Socheata Chhea Socheata: The Real London

My name is Socheata and I grew up in the city of Ta Khmau in Cambodia. I've spent most of my life in Cambodia and I've only ever lived in two other cities, Singapore and now London. I think I was privileged to have grown up in international schools. That allowed me to meet people of various backgrounds from all over the world.

I started working in social media management, and that was what got me interested in learning more about the inner workings of marketing, the inner workings of businesses. That passion and new desire for marketing had led me here to London Met.

One of my fondest memories of London Met was a welcome tour, exploring the campus with a student ambassador. That was the day I met my two best friends. We clicked immediately after the induction session and we've been friends ever since. Without meeting them, I don't know what my life would be like right now.

We love worrying over our assessments and deadlines together. I think that it's been great to have friends who are studying the same degree as you. One of them is from Nepal, and the other is from London herself, but she's Iranian, so we're all Asian, but we come from different backgrounds. Sometimes we find major differences, but it's always been fun to talk about it together and be able to discover what other things we find similar, what other things we find different. One of the funniest things that my friends have told me is that for one of them, when she showed a group picture of us to her mother, her mother had said, “Oh my gosh, you've got completely different faces!”

London Met has provided me not only new friends, but just new learning experiences as well. One of my favourite things about studying here is the variety of different classes that we have at London Met. In my bachelor's degree, classes were not all too different from one another. Here, I get to learn about more subtopics in marketing, as well as meet many more academics who are so knowledgeable about the field. It was really fun being able to present a creative project and show off what we've learned throughout the lessons and what we're able to bring to life.

I can describe all of my lectures in one word: understanding. They've been so compassionate towards us as students. When it comes to communicating with us about any problems that we've had, not even just about the assignments and deadlines, but anything that they think could help us improve on. The communication has always been impeccable.

Growing up, I was always very into doodling and drawing. I've been able to also transfer it into what I do for work, what I do in my studies, being able to use what you love and the skills you have in what you learn and what you do. My love for art has taught me to be able to be open-minded towards other interpretations of concepts and characters and styles.

London is a fantastic melting pot of diversity. It's full of different cultures. People of various backgrounds come here for different reasons, but London has the ability to capture all of this history. One of my favourite areas in London is Chinatown. I love Dim Sum. I love Bubble tea. I love the little markets where they sell pastries, little pastries that are actually so similar to the ones back home. Right next to Chinatown is also the Prince Charles Cinema. I love watching old horror movies there.

On my first day in London, my friend from high school came to pick me up. She immediately pushed me out the door so we could have a whole day outside in the sun. The first place I visited in London, aside from my accommodation, was a museum, the National Gallery. Walking through the museum's corridors and hallways and being able to see all of these different paintings that I've grown up seeing on my computer screen or in the books from the library. All of it was so familiar, but yet still so new. I find that similarity within London Met as well. Being able to walk through the corridors, into classes, meeting academics, fellow students. There's still so much to explore. There's still so much to enjoy. One of the best parts about London Met is that sense of familiarity, and yet a hope for new beginnings.