered, playing music and covering their faces with hoods or hats.

They've never directly harmed me, but the atmosphere itself undeniably feels intimidating.

It turns out, Tottenham wasn't a neighborhood with the best public safety.

Our neighborhood is relatively quiet, but crime news was frequently heard from areas a little further away.

Occasionally, I'd come across news of murders, but this is actually a common occurrence throughout London.

Another thing to get used to is the smell of cannabis.

As you walk down the street, it naturally wafts from somewhere,

and some of my neighbors also smoke cannabis.

But they aren't necessarily dangerous.

In fact, they always greet me first when they see me,

and often strike up friendly conversations.

"Just because people smoke cannabis doesn't mean they're all bad? people."

That's one of the things I naturally felt while living here.

There are hardly any places to eat out here. Aside from large franchises like KFC, Domino's, or Burger King, I don't really dine out here. There are many Muslim and Turkish shops around, which sometimes makes me wonder if this is really London.

But there are good points too. The neighborhood itself is quite large.

Large supermarkets like Tesco, Asda, and Aldi are gathered here, so grocery shopping is convenient, and there are many parks nearby, which is great for running.

Transportation isn't bad either. There are two subway stations, Underground and Overground, and it takes about 40 minutes to get to Central London. By London standards, this is quite close.

The King's Cross library, which I frequent, also takes about 30 minutes to reach, so I'm quite satisfied with the transportation. No, I *have* to be satisfied.

As someone who loves football, having Tottenham Hotspur Stadium nearby is also a definite advantage.

It's amazing that it's only a 10-minute walk from my house.

On match days, it's incredible how many people flock there from all over...

Moreover, there's a library in front of my house, so I'm quite content living here.

I live in London, but it seems there aren't many Koreans actually living in Tottenham.

So, I'm just summarizing my life in Tottenham like this.